Welcome back to Friday Franswers. You ask me questions, ANY questions, and I answer them on Fridays. Pretty simple really!
Ask @ConnorWilsonLAS a Question and he’ll answer on FRIDAY! #FridayFranswers
Friday Franswers https://t.co/KgrmAlc4ot
— Lacrosse All Stars (@LaxAllStars) July 13, 2016
Ok, so this week I got some good questions, and some other questions, which were something other than good. I’ll let you supply your own adjective.
I included the main photo to give you something to shoot for this Summer.
Friday Franswers – Round 2
Coach Loco
should lax tourneys be age-based (like soccer and usahockey)? does grade base promote #reclassifying?
Should doesn’t really matter anymore. US Lacrosse is moving to an age-based system, so these youth tourneys will eventually have to follow suit for insurance purposes, at least for youth players. HS should remain organized by class, which makes sense.
Now, allow me to tell you why I think each approach has issues!
In grade based systems you can have kids who are older and more developed playing against kids that are often a full year (or more) younger. Bobby is 2 feet taller than Jimmy. It’s called being 12! In extreme examples, kids will be held back to see greater athletic success by parents who are worried about 7th grade championships and D1 scholarships for 12 year olds. This is rare, these are crazy people, and they should be ignored. Other kids will be held back for other reasons. What you can end up getting is HUGE older players on the same field as really small younger players. Above all else, it seems to be a safety issue, which I certainly understand.
But here’s the rub… For age based systems, you can still run into issues with size and development. Yes, it’s often a little better than grade based systems, at least in that one regard. The problem here is when you have an older 6th grader who has to play up with the 7th or 8th graders. It’s GREAT for the 6th grader to get to play up, but I’m not sold on it being so good for all the other 6th graders out there.
Here’s why:
When all these 6th graders are monstrous 9th graders or freshmen in college, these kids are back on the same team. The older kid is now “the same age” and you need to compete against him… but you haven’t because he had to play up the last 3 years. I missed the age cut off for soccer by 6 days when I was growing up, so I always played up. It was great for me and it gave me a leg up on my classmates.
Age-based is great for U13s, but beyond that, I actually prefer grade-based, or even mixing grades, since it is more akin to HS and college levels. Unless recruiting bumps back to HS sophomores (good luck with that!), I don’t see the benefit in getting away from grade-based competition, even thought it’s how the rest of the world operates. Play against kids in your grade, and maybe you’ll be ready to make the cut against seniors when you are a freshman.
I’d really prefer to see teams of any age. 8th graders playing against sophomores in high school? If the 8th grader is good enough, I’m all for it. After 8th grade, you play with and against kids who are 3-4 years older or younger. Why we fight that so hard in 5th-8th grade leaves me a little baffled.
I know, no one agrees with me on this, and I’m ok with it.
James
Which plastic non offset head is the best ever? SAM? SUPERLIGHT? something else?
I’m glad you specified plastic, because I would have gone on forever about wooden sticks and it would have been embarrassing.
A lot of people will say the STX Excalibur and it’s a great choice, but it’s not my personal Arthurian legend. For me, the Brine Shotgun with traditional takes the cake. It had a filled in sidewall that was easily 2″ thick and when it was used and pinched a bit, it was a beast of a head. In 2000, Tim Byrnes on Syracuse used a traditionally strung Shotgun (or something like it) when everyone else had mesh in a Brine Edge or an STX Proton. He was, and is, my hero for this very reason. Also because when he finished lacrosse at Cuse, he enrolled as a grad student and played on their basketball team. Who does that? Tim Byrnes is who.
Brooke
What do you think about the Aussie U19 team?
Oi. Oi. Oi. They look great! When one realizes just how small the Aussie lacrosse community is (only ~40 clubs total in the country), this team of long-haired Aussie teens is absolutely amazing. Great face off work from Graham, really good in goal (with multiple keepers but I love Dobson), and they play smart international lacrosse, with lots of patience and poise. Offensively they fall short of the US, Canada, and Iroquois teams, but Panting, Wood, Purdie Jr and others look really good at times. They play hard, play smart, and play team ball. Plus their green helmets with yellow facemasks are spicy. Outside of the big 3, you fear the Crocs.
Also, go Wembley.
Also also, the Aussies are so good I put TWO of them on my All-World U19 Team for 2016!
Danish Lacrosse
How should we use the 50 helmets we got from MadisonBoysLax? Give them to schools? Clinics?National team?
I have two options for you here, so pick your uninformed, opinionated poison!
- Sell the helmets to new lacrosse players in Denmark for a very reasonable price, say $50. Use the $2500 the sales eventually generate to start an annual fund for the national governing body. In the future, do this with all equipment you receive. Sell it at a LOW price, and invest all the money received back into your program. If you charge people a fee (even a small fee) they will be more invested in lacrosse than if you give them the helmet for free… and when starting out you NEED invested people, and the money never hurts.
- Give all 50 helmets to Per Kirkeby so he can create a piece of modern art in Copenhagen and hope that drives interest in the sport in Denmark.
I’m recommending option #1, but that’s just me.
Peter
Can we wear box helmets on the field? My 12 y.o. was just asking me today…
It’s kind of like swimming with sharks. You CAN do it, and plenty of people do, but it’s risky. I’m not even sure if that’s true, but it sounds true.
Some US refs are ok with it, most are not. Official rules in the USA say you need to wear a LACROSSE helmet, which is NOCSAE certified, so hockey helmets/box helmets will always be a risk stateside. Anywhere else and it’s often OK. Tehoka Nanticoke is wearing one for the U19 field games, but that’s FIL Lacrosse. They run by their own rules.
.@T_nanticoke catches Bomberry’s full field heave & finishes backhand for a @IrqLax goal at @U19Lax2016 #U19Lax2016 pic.twitter.com/PHc98QRdyX
— Lacrosse Film Room (@LaxFilmRoom) July 11, 2016
Ryan
what are #Franswers called in France?
Pretty sure they’re called a Royale with cheese, but that’s only because of the metric system.
Darci
does a bear s*** in the woods?
The real question here has to be what do the bears do with all of that used toilet paper?
Got ’em.
