Club lacrosse early years - share "wish I had known"

[Anonymous]

Never let achievement in sport be more important than achievement in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much it would cost in time and money until senior year....

About 2K/yr 7th and 8th grade
About 3K/yr 9-12

$16K

We just played club and no private training

I think you need to add in travel costs when looking at expense. That is where the real $$$ accrues.

Some tournaments are close by so you can drive back and forth each day; however, many/most tournaments are much further away so you will either drive and spend the night (plus food), or you will fly/train there, rent a car and then also have lodging/food expenses. Those costs are not apparent but they rack up rapidly. Then you add in the cost of the contributions for the team snacks at each tournament, sometimes having to pay for parking, and it is a death by a thousand cuts in addition to the bigger expenses you've already incurred.

We don't break out club costs by kid but I would guesstimate from a quick glance right now at our financial software that we spend at least $10k per kid per club sport per year, including the club fees estimated by the PP above.

My numbers include $500 for travel.

Cost was $1500 for middle school, $2500 for HS.

What are club costs now per year.

$10K sounds like hockey

Tournaments were Baltimore , Navy, Delaware, Philly and NJ. So 2 local, 2 travel.

We usually only did 1 night in a hotel per tournament. I did not count food and gas.

You can get suck into the trip to Denver. We never did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Big schools?

Md, UNC, Johns Hopkins

I mean Tufts and Delaware are great (for different reasons) but it’s not UVA.

Coaches do not help with recruiting to academic or unranked schools.

New clubs are a little more helpful since that is most of their players.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Understand from the beginning that the club essentially only cares about the A team and provides better coaching and resources and to the A team and that hardly anyone ever moves up to the A team from the B team.

+1

B teams... coaches are helping you make and play for your HS team... no more.

[Anonymous]

Of course, that’s not nothing. Plus the team camaraderie and experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Understand from the beginning that the club essentially only cares about the A team and provides better coaching and resources and to the A team and that hardly anyone ever moves up to the A team from the B team.

+1

B teams... coaches are helping you make and play for your HS team... no more.

I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing. My kid got into an excellent college on his own academic merits anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much it would cost in time and money until senior year....

About 2K/yr 7th and 8th grade
About 3K/yr 9-12

$16K

We just played club and no private training

I think you need to add in travel costs when looking at expense. That is where the real $$$ accrues.

Some tournaments are close by so you can drive back and forth each day; however, many/most tournaments are much further away so you will either drive and spend the night (plus food), or you will fly/train there, rent a car and then also have lodging/food expenses. Those costs are not apparent but they rack up rapidly. Then you add in the cost of the contributions for the team snacks at each tournament, sometimes having to pay for parking, and it is a death by a thousand cuts in addition to the bigger expenses you've already incurred.

We don't break out club costs by kid but I would guesstimate from a quick glance right now at our financial software that we spend at least $10k per kid per club sport per year, including the club fees estimated by the PP above.

My numbers include $500 for travel.

Cost was $1500 for middle school, $2500 for HS.

What are club costs now per year.

$10K sounds like hockey

Tournaments were Baltimore , Navy, Delaware, Philly and NJ. So 2 local, 2 travel.

We usually only did 1 night in a hotel per tournament. I did not count food and gas.

You can get suck into the trip to Denver. We never did.

4 tournaments total? All year? Your kid is playing in a totally different league than ours then. We covered 4 tournaments in 6-7 weeks last year. I think this is where OP needs to ask a lot of questions before signing up. I know some people on our son's team were really stretched and unpleasantly surprised when the costs started to rack up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Never let achievement in sport be more important than achievement in school.

YES!!!

[Anonymous]

Wish had known that playing for an established club was only one factor in getting recruited. The other big factor - playing for a private school. For some reason, colleges think those without that pedigree are somehow suspect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wish had known that playing for an established club was only one factor in getting recruited. The other big factor - playing for a private school. For some reason, colleges think those without that pedigree are somehow suspect.

It's not the private school pedigree, but rather it's that private school lax in this area is so much more competitive than public school in MD and VA. We saw it first hand when DK switched from public to private in 10th. Now if publics could combine the best players at various HS into 1 team to compete against the privates-those would be some great games.

