2028 Boys Lacrosse

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a 2028 whose has played on a couple of different clubs and knows kids across all of them in the DMV (having played with them at rec/club levels). Seeing some of the kids that made the 'A' teams makes me wonder if there just isn't the quality of kids in this grad year relative to other years. Lacrosse is my son's 3rd favorite sport that he plays (so doesn't pick up a stick outside of practice/games) and he better than kids I see on the DCE, NL and ML A teams which shouldn't be the case (and isn't for my older kids).

Sounds like you definitely know what you are talking about. Thank you for sharing your insight. The whole board is better for your commentary.

Point being that the overall talent level of the 2028 class is subpar relative to previous years.

OK.

There is truth to this. Yes this area will have some players who get recruited to top college programs but looking at the 2025 class the trend is downward for the DMV. The high water mark for the area was the 2022 and 2023 classes. The top clubs has double digit D1 committed players. Youth lacrosse in the area is shrinking and not growing. Madlax/DCE/NL/VLC all had teams that could play with any club in the country. Now there is maybe one club each age group and kids seem to jump from club to club. There are still great players in the area just like half the number there used to be.

[Anonymous]

2021 class was also exceptional so really. 3 year run of excellence that will probably never be reached again given how quickly the sport is growing in FL TX and CA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2021 class was also exceptional so really. 3 year run of excellence that will probably never be reached again given how quickly the sport is growing in FL TX and CA.

Yes, the 2021 class was also exceptional along with 2018 and 2019 I think it peaked and seems to be trending a bit downward. Used to be that most good NOVA public schools had a few D1 commits now it is only about 5-10 that have any.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2021 class was also exceptional so really. 3 year run of excellence that will probably never be reached again given how quickly the sport is growing in FL TX and CA.

Yes, the 2021 class was also exceptional along with 2018 and 2019 I think it peaked and seems to be trending a bit downward. Used to be that most good NOVA public schools had a few D1 commits now it is only about 5-10 that have any.

It seem like the future for lacrosse has gone from Rec to Club and Public to Private Schools. With nothing in between....

With the cost of clubs that pushes a lot of could be talent out of the market early. Then it seems like most Private schools are the way to be seen for College hopefuls, and then the money factor comes back in to play. But, that could also be said for other sports in private High Schools...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2021 class was also exceptional so really. 3 year run of excellence that will probably never be reached again given how quickly the sport is growing in FL TX and CA.

Yes, the 2021 class was also exceptional along with 2018 and 2019 I think it peaked and seems to be trending a bit downward. Used to be that most good NOVA public schools had a few D1 commits now it is only about 5-10 that have any.

It seem like the future for lacrosse has gone from Rec to Club and Public to Private Schools. With nothing in between....

With the cost of clubs that pushes a lot of could be talent out of the market early. Then it seems like most Private schools are the way to be seen for College hopefuls, and then the money factor comes back in to play. But, that could also be said for other sports in private High Schools...

I agree but the net result is not good. Back when most kids played rec more overall players played. The top players played on the A team and some did travel in the summer and fall. Now there are B teams full of travel helmets. You could probably look at the HOCO league and how it aligns with the decline in Rec lacrosse. However, it also seems to be lowering the bar overall. The clubs, despite the increased costs, are not producing better players in greater numbers. I do not think it is the private schools to blame. At the end of the day there are still the same number of private school programs as there were 10-15 years ago. They are all still pretty much in the same order of skill. The top 10 is still the top ten. What is lost is the rec players who went to public school and some club that go on to D1 that is becoming more rare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2021 class was also exceptional so really. 3 year run of excellence that will probably never be reached again given how quickly the sport is growing in FL TX and CA.

Yes, the 2021 class was also exceptional along with 2018 and 2019 I think it peaked and seems to be trending a bit downward. Used to be that most good NOVA public schools had a few D1 commits now it is only about 5-10 that have any.

It seem like the future for lacrosse has gone from Rec to Club and Public to Private Schools. With nothing in between....

With the cost of clubs that pushes a lot of could be talent out of the market early. Then it seems like most Private schools are the way to be seen for College hopefuls, and then the money factor comes back in to play. But, that could also be said for other sports in private High Schools...

I agree but the net result is not good. Back when most kids played rec more overall players played. The top players played on the A team and some did travel in the summer and fall. Now there are B teams full of travel helmets. You could probably look at the HOCO league and how it aligns with the decline in Rec lacrosse. However, it also seems to be lowering the bar overall. The clubs, despite the increased costs, are not producing better players in greater numbers. I do not think it is the private schools to blame. At the end of the day there are still the same number of private school programs as there were 10-15 years ago. They are all still pretty much in the same order of skill. The top 10 is still the top ten. What is lost is the rec players who went to public school and some club that go on to D1 that is becoming more rare.

