Feedback on True Va club lacrosse

[Anonymous]

How is this club? How easy is it to play on the National team coming out of Virginia?

[Anonymous]

How is the club? Put this way people around here always wondered the limits to how much a club like Madlax could get away with charging. Along comes True and are like gold my beer

[Anonymous]

Boys or girls?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is this club? How easy is it to play on the National team coming out of Virginia?

Recreational level players who are very proud and focused.

[Anonymous]

Dumpster fire.

[Anonymous]

The problem is they will take any player with parents that can pay. They will make B and C level teams. They will make additional “national” teams to charge even more. At one time making a top club team was a big deal now most do not cut. Most are rec quality at 10x the cost.

[Anonymous]

We are new to this club, and so far like it very much. Nice boys, coaches, amazing organization and communication. We will see how things go after the fall tournaments but so far my son is much happier than his previous club.

[Anonymous]

This thread is clearly a set up by VLC to try to distract from the dumpster fire that is Virginia lacrosse club. Check out the feedback on VLC thread. Nice try cramp but we’re on to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is clearly a set up by VLC to try to distract from the dumpster fire that is Virginia lacrosse club. Check out the feedback on VLC thread. Nice try cramp but we’re on to you.

I was going to disagree with this until I saw the second question about the National team...

[Anonymous]

Isn’t that one of big selling points with True regarding getting called up to play on a National Team? Why else would you join? True VA will not be participating in any top tournaments unless as a part of National team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is clearly a set up by VLC to try to distract from the dumpster fire that is Virginia lacrosse club. Check out the feedback on VLC thread. Nice try cramp but we’re on to you.

Agree, VLC is just a re branded Cavs club that is bad. If Crabs were smart, they'd sell off the Cavs and let it die. Will VLC play in Elite in Hoco this year? Definitely not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is this club? How easy is it to play on the National team coming out of Virginia?

It is a decent club. One of my sons has been involved with True since when it was NOVA Select (True bought NOVA Select in 2/2021). We have watched his team specifically grow both in numbers and talent. I will not lie the first year summer was really ugly lacrosse. Of the kids 18-20 kids from that team, he and another kid are the only ones left from NOVA Select still on the Black team (the A team) at his age level. Some kids are on green (the B team). Some have relocated because they were Army kids (2 would still be on this team). So the talent level at my son's age has grown greatly. This isn't to say some kids that joined in later years aren't on the team but that there aren't a lot of kids that started just as COVID hit are on the Black Team at their age level.

So I can see the progression and growth of the team. There are kids that are clearly developing on his team from kids that could barely hold a stick to lockdown defenders. My son's team last year first 10 or so could basically match up with any team outside of the top 30 or so. But, the bench wasn't very good. So far this year that seems to have changed.

There are issues with it. If anyone tells a club team is all sunshine and daisies they are lying. Some parents weren't happy after this summer's tryouts were not happy their kid moved down from black to green or from out of the program. Though I know a couple of parents whose kid didn't make either team, still decided to pay to be a practice player. To be honest, if someone is going to give you money for something like that why would you turn it down. I don't blame True at all for having practice players if parents are willing to pay the money.

As for making National teams out of Virginia, there are number of things that go into a national team selection. First and foremost, there are True VA kids that play on the National teams. Because of the nature of these select teams. True looks at phenomenal athletes that really want to drive the ball (you could almost say selfish to some extent) and if they have decent stickwork that's great. The idea is that a team's natural athleticism will cover up any type of chemistry issues or miscues or bad stickwork. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The True National team's offense is also very mid-field driven.

Second, there are a lot of politics involved. Much like any of these type of National teams within the confines of a club team compared to a team like the Nationals or Red Hots that are just national teams that take kids from all over that still might play on "local" club teams. At the youth levels, there are some kids that make the national teams (usually the lower green or white) because there Dad coaches. As far as I know that doesn't happen at the HS level.

Third, individual national age coaches look toward kids they know or see on a more regular basis and know they can coach. In other words, if a True NC coach is the 2027 Black National coached team, NC players will be a little more overrepresented on the team.

