Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lax parents are the most obnoxious, vocal and insane stage parents out there. Telling them that their spawn are just not up to snuff is no fun. I don’t know if courage is the right word, but being thick skinned with a firm backbone are prerequisites for any coaches (and a bottle of Makers helps).

Right and to be clear, those NL guys drink cases of beer while they go over the tryouts from that day. Nice to know they're being serious and thoughtful.

Oh wow someone was drinking beer after work? Definitely can’t play there now

Anonymous wrote:Lax parents are the most obnoxious, vocal and insane stage parents out there. Telling them that their spawn are just not up to snuff is no fun. I don’t know if courage is the right word, but being thick skinned with a firm backbone are prerequisites for any coaches (and a bottle of Makers helps).

Right and to be clear, those NL guys drink cases of beer while they go over the tryouts from that day. Nice to know they're being serious and thoughtful.

Lax parents are the most obnoxious, vocal and insane stage parents out there. Telling them that their spawn are just not up to snuff is no fun. I don’t know if courage is the right word, but being thick skinned with a firm backbone are prerequisites for any coaches (and a bottle of Makers helps).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You want to build your brand, you have to win. You have to win, some players fall to the wayside. By doing this you damage kids, many of them quite young. Are you still a nice guy?

Teaching an important life lesson, that you can’t always win, that momma or dada can’t get always pave the way, that you might be that special snowflake after all? That s a lesson we all need to learn. Thank the Mitchell bros and Heeter for the guts to do this.

Guts? Bwah ha ha. It's club lacrosse. They're not saving the world.

All the local clubs are the same having had sons who have played for all of the big local ones. When you are at a club you believe they are different, but the reality is that all of them are pretty much the same. They want to win, winning means best tournaments, best tournaments means best recruiting opportunities, best recruiting outcomes means more kids wanting to play for club, more kids = more money. Let's not kid ourselves that club lacrosse in this area is developmental. In high school this makes a ton of sense, the problem is that this mentality has moved to younger and younger ages where kids actually need to develop, physically grow, etc. We see this in the growing number of holdbacks and the decent amount of turn over on teams at younger ages. Remember you pay for the "honor" of being on a club and there is no loyalty from the clubs, there should be no expectation, or need to feel, loyalty to the clubs. Do I like this, no, but it is the system we have for high level club lacrosse.

Good for Next Level for breaking some snowflakes (err, parents) hearts. No Daddy Ball with Mitchs or Heet. So refreshing.

Anonymous wrote:No thank you to NL. They used to be seen as the good guys, but I’ve heard some stories following tryouts this past weekend that make clear they are just like the rest of the clubs in that they prioritize wins over player and team development. Seems they had no problem tearing an existing, bonded team apart this weekend in order to bring on shiny new players who have no track record with the club.

It is tough watching boys this age lose their spot on their team, but that is an unfortunate reality of travel sports; nobody is entitled to keep his spot year to year. If the shiny new players are better than the incumbents, they deserve to be on the team. Are the stories you mention something unnecessarily harsh or unfair by NextLevel, or were they merely upgrading?

What happened with 2026 tryouts?

Anonymous wrote:
You want to build your brand, you have to win. You have to win, some players fall to the wayside. By doing this you damage kids, many of them quite young. Are you still a nice guy?

Teaching an important life lesson, that you can’t always win, that momma or dada can’t get always pave the way, that you might be that special snowflake after all? That s a lesson we all need to learn. Thank the Mitchell bros and Heeter for the guts to do this.

You want to build your brand, you have to win. You have to win, some players fall to the wayside. By doing this you damage kids, many of them quite young. Are you still a nice guy?

Anonymous wrote:No thank you to NL. They used to be seen as the good guys, but I’ve heard some stories following tryouts this past weekend that make clear they are just like the rest of the clubs in that they prioritize wins over player and team development. Seems they had no problem tearing an existing, bonded team apart this weekend in order to bring on shiny new players who have no track record with the club.

Club teams are usually formed on an annual or seasonal basis picking the best players they can find (not ideal for some but much better than daddy ball where ability & work hard are thrown out the window) but it sounds like you're just becoming aware of this scenario with NL. If you're looking for another team, there are still tryouts in the area depending on age group. Good luck.

No thank you to NL. They used to be seen as the good guys, but I’ve heard some stories following tryouts this past weekend that make clear they are just like the rest of the clubs in that they prioritize wins over player and team development. Seems they had no problem tearing an existing, bonded team apart this weekend in order to bring on shiny new players who have no track record with the club.

For what it's worth, my son played for Dave Mitchell for the last 4 years at Next Level on the 2020 team. We had a great experience. Dave works incredibly hard at running Next Level. He is a man of character and a great coach and role model. What is so important in club sports is to find a program that teaches and reinforces fundamental skills that will allow for your son to compete for playing time in high school. Club lacrosse must be challenging, but it must also be fun. Want for your son to want to practice on his own and to show up at practice a better player each week. The club coach or high school coach won't make your son the player he can be. They, hopefully, will inspire him to be the player he wants to be - and to show him how to do it. But it will be up to him to put the time in - more often than not when nobody is watching. Look for good character and good coaching as it will set the tone for the players and the parents. I hope you enjoy these years. Our son is going to college next year and he is among many 2020 Next Level players who are committed to play in college. We will miss Next Level and all the families we got to know and enjoy over the years. My son will continue to train at Next Level before his senior season in the spring. I bet he continues to work with coaches from Next Level during summers - through college.

Anonymous wrote:There are also a lot of Virginia boys (and girls) that already go to school in the District or MD so don’t need to worry about getting across the bridge except for on the way home.

The question asked was why don't more VA kids play for Next Level. An answer was provided. For most N.VA parents who do not send kids to MD and DC for HS there are better options in N.VA for travel lacrosse. VLC and Blackwold really do not complete with Next Level for players from what I see. Mostly Next Level looses kids to Madlax which practices in both MD and N.VA which is fine from Mclean and maybe Arlington. However, all families are different. If you already send you son to DC to go to school at Gonzaga or SJC I am sure it would not be an issue.

There are also a lot of Virginia boys (and girls) that already go to school in the District or MD so don’t need to worry about getting across the bridge except for on the way home.