Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What most Va families we've spoken to want is a viable option other than Madlax. Next Level has established that and then some, becoming the top DC area team in the 24, 25, 26, and 27 classes.

Many of us hoped VLC would be that mirror on the VA side of the river...it never materialized. The success of college placement from the 23 & 24 VLC classes was impressive, is the talent in the 25 class going to measure up?

Looking around the younger age groups, VLC 29 team had a handful of their top kids move to True Chesapeake, 30s struggled in AA hoco, 31s are probably the strongest team left, but don't seem to play top competition, 32s have a great coach.

Moving forward, can Top Caliber or TSJ fill the void in Va? TC has great coaches and access to local HS fields, TSJ has amazing facilities but outside of Rick, not many coaches.

Too many parents are eager to take their money and run to the "better" MD clubs so they can say Johnny plays for X and expect Johnny to get a D1 offer if he stays with the club. DC Dogs ('23s) did great as a team and for their players (no MadLax didn't do anything here, just bought them) by sticking together over the years and TRW ('26s) is doing a nice job under the same model. Brooks should take his 32 VLC team and run it himself (if he had the time) since he is a fantastic coach.

I am one of those "eager" parents that ran to a "better" MD club.... The reason was not because of the name, but the coaching and field quality. Yes it does suck driving over the bridge, but my kid is now becoming a stronger lacrosse player. That is what HE wanted and I am supporting that.

Go ahead and keep telling yourself that. It was "Johnny" that wanted the change, I'm just supporting him. Yeah, right.

Why so angry?

Anonymous wrote:What most Va families we've spoken to want is a viable option other than Madlax. Next Level has established that and then some, becoming the top DC area team in the 24, 25, 26, and 27 classes.

Many of us hoped VLC would be that mirror on the VA side of the river...it never materialized. The success of college placement from the 23 & 24 VLC classes was impressive, is the talent in the 25 class going to measure up?

Looking around the younger age groups, VLC 29 team had a handful of their top kids move to True Chesapeake, 30s struggled in AA hoco, 31s are probably the strongest team left, but don't seem to play top competition, 32s have a great coach.

Moving forward, can Top Caliber or TSJ fill the void in Va? TC has great coaches and access to local HS fields, TSJ has amazing facilities but outside of Rick, not many coaches.

good post overall but DC Express than NL has better teams at 2025 and 2026. NL better at 24 and 27. New DCE 2028 team poached a bunch of Madlax players (which is usually Next Level's specialty) and the core BLC team that comprises that team beat NL in the summer so wouldn't be surprised if DCE was at least equal with NL in that age group.

Lots of VLC kids at 2028 moved to Bethesda and at least a couple of them were able to make the DC Express black team.

IMO western Fairfax/Loudoun Counties absolutely could support a good, elite team, it's crazy that people have to drive to Moco for that. Population is shifting westward and if Paul VI could get their act together they could have a symbiotic relationship with a club out there. True is a disaster, stay far away.

just my $0.02, I'm in Moco and have had kids on both NL and DCE so no partic dog in the fight. Just don't like seeing kids/parents get worked over like this in general.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What most Va families we've spoken to want is a viable option other than Madlax. Next Level has established that and then some, becoming the top DC area team in the 24, 25, 26, and 27 classes.

Many of us hoped VLC would be that mirror on the VA side of the river...it never materialized. The success of college placement from the 23 & 24 VLC classes was impressive, is the talent in the 25 class going to measure up?

Looking around the younger age groups, VLC 29 team had a handful of their top kids move to True Chesapeake, 30s struggled in AA hoco, 31s are probably the strongest team left, but don't seem to play top competition, 32s have a great coach.

Moving forward, can Top Caliber or TSJ fill the void in Va? TC has great coaches and access to local HS fields, TSJ has amazing facilities but outside of Rick, not many coaches.

Too many parents are eager to take their money and run to the "better" MD clubs so they can say Johnny plays for X and expect Johnny to get a D1 offer if he stays with the club. DC Dogs ('23s) did great as a team and for their players (no MadLax didn't do anything here, just bought them) by sticking together over the years and TRW ('26s) is doing a nice job under the same model. Brooks should take his 32 VLC team and run it himself (if he had the time) since he is a fantastic coach.

I am one of those "eager" parents that ran to a "better" MD club.... The reason was not because of the name, but the coaching and field quality. Yes it does suck driving over the bridge, but my kid is now becoming a stronger lacrosse player. That is what HE wanted and I am supporting that.

Go ahead and keep telling yourself that. It was "Johnny" that wanted the change, I'm just supporting him. Yeah, right.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What most Va families we've spoken to want is a viable option other than Madlax. Next Level has established that and then some, becoming the top DC area team in the 24, 25, 26, and 27 classes.

Many of us hoped VLC would be that mirror on the VA side of the river...it never materialized. The success of college placement from the 23 & 24 VLC classes was impressive, is the talent in the 25 class going to measure up?

Looking around the younger age groups, VLC 29 team had a handful of their top kids move to True Chesapeake, 30s struggled in AA hoco, 31s are probably the strongest team left, but don't seem to play top competition, 32s have a great coach.

Moving forward, can Top Caliber or TSJ fill the void in Va? TC has great coaches and access to local HS fields, TSJ has amazing facilities but outside of Rick, not many coaches.

Too many parents are eager to take their money and run to the "better" MD clubs so they can say Johnny plays for X and expect Johnny to get a D1 offer if he stays with the club. DC Dogs ('23s) did great as a team and for their players (no MadLax didn't do anything here, just bought them) by sticking together over the years and TRW ('26s) is doing a nice job under the same model. Brooks should take his 32 VLC team and run it himself (if he had the time) since he is a fantastic coach.

