I've been told next level will be adding one high school team per year moving forward.

Thank you for the dose of reality. I am probably a bit older than PP. I played in the Ivy League in the 80's ,and like many of my college teammates made my way to Wall Street and a lucrative sales/trading position. This may seem like a non sequitur, but perhaps not. The appeal in my day of getting into the "club" of Ivy lax was the pipeline to the Street. Gross over generalization, I know. Back then, a plum sales job was an almost certain path to a reasonable amount of wealth.

Circumstances have changed dramatically in the last 25 years. The multi-million dollar cash salaries/bonuses of WS have been replaced by just enough compensation to keep your nose above the water line when the cost of living in NYC is factored (rents, school, taxes, vacations). Goldman Sachs, at the top of the heap, is no more than a regulated bank earning quite ordinary 10% returns. The celebrated stories of hedge fund and private equity Titans have a huge survivor bias. Most of WS is a group of disappointed and disenchanted 40 somethings sleepwalking through life.

Grim picture, but there is a point. Most of these guys would have been better off spending their college years focused on developing a real passion and using the 30 hours spent cradling a ball in the classroom, library or lab. Lax is just a game; one which none of your kids are going to make any money playing.

My son just received an invitation to Jake Reeds Nov showcase in NC. He says it is a big deal, particularly as his goal is to play at the college level. I see it s expensive and is scheduled for a weekend where we have other conflicts. Is this really that big of an opportunity for my son?

the post above is great! Thank you.

Now if only my 13 year old son had your perspective. We live in Bethesda and he is pretty good based on what I have seen. He is begging for me to try out for the crabs.

Great post thank you!

Thank you....

I posted on this forum a few weeks ago - I played college ball at the D1 level and graduated from an IAC school.

Parents: college ball is not nearly as BIG as you think it is nor is it that fun. I played in the ACC where I thought I would get playing time by the time I was a sophomore and even junior year but I didn't. College coaches will promise you a lot of shit during the recruiting process but when you arrive on campus and they have 12 -13 recruits per class, you soon realize

With the growth of the game across the country into non hot bed areas such as Atlanta, Texas, Minnesota, and even The Pacific Northwest, it will become even harder to play d1 and d3 ball. What parents fail to recognize is the game is hardly growing at the D1 level due to title IV. Lacrosse has added 3 lacrosse programs in the past 3 4 years: Cleveland State, NJIT and Furman . Let's be serious these aren't schools you are licking your chops to send your son to. College lacrosse rosters are tipping 45 on the roster and several schools have 60 plus kids at practices and only 37 of them make the travel squad.

My advice on the situation, if you are an elite player, college coaches will find you. Attend a showcase event. If you really think you need to deal with the harassment from some of these lunatic club lacrosse coaches (Crabs, blackwolf, mad lax) to get a shot at college lacrosse you are wrong.

Go to a club where your son will have some good coaching, meet some new friends, have some fun and learn how to deal with some adversity. club lax coaches (especially the crabs, black wolf and mad lax) love to create this recruiting hysteria to parents as it's very important to their business. I find it funny how the clubs mentioned above, love to list the amount of verbals commits (I'm sure it's for marketing purposes and bragging rights)

As the sport only continues to grow, and believe me title IV is not going anywhere, the elite clubs won't be having 7+ kids on their club team committed to a d1 program at the end of their sophomore season. If you don't think college coaches are scouting clubs in Texas, Florida, Minnesota and Portlland, you have been sleeping under a rock. Kids from non hot bed areas will continue fill the rosters of d1 programs and gradually eat into the market share that was traditionally do undated by kids from the mid Atlantic and North East.

