lax culture from an insider
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Anonymous
| Check out Top Caliber in Burke/fairfax and Alexandria area. It's run by Robinson offensive coach Frank Keel who is a class act, truly a great , positive coach and seems to really care about his players. He's got ex-madlax kids, ex-VLC kids, prep and private. The 2018 team was very competitive this summer and one of their kids (ex-madlax) just verbally committed to Navy. They plan to field some teams for fall tournaments -- and they believe in having fun--imagine that! |
Anonymous
That is their only high level team all their other teams did poorly at tournements.Plus not great for recruiting |
Anonymous
Thanks for the head's up on Top Caliber. A club like that has a place in the market. The comments about the club not being good for recruiting are noted...but believe it or not there are some parents interested in getting their kids into a youth and high school program that is not owned by a sociopath and does not have a sole focus on getting kids recruited to colleges as middle schoolers or high school underclassmen. I think I get it that if I can pinch my nose and write checks to Madlad or VLC or Blackwolf and then let the owners of those clubs berate me that may work out well for junior's lacrosse outcomes. But I don't do that and I don't dress in submissive leather ware to be talked dirty to at motels to get ahead either. Not sure which is less noble, but thanks. I'll take Top Caliber then. |
Anonymous
| Anybody have thoughts on 3d mid alantic |
Anonymous
3d has made a concerted effort on the girls club side, and they seem to be a popular choice on that side where there is a lot less club competition. For girls 3d is a great choice. On the boys side the youth teams are decent, but 3d had mixed success poaching high school kids in their first year. One thing that has attracted good players is flexibility. If you can only play fall or only play summer for some reason like your prep school has teams those seasons they are pretty low key and can accommodate that. They also take a lot of kids who play for other clubs who want to supplement their summer schedule with a few more tournaments. One early problem with 3d is they centered in Loudon County which is awful for people who don't live there. I think they recognized how negative people were on that this summer and will adapt by getting fields somewhere in Fairfax so that the commute to practices is less a hassle for kids in other areas. 3d recently posted tryout locations in Fairfax County and that is likely a reaction to the families from the Annapolis or other Maryland areas and Arlington County VA people who just hated driving to the Manassas area. Can't say 3d is the best game in town for getting recruited, but their coaches are all professionals (no dads! no local public high school coaches biased toward their kids, etc.) and the instruction is very good in my opinion. Maybe the recruiting things improve if they keep the youth teams together and they develop better results as the youth teams get into the high school years. |
Anonymous
My son played with Top Caliber for some tournaments this summer and we really liked the coaches Frank Keel and Aaron Solomon. It's important to understand that a new club takes a while to catch on and attract a high level player. I think Frank will attract better players as the club gains traction. It's essentially a word of mouth process which is slow. My son left madlax and planned to take some time off from recruiting tourneys this summer and work on his game but after meeting Frank he wanted to play for him and really didn't worry about whether it was "cool" or not. He had a lot of fun and made some new friends. He attended an individual recruiting event (blue chip) and got several coaches attention from that. If your son is talented, the individual events are the best bet for recruiting. At least that is our experience. He is the one noted above who made the verbal commit to Navy and I can tell you Navy thought it was great that he left madlax. Other coaches expressed similar opinions. So there are alternatives to madlax for kids who love lacrosse and are not worried about the status of the team they play with. There were enough talented kids on the team to make it fun and the coaching was very positive. For the better players recruiting will happen at showcases. And Frank can get his kids invited to those events. |
Anonymous
You will get abuse from the Madlax owner at some point. Your son will get abuse from the Blackwolf owner/coach at some point. But that is not the case with VLC. Top Caliber just got started and they've had ok success. Many of their kids are playing primarily for a different club and moonlighting at TC to get more reps. They do not have a lot of talent top to bottom and they play in so-so tournaments. If you are just trying to get your son more reps so that he improves for his HS team, TC is fine. If you are trying to get recruiting attention, it is not the best sole option. |
Anonymous