Fourth, there is a grading out system with respect to how many players at an age group a particularly a local True team can have on a national team. This is at the youth level and not as much of a factor at the HS level. For instances, if a certain age team grades out to an B+ team, they might only get 1 or 2 players on the National team, while another team at the same age grades out as a AA team can get 5-6 kids though the 3rd point is incorporated above. The issue with that is you might be a B+ team but have 3 kids that basically carry the team and better than all of the kids from AA but you only get 1 or 2 on the national teams because of the grading system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is the club? Put this way people around here always wondered the limits to how much a club like Madlax could get away with charging. Along comes True and are like gold my beer

I've had kids play for ML, NL, and True. True is by far the cheapest. This year it was $2800 (give or take) and another $100 for uniforms. That cost covers all the fall, fall tournaments, winter training, HOCO (and spring practice), and summer tournaments (and practice). NL is easily $4500 and at the youth level you need to buy a helmet. Same with ML. At True you only have to buy the uniform, anything else is not required. Believe me, there is a dad that gets annoyed because he wants all the players to buy the helmet so they look alike. Right now, my son's team is a mishmash of True, VLC, St. James, TC, Cavs and plain white helmets (most with True decals on it).

There are additional costs if you son wants to do things like national or select teams or the box programs. But, those are all separate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is this club? How easy is it to play on the National team coming out of Virginia?

It is a decent club. One of my sons has been involved with True since when it was NOVA Select (True bought NOVA Select in 2/2021). We have watched his team specifically grow both in numbers and talent. I will not lie the first year summer was really ugly lacrosse. Of the kids 18-20 kids from that team, he and another kid are the only ones left from NOVA Select still on the Black team (the A team) at his age level. Some kids are on green (the B team). Some have relocated because they were Army kids (2 would still be on this team). So the talent level at my son's age has grown greatly. This isn't to say some kids that joined in later years aren't on the team but that there aren't a lot of kids that started just as COVID hit are on the Black Team at their age level.

So I can see the progression and growth of the team. There are kids that are clearly developing on his team from kids that could barely hold a stick to lockdown defenders. My son's team last year first 10 or so could basically match up with any team outside of the top 30 or so. But, the bench wasn't very good. So far this year that seems to have changed.

There are issues with it. If anyone tells a club team is all sunshine and daisies they are lying. Some parents weren't happy after this summer's tryouts were not happy their kid moved down from black to green or from out of the program. Though I know a couple of parents whose kid didn't make either team, still decided to pay to be a practice player. To be honest, if someone is going to give you money for something like that why would you turn it down. I don't blame True at all for having practice players if parents are willing to pay the money.

As for making National teams out of Virginia, there are number of things that go into a national team selection. First and foremost, there are True VA kids that play on the National teams. Because of the nature of these select teams. True looks at phenomenal athletes that really want to drive the ball (you could almost say selfish to some extent) and if they have decent stickwork that's great. The idea is that a team's natural athleticism will cover up any type of chemistry issues or miscues or bad stickwork. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The True National team's offense is also very mid-field driven.

Second, there are a lot of politics involved. Much like any of these type of National teams within the confines of a club team compared to a team like the Nationals or Red Hots that are just national teams that take kids from all over that still might play on "local" club teams. At the youth levels, there are some kids that make the national teams (usually the lower green or white) because there Dad coaches. As far as I know that doesn't happen at the HS level.

Third, individual national age coaches look toward kids they know or see on a more regular basis and know they can coach. In other words, if a True NC coach is the 2027 Black National coached team, NC players will be a little more overrepresented on the team.

Fourth, there is a grading out system with respect to how many players at an age group a particularly a local True team can have on a national team. This is at the youth level and not as much of a factor at the HS level. For instances, if a certain age team grades out to an B+ team, they might only get 1 or 2 players on the National team, while another team at the same age grades out as a AA team can get 5-6 kids though the 3rd point is incorporated above. The issue with that is you might be a B+ team but have 3 kids that basically carry the team and better than all of the kids from AA but you only get 1 or 2 on the national teams because of the grading system.

TLDR

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is the club? Put this way people around here always wondered the limits to how much a club like Madlax could get away with charging. Along comes True and are like gold my beer

I've had kids play for ML, NL, and True. True is by far the cheapest. This year it was $2800 (give or take) and another $100 for uniforms. That cost covers all the fall, fall tournaments, winter training, HOCO (and spring practice), and summer tournaments (and practice). NL is easily $4500 and at the youth level you need to buy a helmet. Same with ML. At True you only have to buy the uniform, anything else is not required. Believe me, there is a dad that gets annoyed because he wants all the players to buy the helmet so they look alike. Right now, my son's team is a mishmash of True, VLC, St. James, TC, Cavs and plain white helmets (most with True decals on it).

There are additional costs if you son wants to do things like national or select teams or the box programs. But, those are all separate.

Note and tip for Middle school club lacrosse players, do not buy a helmet unless you really need to. Once they hit HS the cool thing is to wear the HS helmet anyway. Save some cash and wait one more year. You will need the extra money for showcases and prospect days..