So parents, don't over think. No need to go pay an arm and a leg to be harassed by a club coach who is promising your only ticket to d1 lacrosse is through their club program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thoughts in next level

Typically wealthier families that other clubs. Generally these are kids who don't need athletics to get to college (scholarship money isn't an issue), so it's a better group of people then many clubs. So, if they don't have a good season or game, no one goes ballistic. Instead the parents get together, have dinner parties, etc. -- an all around great experience. Definitely not for those who like the yelling and crassness found at, say, a mad lax or Bethesda.
Here's an analogy: if next level is the equivalent of a group of friends visiting a friends house in Martha's Vinyard, mad lax is a daytrip to Virginia beach and Bethesda is a beer soaked weekend in Dewey beach.

We get it. If the people are wealthier, then they are better people.

Go soak your head in a bucket.

Anonymous wrote:Thoughts in next level

Typically wealthier families that other clubs. Generally these are kids who don't need athletics to get to college (scholarship money isn't an issue), so it's a better group of people then many clubs. So, if they don't have a good season or game, no one goes ballistic. Instead the parents get together, have dinner parties, etc. -- an all around great experience. Definitely not for those who like the yelling and crassness found at, say, a mad lax or Bethesda.
Here's an analogy: if next level is the equivalent of a group of friends visiting a friends house in Martha's Vinyard, mad lax is a daytrip to Virginia beach and Bethesda is a beer soaked weekend in Dewey beach.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thoughts in next level

NL's HS teams have been terrible for years, so there is little incentive to stick it out. Their youth teams have been hemmoraging for years and the talent is pretty bad. Stay away.

This is there first year with high school teams

I only see a 9th grade team.

Instead of trying to field 4 teams they have decided just to carry the current teams through so they will only have 2019 and after.

Will there be a college recruiting focus?

I don't know. You should email Dave Mitchel and ask to talk to him.

I think there are some kids that will be recruited junior year (like it should be), some that will be done with lacrosse after senior year and some that may like to go on to play club. It will be more like the madlax B team, but it won't be like the Madlax Capital Team where kids are committing Freshman year.

People who really want to commit Frsshman year are leaving (all programs) for Maxlax and Crabs their 8th grade year.

Not everybody wants to play college lacrosse or decide their future at the age of 14. I think that is missing in this area.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thoughts in next level

NL's HS teams have been terrible for years, so there is little incentive to stick it out. Their youth teams have been hemmoraging for years and the talent is pretty bad. Stay away.

This is there first year with high school teams

I only see a 9th grade team.

Instead of trying to field 4 teams they have decided just to carry the current teams through so they will only have 2019 and after.

Will there be a college recruiting focus?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Heights Head Coach is running Next Level.

I actually think its on the way up.

He is very good with kids and is a pretty good coach.

He is a nice guy and I'm sure they'll get some more Heights kids because of it. But they tried this before with the Landon guys, and it failed. The talent level has been dropping off dramatically at NL for years.

This is there first year with high school teams

No, they've fielded HS teams before, but they've almost always been terrible ones. They usually had to field combo teams (e.g. freshman-sophomore, junior-senior) that were pretty bad.

I think it is a good model, lots of kids in bethesda area want to play lacrosse. They want to play for their HS team. A few might play for d1/D3 but they just want good coaches that aren't psyco.if Next level does no crumble to the lax pressure of only fielding teams for D1 recruiting purposes, it could be successful.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thoughts in next level

NL's HS teams have been terrible for years, so there is little incentive to stick it out. Their youth teams have been hemmoraging for years and the talent is pretty bad. Stay away.

This is there first year with high school teams

I only see a 9th grade team.

Instead of trying to field 4 teams they have decided just to carry the current teams through so they will only have 2019 and after.

Anonymous wrote:The Heights Head Coach is running Next Level.

I actually think its on the way up.

He is very good with kids and is a pretty good coach.

He is a nice guy and I'm sure they'll get some more Heights kids because of it. But they tried this before with the Landon guys, and it failed. The talent level has been dropping off dramatically at NL for years.

This is there first year with high school teams

No, they've fielded HS teams before, but they've almost always been terrible ones. They usually had to field combo teams (e.g. freshman-sophomore, junior-senior) that were pretty bad.

Prestige of the Duke Lax team? Now THAT is rich.