I am one of those "eager" parents that ran to a "better" MD club.... The reason was not because of the name, but the coaching and field quality. Yes it does suck driving over the bridge, but my kid is now becoming a stronger lacrosse player. That is what HE wanted and I am supporting that.

Did VLC get enough for a 27 team?

The McLean rec league should scoop VLC as their travel option. Like an expanded blc but there still needs to be an owner operator.

False. An Elite lacrosse player is the result of an unlikely combination of factors.

1. You were born with superior athletic ability, but we’re not scooped up by the more popular sports, such as soccer and baseball.

2. Someone in your life (probably your dad) introduced you to lax early in your life and had the resources (time and money) to give you opportunities to learn. Let’s face it. It’s tough to be an elite lacrosse player when you only play 8 to 10 rec games a year so you have to be a travel kid.

3. You happen to be in the very small group of kids who are self motivated and self-directed at a young age.

Look the reason people like lacrosse for their kids is that it’s a weird little sport that is less competitive than the major sports (soccer football, baseball etc) if you don’t believe me check out the 40 times At football and soccer camps and compare them to lacrosse. It’s not even close. An elite lacrosse player is almost always an athletic, upper middle class kid with involved parents and tremendous drive. How many of those are out there.

Anonymous wrote:What most Va families we've spoken to want is a viable option other than Madlax. Next Level has established that and then some, becoming the top DC area team in the 24, 25, 26, and 27 classes.

Many of us hoped VLC would be that mirror on the VA side of the river...it never materialized. The success of college placement from the 23 & 24 VLC classes was impressive, is the talent in the 25 class going to measure up?

Looking around the younger age groups, VLC 29 team had a handful of their top kids move to True Chesapeake, 30s struggled in AA hoco, 31s are probably the strongest team left, but don't seem to play top competition, 32s have a great coach.

Moving forward, can Top Caliber or TSJ fill the void in Va? TC has great coaches and access to local HS fields, TSJ has amazing facilities but outside of Rick, not many coaches.

Any thoughts on the 28s?

Anonymous wrote:Competing with Madlax DCE and Nextlevel was never in the cards for VLC. There are not enough elite players for there to be a fourth elite squad in the DMV. In fact there’s probably not enough for three. VLC could have been the club for the top players at the nova privates (PVI & O’Connell) and top publics (Yorktown, Madison etc). True seems to be playing that role but I think there is a place for VLC.

Why? The kids on all these clubs were born on earth so have the same starting point. Being an elite player has nothing to do with location. Only desire and coaching. Admittedly there isn't enough good coaching in the area to go around and too much daddy coaching with unrealistic expectations (cough....Dulles South.....cough) but done right at the youth level there is no reason there can't be more elite players coming out of the area.

Competing with Madlax DCE and Nextlevel was never in the cards for VLC. There are not enough elite players for there to be a fourth elite squad in the DMV. In fact there’s probably not enough for three. VLC could have been the club for the top players at the nova privates (PVI & O’Connell) and top publics (Yorktown, Madison etc). True seems to be playing that role but I think there is a place for VLC.

Anonymous wrote:What most Va families we've spoken to want is a viable option other than Madlax. Next Level has established that and then some, becoming the top DC area team in the 24, 25, 26, and 27 classes.

Many of us hoped VLC would be that mirror on the VA side of the river...it never materialized. The success of college placement from the 23 & 24 VLC classes was impressive, is the talent in the 25 class going to measure up?

Looking around the younger age groups, VLC 29 team had a handful of their top kids move to True Chesapeake, 30s struggled in AA hoco, 31s are probably the strongest team left, but don't seem to play top competition, 32s have a great coach.

Moving forward, can Top Caliber or TSJ fill the void in Va? TC has great coaches and access to local HS fields, TSJ has amazing facilities but outside of Rick, not many coaches.

Too many parents are eager to take their money and run to the "better" MD clubs so they can say Johnny plays for X and expect Johnny to get a D1 offer if he stays with the club. DC Dogs ('23s) did great as a team and for their players (no MadLax didn't do anything here, just bought them) by sticking together over the years and TRW ('26s) is doing a nice job under the same model. Brooks should take his 32 VLC team and run it himself (if he had the time) since he is a fantastic coach.

What most Va families we've spoken to want is a viable option other than Madlax. Next Level has established that and then some, becoming the top DC area team in the 24, 25, 26, and 27 classes.

Many of us hoped VLC would be that mirror on the VA side of the river...it never materialized. The success of college placement from the 23 & 24 VLC classes was impressive, is the talent in the 25 class going to measure up?

Looking around the younger age groups, VLC 29 team had a handful of their top kids move to True Chesapeake, 30s struggled in AA hoco, 31s are probably the strongest team left, but don't seem to play top competition, 32s have a great coach.

Moving forward, can Top Caliber or TSJ fill the void in Va? TC has great coaches and access to local HS fields, TSJ has amazing facilities but outside of Rick, not many coaches.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gotta find a young Cabell, King Crab or Mitchell brothers and let them build a profitable business.

There’s truth in this, but who is going to take on lax full time in a saturated market?

I think VLC still has some advantages. There’s some good will left even with the poor performance since the merger. If they fix their problems they could have a couple good teams in a year or two.

Alternatively they could sell the program to True.

This could be a possibility if the CRABS see now future for VLC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gotta find a young Cabell, King Crab or Mitchell brothers and let them build a profitable business.

There’s truth in this, but who is going to take on lax full time in a saturated market?

I think VLC still has some advantages. There’s some good will left even with the poor performance since the merger. If they fix their problems they could have a couple good teams in a year or two.

Alternatively they could sell the program to True.

Anonymous wrote:Gotta find a young Cabell, King Crab or Mitchell brothers and let them build a profitable business.

There’s truth in this, but who is going to take on lax full time in a saturated market?