It is sad to see the decline in lacrosse talent in the area...

[Anonymous]

It's weird that lacrosse is growing nationally but it does feel like it's contracting locally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's weird that lacrosse is growing nationally but it does feel like it's contracting locally.

The local rec leagues like the one in NoVa are the feeders to the club programs. They suffered a big setback during COVID. I suspect that is playing a big part in the 28-32 age groups who missed a year of it. And I’m hearing the rec leagues are not what they were up till just prior to COVID. Those championship games in the AAA level of NVYLL were pretty much 100% kids from the Elite programs in the DMV. Great competition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's weird that lacrosse is growing nationally but it does feel like it's contracting locally.

The local rec leagues like the one in NoVa are the feeders to the club programs. They suffered a big setback during COVID. I suspect that is playing a big part in the 28-32 age groups who missed a year of it. And I’m hearing the rec leagues are not what they were up till just prior to COVID. Those championship games in the AAA level of NVYLL were pretty much 100% kids from the Elite programs in the DMV. Great competition.

The clubs all started playing in the HOCO league and many of the better players stopped playing NVYLL or those that did only showed up for games. The end result is that the clubs are not developing players and NVYLL used to do that. The rec team also brought more athletic kids to the game. COVID was a part of this but I think club lacrosse is the culprit. Paying $3500 per year vs $350 per year and not getting the same level of coaching and this is the result. Less kids equals less competition and less development. You hear club coaches tell kids not to play rec. Don't bite the hand.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's weird that lacrosse is growing nationally but it does feel like it's contracting locally.

The local rec leagues like the one in NoVa are the feeders to the club programs. They suffered a big setback during COVID. I suspect that is playing a big part in the 28-32 age groups who missed a year of it. And I’m hearing the rec leagues are not what they were up till just prior to COVID. Those championship games in the AAA level of NVYLL were pretty much 100% kids from the Elite programs in the DMV. Great competition.

The clubs all started playing in the HOCO league and many of the better players stopped playing NVYLL or those that did only showed up for games. The end result is that the clubs are not developing players and NVYLL used to do that. The rec team also brought more athletic kids to the game. COVID was a part of this but I think club lacrosse is the culprit. Paying $3500 per year vs $350 per year and not getting the same level of coaching and this is the result. Less kids equals less competition and less development. You hear club coaches tell kids not to play rec. Don't bite the hand.....

It is a shame. I also like that club also keeps "local" friends playing with each other even if they are on other clubs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2021 class was also exceptional so really. 3 year run of excellence that will probably never be reached again given how quickly the sport is growing in FL TX and CA.

I would say the run was from 2019-2022 for the DMV run of excellence. Club teams and HS teams were all over the Top 5 in the country, depending on Spring or Summer. Totally agree that the talent is down since then, broadly speaking. Of course there are still some super studs in the area, but as a whole, down. And more recently, the national results of those same Club and HS teams tell you that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2021 class was also exceptional so really. 3 year run of excellence that will probably never be reached again given how quickly the sport is growing in FL TX and CA.

I would say the run was from 2019-2022 for the DMV run of excellence. Club teams and HS teams were all over the Top 5 in the country, depending on Spring or Summer. Totally agree that the talent is down since then, broadly speaking. Of course there are still some super studs in the area, but as a whole, down. And more recently, the national results of those same Club and HS teams tell you that.

You may not have paid attention but 2023 was as good if not better than 2022. Remains to be seen if they have the success at the next level that 2022 had but the talent is right there with the DC Dogs/NL ect.. Some may argue that many of the top 2023's started as 2022's but that is still a very strong class for the DMV area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The clubs, despite the increased costs, are not producing better players in greater numbers.

Facts. In particular, club owners in this area care more about collecting players than developing them, no matter how hard they push back on that. Proof is right there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The clubs, despite the increased costs, are not producing better players in greater numbers.

Facts. In particular, club owners in this area care more about collecting players than developing them, no matter how hard they push back on that. Proof is right there.

I hate to agree to this... My younger son would say it is like playing Pokemon......"Gotta catch them all"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The clubs, despite the increased costs, are not producing better players in greater numbers.

Facts. In particular, club owners in this area care more about collecting players than developing them, no matter how hard they push back on that. Proof is right there.

I hate to agree to this... My younger son would say it is like playing Pokemon......"Gotta catch them all"

I totally agree with this sentiment. All three of the big programs (ML, NL & DCE) are just throwing bodies on thier teams, with DCE being most egregious offender with 30 kids on their top team.

In defense of club - rec only provides 30 practices and 10 games at most. You can’t get competive even for a mid tier public school with that little exposure to lacrosse.