Madlax 2028 should change their slogan from 'Run DMV' to 'Ask Us About How Good We Were in 2nd grade.' And for some of their kids, 2nd grade was like 6 years ago.
As much as people have personal issues with the program, it's impressive how competitive ML has been with a group of kids that has been largely stable since 2nd grade.
But the odds are against any program accurately identifying 15+ kids who will be amazing middle school athletes when they're in 2nd grade, and ML doesn't seem to be able to draw 90+ kids to tryouts like Hawks. Maybe that's MD vs. VA or maybe it's reputational, but at some point a shallower talent pool seems bound to catch up to ML unless they can figure out how to bring kids in at positions of need.
ML will just reclass even more players
Is that really an answer though? Do they have a dominant 27 FO or goalie who could just drop down? And even if they do, what does that do to the 2027 team if they don't have tons of kids at tryouts there to replenish?
Madlax has a lot to offer but is not for everyone and they may have a tough time recruiting with what has been built at 28 and other age groups.
Pros for ML, play a ton of big name tournaments with great destinations (Vail, Fla etc) good talent, fundamentally sound and well coached. Highly competitive. Good families from what I can tell on the sidelines. Kids also seem great and play hard with sportsmanship (some exceptions but overall they are solid group).
Cons: expensive with an elitist bent. coach rubs people the wrong way, hard to ignore. Club has Mixed reputation at the older age groups for shadiness like flying in players and exploiting every loophole for holdbacks and rostering - mostly rumors but some truth has tarnished the brand.
For players/parents looking at clubs, the pros have to outweigh the cons and it is a very niche group in the DMV that would try out for ML. All clubs have issues but ML is far down the list for many given other local options without the baggage.
