Feedback on Next Level Lacrosse?

[Anonymous]

I think they were referring to ml.

[Anonymous]

How is the 2022 team?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nice try, their 2023 B team already has 20 players and no one would pay to play on a B team with 35 players. Also nice try with the high school recruiting angle. Just because you have 29 players doesn't mean you'll get more college recruits, only a certain amount of kids can get real play time with that large of a roster. And their 2024 team has 28 players and that's not a "sophomore+" team worried about recruiting. Also their other high school A teams have 26 players, not 29. That's a big difference in lax and almost $9,000 in NL's pockets.

The 2028s have 24 kids on the roster and they're no where near high school and recruiting.

Money, Money, Money.

9k per team -7k in expenses.
2k per team for the owners. That’s literally nothing for a full time job working as a coach to a bunch of Millionaires.

Would you want your child’s teacher to be making 20-30k a year? Neither would I.

$7k in expenses?? No way. Tournaments are almost $2,000 per team per tournament so at least about $14k in tournament fees, plus coaching salaries (probably about $6-$8k per coach, annually), plus field rentals, etc... and NO coaches have coaching as their full-time job. They ALL work other jobs and coaching is secondary.

[Anonymous]

If there were no market for their services they would be defunct like so many club programs that have come before. Next Level is actually improving dramatically based on quality of overall play, talent of players and college commitments. They also seem to market towards the Bethesda and Chevy Chase crowds and independent school families, people who will pony up whatever it takes to get their kids playing at a high level with at least the possibility of college recruitment. Don't fault these dudes for being capitalists and having a good business plan.

[Anonymous]

2025 team is carrying 29 players and word is they are only playing the big kids (read: holdbacks) in HoCo, with the rest riding the bench. Some PO'd parents on that team currently.

2026 forced its way into the Elite bracket but should have been one bracket down. Nothing to see on that team yet, but point taken about next year and the re-classes.

With the loss of the River Road facility, not sure the NL business model works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2025 team is carrying 29 players and word is they are only playing the big kids (read: holdbacks) in HoCo, with the rest riding the bench. Some PO'd parents on that team currently.

2026 forced its way into the Elite bracket but should have been one bracket down. Nothing to see on that team yet, but point taken about next year and the re-classes.

With the loss of the River Road facility, not sure the NL business model works.

What happened to the River Road facility?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2025 team is carrying 29 players and word is they are only playing the big kids (read: holdbacks) in HoCo, with the rest riding the bench. Some PO'd parents on that team currently.

2026 forced its way into the Elite bracket but should have been one bracket down. Nothing to see on that team yet, but point taken about next year and the re-classes.

With the loss of the River Road facility, not sure the NL business model works.

What happened to the River Road facility?

The lease expired and the building is going to get redeveloped. This was pre-COVID.

Had very little impact on my son’s team as we were largely able to practice outdoors on turf fields through the winter. The indoor facility, while nice during inclement weather, wasn’t large and limited what coaches could work on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2025 team is carrying 29 players and word is they are only playing the big kids (read: holdbacks) in HoCo, with the rest riding the bench. Some PO'd parents on that team currently.

2026 forced its way into the Elite bracket but should have been one bracket down. Nothing to see on that team yet, but point taken about next year and the re-classes.

With the loss of the River Road facility, not sure the NL business model works.

What happened to the River Road facility?

The lease expired and the building is going to get redeveloped. This was pre-COVID.

Had very little impact on my son’s team as we were largely able to practice outdoors on turf fields through the winter. The indoor facility, while nice during inclement weather, wasn’t large and limited what coaches could work on.

Outdoor practices this winter largely went well but an outdoor facility with lights would be great. Evening practices at Washington Episcopal and The Heights aren't workable until late spring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Outdoor practices this winter largely went well but an outdoor facility with lights would be great. Evening practices at Washington Episcopal and The Heights aren't workable until late spring.

Agree with this. As I recall, installing lights at WES was a part of the plan, but I'd guess that COVID set that back a little.

[Anonymous]

So no more indoor winter skills and drills? That was a real plus for Next Level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Outdoor practices this winter largely went well but an outdoor facility with lights would be great. Evening practices at Washington Episcopal and The Heights aren't workable until late spring.

Agree with this. As I recall, installing lights at WES was a part of the plan, but I'd guess that COVID set that back a little.

I heard that when they finally priced it out, it was going to cost a lot. Not sure if they are still planning on it or not.

I expect there will be quite a bit of turnover in the 24/25/26 age groups next year. There are a number of unhappy parents, and then there will be a bunch of reclasses at the 26s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Outdoor practices this winter largely went well but an outdoor facility with lights would be great. Evening practices at Washington Episcopal and The Heights aren't workable until late spring.

Agree with this. As I recall, installing lights at WES was a part of the plan, but I'd guess that COVID set that back a little.

I heard that when they finally priced it out, it was going to cost a lot. Not sure if they are still planning on it or not.

I expect there will be quite a bit of turnover in the 24/25/26 age groups next year. There are a number of unhappy parents, and then there will be a bunch of reclasses at the 26s.

What about 2027 and 2028?

[Anonymous]

why are parents unhappy in 5 age groups? also when players were invited join are they told blue or red team or only after payment is made?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:why are parents unhappy in 5 age groups? also when players were invited join are they told blue or red team or only after payment is made?

you are told after tryouts which team (red/blue) your son will be on

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:why are parents unhappy in 5 age groups? also when players were invited join are they told blue or red team or only after payment is made?

When NL has tryouts you are offered a blue spot or a red spot and you know that before you pay anything. There isn’t much, if any, movement between the teams. To my knowledge NL doesn’t dangle possible promotions to blue like Madlax does with its Capital and DMV teams. The teams don’t practice together and are completely separate things with different tournaments, coaches, etc.

In terms of unhappy, all lacrosse teams are unhappy once you get around middle school unless you are dominant and have a small enough roster that everyone gets decent playing time. Even then, the pressure to constantly recruit to stay on top and the influx of holdbacks for any top team in eighth and ninth grade spoil any chance of having a fun experience. It’s just the nature of the club lacrosse beast. Mitchells are good guys and I think try hard to please team members, but club lacrosse just isn’t very fun once you get to middle school for any team that play at the higher levels. That’s why so many people leave all these programs once it becomes clear their kid isn’t going to play DI. It’s very different from the younger team experience where most kids and parents still enjoy lacrosse.