Mostly average teams? I'll let you in on a little secret. In Colorado, this past year's freshman class is the 1st in the stat's history to have had the opportunity to play since the 1st grade. I pretty familiar with the teams from back east. My son played for the 3d team this past weekend and played for the WCS NSCLA Team which won the Crabfeast YG's in '12 and recently won the NSCLA in PA. You're seeing the inevitable evening out of talent. You're seeing more western teams that have had more time playing together. I'll tell you that it's a thrill for our kids to go out east and play such good teams. If I were you, I'd start embracing some of these western teams as your peers and stop making age-based excuses when an eastern team doesn't win. Trust me when I tell you that it is a rarity for a kid to be held back in CO. I've never seen it done to get an advantage in lacrosse. I think parent get a really good idea about where their kid stacks up when they have to play other kids their same age. Nobody feels sorry for the kid who was held back and in turn must play against kids who have a year of HS under their belt.... | 
