Anonymous wrote:I know Capital is DC based but where do they practice out of? DC? VA?

Both DC and VA.

I know Capital is DC based but where do they practice out of? DC? VA?

There are a bunch of young players who are either on an A team or more likely a B team who were quick to learn stick skills, to make the team and make an impact, but who you can see just do not have the speed, agility or athleticism to go far. I feel badly that they are doomed to be displaced.* It’s hard.

*Unless puberty hooks them up! But often these are the early developers.

Maybe it happens at the middle school age. Does not happen at the younger ages as far as I have seen. I am sure the middle schoolers who, as you said, have reached their capped potential, are getting moved down. Where the replacements come from, I do not know. I have a very athletic friend who was an elite player at another sport and started lacrosse in 5th grade—she could not get on an A team. She moved from a top club B team to another top club B team. It just becomes so very hard to get one of those few open middle school slots. At least at the top clubs in Maryland.

I would not say it is rare for players to move from B teams to A teams. My daughter played in ES for a B team (Pride White), and I would guess 25% of that team now plays for A-level high school clubs, including Capital Blue and M&D Black. Some girls go through puberty much earlier, giving them a significant early advantage and sometimes boxing out the late bloomers, but things even out as they reach high school. In high school, recruiting becomes the focus, so clubs like Capital, which gets to put together entirely new teams, will gladly select B team players who show recruitable skills (size, speed, and overall athleticism) over those who peaked physically in sixth grade and has no upside. My advice to the OP is to encourage your daughter to work on her skills outside of club practices, because when she's ready to compete at a higher level, someone will notice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it makes you feel any better, my daughter was straight B teams until she tried out for Capital and made blue. She tried out the first time in fourth grade after moving gear and playing one season in rec. We didn’t do anything crazy, like get a personal trainer or strength and conditioning coach. We did spend a little on some one-on-one lessons (a lot more in high school though). However, never more than once a month when the weather was warm. The biggest thing we did. was watch her go through puberty. She is now a division, one lacrosse player, while many others that were in the same club, and on the A-Team in middle school are either not playing or at a lower level. There’s actually more opportunities with boys to do this since there are so many more teams, and moving around is the norm.

Your child will rise to the level, more or less, where they should be at. If I was to recommend anything, it is one on one position specific coaching lessons. Not only did they get better with that type of attention, but it is its own CrossFit workout.

I second this. ⬆️ - Also a D1 lax parent. My daughter was on B teams until high school. I have seen WAY too many kids start too intense too young and burn out. So much burn out and injuries by the time they get to high school. A lot of them ended up quitting or dialing way back in high school.

We just had our daughter play seasonal rec sports and camps, stay active and practice her wall ball. We noticed the skills gap beginning in middle school and had her join a lax club at the end of 6th grade and occational 1-1 lessons starting in 8th grade. And she was recruited D1 by the end of September her junior year. If she is athletic and likes sports the rest will fall into place.

So interesting. Based on all of the stories I have seen it is rare to go from B teams to A teams. To me, it seems like you get on that track and it’s very difficult to get off—definitely at the same club. In fact, at Hero’s, they seem to often intentionally allow a move up just to have some evidence it can occur to not totally deflate the White kids and families. We have a few friends who started on White and that remained their destiny and same for their teammates. Maybe they could go to the A team of a lesser club. And, as the OP said, starting on the B team puts the kids at a disadvantage. All the good coaches and resources and attention go to the club’s A team. They are able to do far more advanced things more quickly with the better talent, so the kids develop faster. The kids and parents are more serious/intense too, being on the A team, and the B team is more chill about everything. When the A and B practice side by side, it can be really evident.

I’m sure at puberty things can change but elite clubs have their teams pretty set by 7th/8th grade. Elite athleticism definitely can break in but elite athleticism is uncommon.

I have a kid close to yours’ age and we played up on a B team to start the journey and then moved to the A team on grade level. Night and day experience. I have not seen one B team kid move up or advance to the skill or athletic level where they should have. Our A team would likely beat or be competitive with the older B team. I don’t think the same-age B team girls will have much of a chance to make our A team next year because we are developing at a way faster clip. That said, all of these girls are pre-puberty. But we do have a friend whose daughter is on an elite 2027 team and she said that a good chunk of those girls have been on the team since they were little kids.

Anonymous wrote:Stick skills are the main separater at that age, because none of them have gone through puberty yet to truly know what their athleticism will be like. Have her work relentlessly on her stick skills. Right and left handed. Show up at summer tryouts with better stick skills than the girls on the A team.

Stick skills but often alternatively also just general athleticism and/or aggressiveness and/or size (often at this age the girls who were born in say 2014 vs. late in 2015 have a huge early advantage that can fade). This is 3rd grade, the OP said, so 2035s. First year of club for the most part.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I couldn't disagree more about not having a speed and agility coach.

it's not just to go faster, it's also injury prevention and footwork.

Stick skills mean nothing if you can't run past anyone, or create separation.

If you practice running sprints and your kids form is horrible, they wont get quicker.

If your kid wants to move from the B team you are going to have to put the extra effort and money in for outside coaching.

Lacrosse in this area is super competitive and sadly that means additional support outside of just practice.

Most people don't need form work, they need to train the body to move faster. You won't get injured as a 12yo sprinting.

Speed and agility are two totally separate frameworks, footwork is not a speed thing.

Dancing around cones is a fine, rudimentary, level tasks to improve agility. But if you're not incorporating decision making you're just rehearsing.

The form not fixed before 12 will lead to injury later.

You do you, but I have been lucky enough to witness some success in the sport and the big differentiator is always speed.

