Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: M&D has a ton of experienced coaches at every level. Unfortunately BLC has increasingly relied heavily on parent “coaches”.

If the main person at starts is still around (SW) then I would avoid stars. Supposedly they have a new director but not 💯 sure.

Does anyone know for sure if they have a new director? That would make a big difference.

Anonymous wrote: M&D has a ton of experienced coaches at every level. Unfortunately BLC has increasingly relied heavily on parent “coaches”.

If the main person at starts is still around (SW) then I would avoid stars. Supposedly they have a new director but not 💯 sure.

M&D has a ton of experienced coaches at every level. Unfortunately BLC has increasingly relied heavily on parent “coaches”.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are all good for different reasons. Any of them would be a good starting point.

Can you expand upon the reasons? Trying to narrow down to 3 if we can.

Are they all located somewhere convenient to you? Unless you don't care too much about distance? Two clubs practice in MD: MDDC, BLC; Pride is in Great Falls, Stars is Springfield/Alexandria, and YJ is Fairfax.

Distance doesn’t matter much so looking at other differentiating factors like coaching, skill building, team ethos, etc.

Honestly I think you’re putting too much thought into this. Since your dd doesn’t have friends who play on any of them, pick the closest to you. You aren’t locked in for years. Try it and go from there. It doesn’t sound like she is even dying to do this or obsessed with lacrosse, so just pick the most convenient. Which team is best or has the best coaches or whatever will flip flop over the next few years. Any of those clubs would be fine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are all good for different reasons. Any of them would be a good starting point.

Can you expand upon the reasons? Trying to narrow down to 3 if we can.

Are they all located somewhere convenient to you? Unless you don't care too much about distance? Two clubs practice in MD: MDDC, BLC; Pride is in Great Falls, Stars is Springfield/Alexandria, and YJ is Fairfax.

Distance doesn’t matter much so looking at other differentiating factors like coaching, skill building, team ethos, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are all good for different reasons. Any of them would be a good starting point.

Can you expand upon the reasons? Trying to narrow down to 3 if we can.

Are they all located somewhere convenient to you? Unless you don't care too much about distance? Two clubs practice in MD: MDDC, BLC; Pride is in Great Falls, Stars is Springfield/Alexandria, and YJ is Fairfax.

Anonymous wrote:They are all good for different reasons. Any of them would be a good starting point.

Can you expand upon the reasons? Trying to narrow down to 3 if we can.

They are all good for different reasons. Any of them would be a good starting point.

Thinking ahead regarding summer tryouts. We're considering registering for tryouts for a few different teams. Does anyone have information on the following 2033 teams? Interested in what is good and what is not so good. We know we won't find perfection.

- Pride
- M&D DC
- Stars
- BLC Orange
- YJ

As a parent with a younger daughter just starting her lacrosse journey, I want to say thank you to all the experienced moms for generously sharing your insights.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2033 is a bit of an odd year because there aren’t really a plethora of good (and realistic) options despite there probably being too many travel squads overall in the DMV.

BLC Blue 2033 is incredible with a really awesome player / parent contingent and unbeatable coaching, but with two NGLL championships in a row they won’t be taking any inexperienced players even if they add a player or two.

BLC Orange was the worst team in NGLL B division by a wide margin despite charging the same price as Blue, and they didn’t have a White (developmental) option in this year as far as I know, so that seems like a situation to avoid.

That leaves Rebels, headed up by the Good Counsel head coach, and M&D DC. I would honestly just pick based on location and convenience, Rebels is probably a little better at the moment but at some point M&D seems likely to add some of the BLC kids who aren’t playing or top athletes new to lax.

Whatever you do, avoid the MC Elite / MD United reboot , and all the VA clubs close by seem to be in some level of disarray.

Are you saying generally Bethesda blue is a better team and offers better coaching than M&D DC? Because I think I heard the opposite.

For 2033, BLC Blue is better than M&D DC and it's not even close. BLC Blue has won the NGLL A division two years in a row. M&D DC was 6th in the B division and got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs. BLC Blue 2033 also has an all-star line-up of coaches.

Smug posts like this one about teams of 10 year olds is precisely why you should avoid BLC. Having been through the grind twice with my now high school aged girls, I can assure you that the amount of ngll championships your daughter wins in 3rd and 4th grade will have no bearing on their lacrosse journey.

The question that this post was purportedly answering asked about BLC vs M&D DC coaching generally, not the 33s specifically. What I’d say is that M&D DC coaching is typically more consistently good across all grade years than BLC. That’s largely driven by the parent-coach model of BLC that can be hit or miss on quality of coaching and the extent to which the dynamics of favoritism (perceived or real) among coaches for their daughters and their closest friends breeds bitterness among the team.

