This thread is everything that is wrong with Club lacrosse. Why are parents complaining about a club and what bracket they are playing in, and how far they travel? If they are so elite, how are you even at the same tournament? Last I checked Crabs,91, Big4H,FCA,and laxachusets, aren’t even at these tournaments. Point being that you might not be as elite as you think you are. Club teams have stronger teams at one age group over another across the board. Remember people its about the kids and growing the game. If your losing sleep over these True teams,have your son tryout for a team that plays in high end tourneys then all you will se are the National teams. The elite teams can not solely fulfill the needs of Lacrosse coaches to fill rosters at the collegiate level. You can’t have all Tom Brady’s and zero Taylor Heinickes. I will say this,If True is guilty of anything it’s inclusion and growing the game. I am not True parent my son played for them at one time and plays for another Club now mostly due to logistics. The True MD program is filled with coaches and directors that look to get the most out of your son no matter what the perceived ceiling may be.
Also not a true parent but agree they are helping grow the game and provide an opportunity for kids to improve. There is a gap between rec and elite club with very little in between. True is consolidating and optimizing the middle.
If you've read True's business plan for Maryland, that's not it at all. Most of the True rosters in Maryland have a handful of rec-based clubs they can't beat.
In Maryland, True has simply acquired other locally-run clubs (or rights to the club's name, or hiring a club's entire coaching staff....), so if anything, it's subtraction by addition. Cutters, Fallston, Mason-Dixon, Wolfpack, Kelly Post, MESA-MD, Koopers that I can recall off the top of my head. How has True increased the competitiveness and opportunities of any of those players? The local (mostly positive) culture and branding of the clubs replaced by "just add more mediocre reps." It's only been 4? 5? years total. What contribution to Maryland youth lacrosse do they have to show for it?
The Cutters acquisition in particular was designed to build True's first elite presence on the east coast. Cutters players across several age groups were promised roster spots on True National and True Maryland teams, and despite all this "elite opportunity", the families "in the know" have gradually left True.
Fast forward to 2023 and you have a corporate club (True Maryland program) with a documented, factually based reputation for illegal roster substitutions even in Hoco playoff games and in tournaments. Players dramatically flopping for penalties like it's a soccer game, and most dramatically, players failing to achieve high school varsity roster spots.
Then there's the Allergy Medicine situation with the True MD full time staff.
The True MD experiment is almost over, but yes, I expect their next "5 year business plan" to look as you suggest, "A $3000/year bridge between rec and club." As if that is what anybody needed or asked for.