[Anonymous]

Here's a different take on club lacrosse (and it sounds like most people posting here have sons, and I am talking about a daughter) - incredibly positive experience for my daughter. Glad we started early. Helped her with confidence, athleticism, and she made incredible friends. Great outlet from school pressures (may not be true if your club doesn't have a positive environment like hers). Love tournament weekends, worth every penny and we all have a great time. So, as opposed to a lot of negatives, we thought starting club early and staying on it consistently was a great thing, and we would highly recommend it to other kids that are passionate about lacrosse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much it would cost in time and money until senior year....

About 2K/yr 7th and 8th grade
About 3K/yr 9-12

$16K

We just played club and no private training

I think you need to add in travel costs when looking at expense. That is where the real $$$ accrues.

Some tournaments are close by so you can drive back and forth each day; however, many/most tournaments are much further away so you will either drive and spend the night (plus food), or you will fly/train there, rent a car and then also have lodging/food expenses. Those costs are not apparent but they rack up rapidly. Then you add in the cost of the contributions for the team snacks at each tournament, sometimes having to pay for parking, and it is a death by a thousand cuts in addition to the bigger expenses you've already incurred.

We don't break out club costs by kid but I would guesstimate from a quick glance right now at our financial software that we spend at least $10k per kid per club sport per year, including the club fees estimated by the PP above.

My numbers include $500 for travel.

Cost was $1500 for middle school, $2500 for HS.

What are club costs now per year.

$10K sounds like hockey

Tournaments were Baltimore , Navy, Delaware, Philly and NJ. So 2 local, 2 travel.

We usually only did 1 night in a hotel per tournament. I did not count food and gas.

You can get suck into the trip to Denver. We never did.

4 tournaments total? All year? Your kid is playing in a totally different league than ours then. We covered 4 tournaments in 6-7 weeks last year. I think this is where OP needs to ask a lot of questions before signing up. I know some people on our son's team were really stretched and unpleasantly surprised when the costs started to rack up.

For club yes. Football/Soccer players do not play the Fall Tournament. Your kids might.

We played HS March-May, club end of May-June/July. Soccer/Football August-October.

HS players do the lame Fall league on Sunday and some tournaments... but still Soccer and Football don't. Maybe Junior year if you are still not recruited (well I guess that is normal now).

We did play tournaments with HS (top teams in the DMV) but that is not what the poster is asking. OUr HS did some travel too and there is a team fee, but again... OP is asking about clubs.

2 of my 3 kids ended up playing top 20 LAX programs in college.

That was my experience.

[Anonymous]

This is how cost get out of control.

You have basically 4 tournaments in the summer Adrenaline, HHH, Naptown, Crabfest. ($2500-$3000... 2 nights travel.... $500) maybe their is a 5th LongIsland, im not going to die on that hill

Then you have to do the HS trournament with your team. (This is local but maybe you get hit up for $300-$400)

Now you have to try out for UnderArmour and do a few prospect camps... which are usually a waste of time. ($200) ($500, plus travel to the colleges)

Then you make your kid do some Fall tournaments for "maximum" exposure. ($500-$1000)

Then you do box in the winter which is $2000 more plus $500 in travel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's a different take on club lacrosse (and it sounds like most people posting here have sons, and I am talking about a daughter) - incredibly positive experience for my daughter. Glad we started early. Helped her with confidence, athleticism, and she made incredible friends. Great outlet from school pressures (may not be true if your club doesn't have a positive environment like hers). Love tournament weekends, worth every penny and we all have a great time. So, as opposed to a lot of negatives, we thought starting club early and staying on it consistently was a great thing, and we would highly recommend it to other kids that are passionate about lacrosse.

100% agree with this from the boys side if you can find the right situation. There is no one right club for every kid, but if you can find the right team that matches what you are looking for it can be great experience playing club from an early age. Obviously it’s pricey though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's a different take on club lacrosse (and it sounds like most people posting here have sons, and I am talking about a daughter) - incredibly positive experience for my daughter. Glad we started early. Helped her with confidence, athleticism, and she made incredible friends. Great outlet from school pressures (may not be true if your club doesn't have a positive environment like hers). Love tournament weekends, worth every penny and we all have a great time. So, as opposed to a lot of negatives, we thought starting club early and staying on it consistently was a great thing, and we would highly recommend it to other kids that are passionate about lacrosse.

Despite what people post here, I think there are more people like you than those who dislike club lacrosse. It can and needs to be fun. I also look forward to tournament weekends. I know the cost seems high to many but compared with almost any activity it is right there in terms of cost including travel. We are lucky to have coaches that are also role models for the kids and influence them on and off the field.