There is a reason why every tryout at every level starts with a run test.

Your kid must have had insanely shitty form then, because almost no 12yo really needs help with that.

From my experience, almost every 12 yo needs help with that.

maybe its just what the gyms tell me, but i've heard them say that kids are always being told to run during practice by coaches, but no one ever teaches them how. So they can run, but they can run more efficiently and last longer with some training. my son was running a consistent okay time, but just wasn't improving in speed until he took the time to look at form.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it makes you feel any better, my daughter was straight B teams until she tried out for Capital and made blue. She tried out the first time in fourth grade after moving gear and playing one season in rec. We didn’t do anything crazy, like get a personal trainer or strength and conditioning coach. We did spend a little on some one-on-one lessons (a lot more in high school though). However, never more than once a month when the weather was warm. The biggest thing we did. was watch her go through puberty. She is now a division, one lacrosse player, while many others that were in the same club, and on the A-Team in middle school are either not playing or at a lower level. There’s actually more opportunities with boys to do this since there are so many more teams, and moving around is the norm.

Your child will rise to the level, more or less, where they should be at. If I was to recommend anything, it is one on one position specific coaching lessons. Not only did they get better with that type of attention, but it is its own CrossFit workout.

What do you think made the difference?

"The biggest thing we did. was watch her go through puberty." Early bloomers often dominate middle school girls lacrosse thanks to temporary advantages in height, strength, and speed. As a result, A teams are frequently filled with these kids while late bloomers may get overlooked. However, early maturity does not guarantee long-term success. Many elite athletes were late-maturing as children, since early maturers might depend on their physical size rather than developing their skills. I suspect PP's daughter was a late developer who eventually surpassed the early bloomers, who by then were comparatively shorter and slower.

Anonymous wrote:If it makes you feel any better, my daughter was straight B teams until she tried out for Capital and made blue. She tried out the first time in fourth grade after moving gear and playing one season in rec. We didn’t do anything crazy, like get a personal trainer or strength and conditioning coach. We did spend a little on some one-on-one lessons (a lot more in high school though). However, never more than once a month when the weather was warm. The biggest thing we did. was watch her go through puberty. She is now a division, one lacrosse player, while many others that were in the same club, and on the A-Team in middle school are either not playing or at a lower level. There’s actually more opportunities with boys to do this since there are so many more teams, and moving around is the norm.

Your child will rise to the level, more or less, where they should be at. If I was to recommend anything, it is one on one position specific coaching lessons. Not only did they get better with that type of attention, but it is its own CrossFit workout.

What do you think made the difference?

Anonymous wrote:If it makes you feel any better, my daughter was straight B teams until she tried out for Capital and made blue. She tried out the first time in fourth grade after moving gear and playing one season in rec. We didn’t do anything crazy, like get a personal trainer or strength and conditioning coach. We did spend a little on some one-on-one lessons (a lot more in high school though). However, never more than once a month when the weather was warm. The biggest thing we did. was watch her go through puberty. She is now a division, one lacrosse player, while many others that were in the same club, and on the A-Team in middle school are either not playing or at a lower level. There’s actually more opportunities with boys to do this since there are so many more teams, and moving around is the norm.

Your child will rise to the level, more or less, where they should be at. If I was to recommend anything, it is one on one position specific coaching lessons. Not only did they get better with that type of attention, but it is its own CrossFit workout.

I second this. ⬆️ - Also a D1 lax parent. My daughter was on B teams until high school. I have seen WAY too many kids start too intense too young and burn out. So much burn out and injuries by the time they get to high school. A lot of them ended up quitting or dialing way back in high school.

We just had our daughter play seasonal rec sports and camps, stay active and practice her wall ball. We noticed the skills gap beginning in middle school and had her join a lax club at the end of 6th grade and occational 1-1 lessons starting in 8th grade. And she was recruited D1 by the end of September her junior year. If she is athletic and likes sports the rest will fall into place.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I couldn't disagree more about not having a speed and agility coach.

it's not just to go faster, it's also injury prevention and footwork.

Stick skills mean nothing if you can't run past anyone, or create separation.

If you practice running sprints and your kids form is horrible, they wont get quicker.

If your kid wants to move from the B team you are going to have to put the extra effort and money in for outside coaching.

Lacrosse in this area is super competitive and sadly that means additional support outside of just practice.

Most people don't need form work, they need to train the body to move faster. You won't get injured as a 12yo sprinting.

Speed and agility are two totally separate frameworks, footwork is not a speed thing.

Dancing around cones is a fine, rudimentary, level tasks to improve agility. But if you're not incorporating decision making you're just rehearsing.

The form not fixed before 12 will lead to injury later.

You do you, but I have been lucky enough to witness some success in the sport and the big differentiator is always speed.

There is a reason why every tryout at every level starts with a run test.

Your kid must have had insanely shitty form then, because almost no 12yo really needs help with that.

From my experience, almost every 12 yo needs help with that.

Anonymous wrote:Your kid should be practicing stick skills and agility/speed drills on her own outside of practice.

If she won't practice on her own, there is no point in worrying about all this. Let her enjoy B team.

This and friends - sports are supposed to be fun!

Anonymous wrote:Your kid should be practicing stick skills and agility/speed drills on her own outside of practice.

If she won't practice on her own, there is no point in worrying about all this. Let her enjoy B team.

+1, start from ensuring it's what the kid wants.

Your kid should be practicing stick skills and agility/speed drills on her own outside of practice.

If she won't practice on her own, there is no point in worrying about all this. Let her enjoy B team.