This is a very odd post. This thread is about 2033 and the post was responding to a run-down of 2033 teams. Who cares about clubs generally? Your girl is on a specific team. If the BLC team for that year doesn't have good coaching and the M&D DC one does, then M&D DC is probably the better choice.

Even looking "generally" though, I don't know on what basis you could say M&D DC is better than BLC. M&D DC has only existed for a year, so it doesn't have a lot of track record. NL pretty much ignored their girls program before M&D took over. The only year with a good M&D DC team is 2029. The 2034s look like they could be good, but pretty early to say. M&D DC's teams aren't even in the A division in most years. BLC has A division teams in every years. Some are middle of the pack and others are at the top of the division. None of them are bad.

Having had several kids go through lacrosse, I can say that paid coaches are as hit or miss as parent-coaches. A good number of the paid coaches care a lot more about the high school teams they are coaching, and the club teams are an after thought.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:YJ 33 will be hard to make IMO if you've just played rec - they have a pretty solid team that played last year and only a few of those were 34.

Jesus. Really ??? 34 and parents flexing like this. You all need to seriously take a momejtnU

What does this even mean?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2033 is a bit of an odd year because there aren’t really a plethora of good (and realistic) options despite there probably being too many travel squads overall in the DMV.

BLC Blue 2033 is incredible with a really awesome player / parent contingent and unbeatable coaching, but with two NGLL championships in a row they won’t be taking any inexperienced players even if they add a player or two.

BLC Orange was the worst team in NGLL B division by a wide margin despite charging the same price as Blue, and they didn’t have a White (developmental) option in this year as far as I know, so that seems like a situation to avoid.

That leaves Rebels, headed up by the Good Counsel head coach, and M&D DC. I would honestly just pick based on location and convenience, Rebels is probably a little better at the moment but at some point M&D seems likely to add some of the BLC kids who aren’t playing or top athletes new to lax.

Whatever you do, avoid the MC Elite / MD United reboot , and all the VA clubs close by seem to be in some level of disarray.

Are you saying generally Bethesda blue is a better team and offers better coaching than M&D DC? Because I think I heard the opposite.

For 2033, BLC Blue is better than M&D DC and it's not even close. BLC Blue has won the NGLL A division two years in a row. M&D DC was 6th in the B division and got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs. BLC Blue 2033 also has an all-star line-up of coaches.

Smug posts like this one about teams of 10 year olds is precisely why you should avoid BLC. Having been through the grind twice with my now high school aged girls, I can assure you that the amount of ngll championships your daughter wins in 3rd and 4th grade will have no bearing on their lacrosse journey.

The question that this post was purportedly answering asked about BLC vs M&D DC coaching generally, not the 33s specifically. What I’d say is that M&D DC coaching is typically more consistently good across all grade years than BLC. That’s largely driven by the parent-coach model of BLC that can be hit or miss on quality of coaching and the extent to which the dynamics of favoritism (perceived or real) among coaches for their daughters and their closest friends breeds bitterness among the team.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2033 is a bit of an odd year because there aren’t really a plethora of good (and realistic) options despite there probably being too many travel squads overall in the DMV.

BLC Blue 2033 is incredible with a really awesome player / parent contingent and unbeatable coaching, but with two NGLL championships in a row they won’t be taking any inexperienced players even if they add a player or two.

BLC Orange was the worst team in NGLL B division by a wide margin despite charging the same price as Blue, and they didn’t have a White (developmental) option in this year as far as I know, so that seems like a situation to avoid.

That leaves Rebels, headed up by the Good Counsel head coach, and M&D DC. I would honestly just pick based on location and convenience, Rebels is probably a little better at the moment but at some point M&D seems likely to add some of the BLC kids who aren’t playing or top athletes new to lax.

Whatever you do, avoid the MC Elite / MD United reboot , and all the VA clubs close by seem to be in some level of disarray.

Are you saying generally Bethesda blue is a better team and offers better coaching than M&D DC? Because I think I heard the opposite.

For 2033, BLC Blue is better than M&D DC and it's not even close. BLC Blue has won the NGLL A division two years in a row. M&D DC was 6th in the B division and got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs. BLC Blue 2033 also has an all-star line-up of coaches.

Anonymous wrote:OP, please do not try out for Pride unless you and your daughter are really committed to the sport. They are a top club with high expectations to prioritize their games over rec and to make every effort to attend practices. They expect time outside of practice working on stick skills. The commitment is 10 months long. The tournaments require travel out of state and overnight stays in hotels. It's a huge commitment of time and money. We love it, but it doesn't sound like what you're after.

Btw, the management issue you referred to in an earlier post is very old news and long gone.

I think you could say that for every club. They ALL want someone who is committed to the sport.