| My son didn't leave madlax because of abuse from cabell - that came when we said we were leaving. He left because of lack of help with recruiting! Ironically. They didn't help him get into individual showcases, and didn't give him much playing time at the recruiting events. The only thing ca bell did was pass on inquiries he got from a couple of coaches. He was no help at all. Frank keel on the other hand, had no problem getting him invited to any showcase event he wanted to attend. Very different experience. So I disagree with the poster saying top caliber is not good for recruiting, based on my experience. |
Anonymous
My views are based upon 10+ years with kids in the local lacrosse scene. I have heard good things about VLC, but it seems that MadLax and Blackwolf are still the standard bearers with respect to the better players coming out of their programs. Don't know McClernan, so he gets a pass. As for Trig and Maddux, I know them and would not put them in the same box. Maddux is all about the benjamins and seems to have sociopathic issues as it pertains to his communications and threats to his players and their families. It is a sad commentary on the mentality of the lacrosse community that he can still field teams and get kids recruited. Trig is tough and can be abrasive, but he is loyal to his players and makes sincere efforts to get his kids recruited. Some players (and their families) are not suited to the Blackwolf approach, but it is not the same "system" as MadLax. I trust Trig, but I can't say the same for Cabell. In the college recruiting world, I believe there is a lot more faith put in an endorsement from Trig. |
Anonymous
"But I don't do that and I don't dress in submissive leather ware to be talked dirty to at motels to get ahead either." 
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Anonymous
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When it comes to recruiting success, Blackwolf, Crabs and VLC all have better results than Madlax.
Madlax has the better youth program right now but not HS. And watch out for Cavalier who has a lot of kids on their teams and is improving. |
Anonymous
| My advice - buy your kid a big bucket of balls and have him work on his stick skills doing wall ball (left and right) and shooting. Skip travel lacrosse until high school and play rec lacrosse in spring. If he's interested in playing in college he can get there without travel lacrosse. |
Anonymous
| Club lacrosse will eventually fizzle. High school coaches with free fields to use will figure out a way to do the same thing for less than half the money. Rec spring lacrosse can cost $400, no reason why a local high school summer league can't cost that for a lot of lacrosse reps. For kids looking to get noticed, the market is flooded with all comers showcases and prospect days. Club owners have basically gotten away with charging $1500-$2500 a season for the same thing that rec leagues delivered before for $400. People will figure out what it isn't worth soon enough. |
Anonymous
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I really have to offer a different view of Trig. My son did his camp this summer and after his first day this was his observation. Morning pep-talk was telling them he would be using the f-bomb and if they didn't like it there was the parking lot. Told the kids that he didn't care if parents emailed or called he wld just hang up. This is the way he rolls. During the drills he and his coaches would yell at the kids using the f bomb and other colorful words. He belittled a player because he wasn't recruited like his brother who had already committed to d1 school. Day two: Same little pep-talk 1. no need to be walked to the field no child molesters on the field. No one was walking around with their privates hanging out. 2. He didn't care if they had championships stickers on their helmets compared it to M in their closet because no one cares. 3.Told the kids if they thought they were all that then they might as well as bend over because they will be F by his high school coaches. 4. Talk about hitting them with his stick. 5. Told them if they couldn't take this kind of talking to then they were soft. 6. If a fellow player was bringing them down tell them they sucked. The age of the kids were 11-13. My son asked not to go back. He had no respect for an adult who yelled and cussed at him and others. As a parent I could not justify placing him back in this type of environment. This was a camp that was to instill values and teach them the game of LAX. I spoke to another parent about the situation and her response was "thats the way it was for my older son. I know as a parent its hard to accept but everyone wants to play with him." Really? |
Anonymous
| Wow. That's sad. I'm with you. My son -who is rising sophomore- did his camp several years ago. I didn't hear details because my son doesn't ever give details about anything but I heard there was cussing and belittling of some players. He was asked to join the team and we said no thank you because he was already on a club team. I feel like we dodged a bullet. |