2026 Boys - Madlax or DCE?

[Anonymous]

Check out what tourneys VLC is playing this summer--all top-level competition. That says it all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, you are not kidding yourself. If your son is relatively new and a natural athlete, of course he will surpass the average athletes who have been playing longer.

But here is the bigger issue that families need to understand about MadLax. Many kids go into the program in the early grades (5th grade and lower) because their families have the money and think is the cool place to be in the lacrosse world. The teams usually win and the boys feel like stars. The boys form friendships with their teammates, and the parents form bonds too. But in grades 6 to 8, new players come in from all over the region and all over the country (literally), plus kids reclass by repeating a year in school. The effect is that the bottom 1/3 to 1/2 of the Capital roster gets pushed off the team in those grades. There usually is not very good bedside manner when boys are cut. It is great business for MadLax and builds strong teams, but is absolutely gut wrenching for the boys. It hurts their self esteem not only in lacrosse, but in life generally, because for boys that age sports is a huge part of their self image. And they feel ashamed and rejected by their friends remaining on the Capital team. Once you have been on Capital for several years, being on DMV is a humiliation for the boys and a waste of money for parents. (MadLax level prices, for coaching and competition barely better than rec). So my advice to families in grades 5 or below is that before joining MadLax, you need to assess realistically how athletic your son is and whether he will hold onto his roster spot when the influx of stud players begins. if the answer is no, then don't get mixed up in MadLax, because it will end really badly for your son. Plenty of other good options in the area.

I’m not sure who gets more upset about moving back to a B team. The child or the parent. I think some of you need to accept your child’s abilities, encourage them to play multiple sports and stop obsessing about this one sport. I have boys who’ve played at the elite level and it’s a real commitment. I also have a son who wanted to play multiple sports and enjoy high school so he played on the B team. It was all good because my wife and I were realistic about his talents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Are the kids promised a chance to move up? Is it implied?

From what I hear, it is implied. Along the lines of "if you work hard enough". But somehow junior has neeeeeever quite worked hard enough. But keep trying, junior, keep trying!

Agree. But I don’t think this solely is a ML thing. All clubs need that B team for revenue purposes.

Not all. VLC has one team per grade, and one of its talking points is "we care about the players, not the profits." (Hmm, I wonder who that is directed at?) The VLC model assumes that second teams are a rip off and dilute the overall quality of the product in terms of coaching, field space, competition, etc. This is especially so in the fall, where MadLax has large groups of players shuttling between the Capital and DMV teams.

VLC is the revenue-generating B team for the Crabs.

Crabs is merciless in cutting players. Very few kids that are on the team in elementary school are still on it freshman year, the early years are just about the money for the club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Are the kids promised a chance to move up? Is it implied?

From what I hear, it is implied. Along the lines of "if you work hard enough". But somehow junior has neeeeeever quite worked hard enough. But keep trying, junior, keep trying!

Agree. But I don’t think this solely is a ML thing. All clubs need that B team for revenue purposes.

Not all. VLC has one team per grade, and one of its talking points is "we care about the players, not the profits." (Hmm, I wonder who that is directed at?) The VLC model assumes that second teams are a rip off and dilute the overall quality of the product in terms of coaching, field space, competition, etc. This is especially so in the fall, where MadLax has large groups of players shuttling between the Capital and DMV teams.

VLC is the revenue-generating B team for the Crabs.

That is like saying Team 91 Md is the b team for 91 in NY. Not at all the same as Crabs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check out what tourneys VLC is playing this summer--all top-level competition. That says it all.

And they were soundly thrashed at NAL last weekend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check out what tourneys VLC is playing this summer--all top-level competition. That says it all.

And they were soundly thrashed at NAL last weekend.

For sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCE is the place to be.

Megill’s need to just go ahead and sell it already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check out what tourneys VLC is playing this summer--all top-level competition. That says it all.

And they were soundly thrashed at NAL last weekend.

For sure.

vlc outplayed in the consolation bracket, crazy parents driving their coach to "retire". even pulling down older kids didn't help last weekend. that says it all.

[Anonymous]

Let's see how the high school-age boys do in a few weeks. That's where it counts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's see how the high school-age boys do in a few weeks. That's where it counts.

correct. real coaching is done at high school practices. clubs collect players, they don't develop them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's see how the high school-age boys do in a few weeks. That's where it counts.

correct. real coaching is done at high school practices. clubs collect players, they don't develop them.

That depends. VLC and Madlax both have public school players who play on mediocre HS teams. Kids do get great coaching from a variety of sources

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The number of 2026 DMV kids promoted to Capital is zero, because MadLax is upgrading its Cap teams by re-classes, out of state players, and poaches from other programs. This will push Capital players to the bench, the DMV team, or out of the program. It is happening right now. Nobody is moving up from DMV to Capital.

As are other clubs. I get that ML is the big bad boogie man to many people, but to pretend other clubs are promoting oodles of kids up from the B team to the A team is just naive. And all clubs poach. And all clubs get re-class kids. And they recruit (see DCE HS rosters, as one example). C'mon people...do better than this.

If your son is a B team player on any club at this point, than that is what he is, which is just fine. Hopefully he has great teammates, is learning and is having fun. And my guess is your son knows he is a B team player and is just fine with that too. Enjoy the Summer people...the intensity ramps up next year!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's see how the high school-age boys do in a few weeks. That's where it counts.

correct. real coaching is done at high school practices. clubs collect players, they don't develop them.

I don’t know what club you belong to but you should consider switching. My son’s club definitely has an emphasis on development.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The number of 2026 DMV kids promoted to Capital is zero, because MadLax is upgrading its Cap teams by re-classes, out of state players, and poaches from other programs. This will push Capital players to the bench, the DMV team, or out of the program. It is happening right now. Nobody is moving up from DMV to Capital.

As are other clubs. I get that ML is the big bad boogie man to many people, but to pretend other clubs are promoting oodles of kids up from the B team to the A team is just naive. And all clubs poach. And all clubs get re-class kids. And they recruit (see DCE HS rosters, as one example). C'mon people...do better than this.

If your son is a B team player on any club at this point, than that is what he is, which is just fine. Hopefully he has great teammates, is learning and is having fun. And my guess is your son knows he is a B team player and is just fine with that too. Enjoy the Summer people...the intensity ramps up next year!

Just go where your kid can play. ML and NL will not play some kids and try to win. VLC tends to play everyone and doesn't focus on results, which has other issues if roster too big. Lots of options are good and just find the right one. NL poaches as much as anyone and their 25 teams is full of kids that reclassed this year, so those parents may want to try a different club. Same with NL 24 that grabbed a bunch of ML kids. VLC turned over half of their 25 team. Don't be afraid to switch, the clubs have no loyalty and will grab players that are closer to committing rather than developing your player. I'm a WCAC parent and you can't compare club coaching to high school. Ok to be a bench warmer on a really strong HS team because the practices are so high level. Same does not apply to club where there are very few practices for HS teams and you launch right into the tournaments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check out what tourneys VLC is playing this summer--all top-level competition. That says it all.

And they were soundly thrashed at NAL last weekend.

For sure.

Soundly thrashed? One bad loss to Tigers, and then 1-3 in games decided by three goals or less, while missing some key players. Let's see how they do the rest of the summer.