At AA Ville does a nice job.
There are kids on teams from A-AAAA that are rec players that literally can’t pass, catch or run. They only hurt the team when they are in. Some of these clubs are just taking your money. Elite teams would never allow this. If this is your kid shame on you as a parent. This is why they have rec lacrosse programs.[/quote]
Oh now you've done it. Here come the AAAA parents who insist there is zero overlap between the HoCo brackets in terms of skill.
Even at the "elite" level, skill evaluation is hit-or-miss. You'll note when you see a Crabs, Hawks, 91 or FCA helmet playing with another team (usually at a lower bracket), that kid isn't "on another level" compared to the kids he's playing with. And if you mention it to other elite parents, the response is always, "uhhhh, he was the worst one on the Hawks/FCA/Crabs, he's no good." I've heard that argument so many times. Obviously the Hawks/FCA/Crabs/91 coaches thought enough of him to cut other kids to make a spot for him? But 12 months later that kid "can't play." Yeah, sure.
What takes the skill evaluation process from bad to worse (borderline "without basis") is multiple dad coaches at tryouts. And you know it's true.[/quote]
What you are missing is that many of the elite teams, while they get competition for the top spots, don’t get that next group of really talented players. Most of the kids in the next group choose other options (and rightfully so) where they will get more playing time. The result is often a significant drop off from starters and bench players who get plenty of time to the last group of players on the team. That’s why those Hawks/FCA/Crabs/91 players who eventually get cut or drop down in level and play with AAAA, AA, A etc don’t stand out. They were never that talented to begin with.[/quote]
100% accurate, though honestly I'd refer to the "not that talented" players at Elite through AA as "non-standout athletes." And being a "non-standout" definitely means you could get cut by certain teams on certain days. Again, one of the issues I see are the dads insistent on their kid being called "elite" when really, most of the elite kids are good athletes on a team with 4, 5, maybe 10 standouts compared to your average club lax team in the USA...which has 4, 5, 10 good athletes and 0-1 standout.
