12-year-old Lacrosse beginner?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Find a private coach. Have him start at the outset learning to catch, throw and cradle with the off-hand. Tell him to hit the wall. If he’s athletic enough and works hard enough, he should be able to play and contribute. It also depends on the program he’s playing for in high school. Top private school programs (Prep, GZ, Landon) have players who have been playing since kindergarten and developed a fair amount of lacrosse IQ. The public schools tend to have less developed players so entry bar is lower. Remember that Paul Rabil never touched a stick until 7th grade.

Mine never touched a stick til right before 9th grade. Divison 1 college. HS varsity all four years. Fun stuff.

Ignore the whole must play for ever crowd.

Your kid might be the next Paul Rabil. But probably not.

I'd be inclined to ignore anons on DCUM who have unverifiable stories about how their kid never touched a stick until high school and then went on to play D1.

There ‘a a senior on the Hopkins women’s lacrosse team who did just that. The better question is why this possibly makes you feel so threatened.

LMAO what a stupid reaction. In fact it sounds like YOU are the one who finds statistical reality threatening.

Keep citing exceptions here and there. Does it change the math of 121,000 high school kids and 3,600 D1 slots? NO.

Sure, the probability is quite low any kid will play in college, regardless of whether they start at age 7 or age 12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Find a private coach. Have him start at the outset learning to catch, throw and cradle with the off-hand. Tell him to hit the wall. If he’s athletic enough and works hard enough, he should be able to play and contribute. It also depends on the program he’s playing for in high school. Top private school programs (Prep, GZ, Landon) have players who have been playing since kindergarten and developed a fair amount of lacrosse IQ. The public schools tend to have less developed players so entry bar is lower. Remember that Paul Rabil never touched a stick until 7th grade.

Mine never touched a stick til right before 9th grade. Divison 1 college. HS varsity all four years. Fun stuff.

Ignore the whole must play for ever crowd.

Your kid might be the next Paul Rabil. But probably not.

I'd be inclined to ignore anons on DCUM who have unverifiable stories about how their kid never touched a stick until high school and then went on to play D1.

There ‘a a senior on the Hopkins women’s lacrosse team who did just that. The better question is why this possibly makes you feel so threatened.

LMAO what a stupid reaction. In fact it sounds like YOU are the one who finds statistical reality threatening.

Keep citing exceptions here and there. Does it change the math of 121,000 high school kids and 3,600 D1 slots? NO.

Sure, the probability is quite low any kid will play in college, regardless of whether they start at age 7 or age 12.

OP here. Could we go back to recommendations? My kid is 12, and just starting out. Discussion of whether or not he can play D1 is a bit premature.

[Anonymous]

Start with rec, most have a fall league. Buy a bounce back for the backyard and have him go to some camps this summer.

[Anonymous]

Find friends who play, go to a park for a few hours to throw with them, turn on some tunes. Also, find a school where he can do wallball, which is just throwing against a wall. You can search YouTube for some basic wallball drills. (You don't need a bounce back.)

[Anonymous]

Next Level has a lot of good clinics and summer camps for new(er) players. They also have a developmental rec league for up to 8th grade.. Silver Spring lacrosse is another good rec option. If I remember correctly, both St. Alban's and St. Andrew's also have lacrosse camps in the summer with boys of varying level of experience.

Getting him a stick and a ball to get used to prior to anything formal would be a good idea. If he brings the stick to a local school on the weekend or afternoon, he will probably find someone to pass around with, if not, he can always play some wall ball.

[Anonymous]

Commiseration. I have a beginner boy player (11 yo). He played with a previously mentioned rec team this spring and has found it hard to be “the worst” on the team which is filled with kids who have been playing for 4+ years. Doesn’t help that kids can be pretty mean about his lack of skill. I’ve been looking for a summer camp and a HS boy to teach him fundamentals over the summer. Some of the camps I’ve found for his age/grade specifically state they are for intermediate/advanced players, so I will be calling before committing to a camp. The last thing I want is for him to be in a camp filled with travel kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Find a private coach. Have him start at the outset learning to catch, throw and cradle with the off-hand. Tell him to hit the wall. If he’s athletic enough and works hard enough, he should be able to play and contribute. It also depends on the program he’s playing for in high school. Top private school programs (Prep, GZ, Landon) have players who have been playing since kindergarten and developed a fair amount of lacrosse IQ. The public schools tend to have less developed players so entry bar is lower. Remember that Paul Rabil never touched a stick until 7th grade.

Mine never touched a stick til right before 9th grade. Divison 1 college. HS varsity all four years. Fun stuff.

Ignore the whole must play for ever crowd.

Your kid might be the next Paul Rabil. But probably not.

I'd be inclined to ignore anons on DCUM who have unverifiable stories about how their kid never touched a stick until high school and then went on to play D1.

There ‘a a senior on the Hopkins women’s lacrosse team who did just that. The better question is why this possibly makes you feel so threatened.

LMAO what a stupid reaction. In fact it sounds like YOU are the one who finds statistical reality threatening.

Keep citing exceptions here and there. Does it change the math of 121,000 high school kids and 3,600 D1 slots? NO.

Sure, the probability is quite low any kid will play in college, regardless of whether they start at age 7 or age 12.

OP here. Could we go back to recommendations? My kid is 12, and just starting out. Discussion of whether or not he can play D1 is a bit premature.

Check your local rec programs, they offer summer and fall clinics . Also, check with your local high schools they may have some summer clinics, I am pretty sure I saw Centreville high school is having one. The St. James has lacrosse classes as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Commiseration. I have a beginner boy player (11 yo). He played with a previously mentioned rec team this spring and has found it hard to be “the worst” on the team which is filled with kids who have been playing for 4+ years. Doesn’t help that kids can be pretty mean about his lack of skill. I’ve been looking for a summer camp and a HS boy to teach him fundamentals over the summer. Some of the camps I’ve found for his age/grade specifically state they are for intermediate/advanced players, so I will be calling before committing to a camp. The last thing I want is for him to be in a camp filled with travel kids.

Not sure your location but Marymount is going to be doing some sort of their summer camp and I think weekly clinics, that might end up being a very approachable level of "competition" for him.

A billion people will tell you he needs to do wall ball (which is true) but to find a way to enjoy a bit of skill development helps a ton, having a friend or sibling or parent or neighbor to throw around with and try stuff out with is super helpful. The HS kid you mentioned can help with that role, but having a low risk situation to try stuff out helps a ton.

Good luck!