Anonymous wrote:Is it possible for a kid to play lacrosse for the love of the game. My son has been playing for a couple of years and loves the game. Unfortunately, the focus on college recruiting, and the competitiveness that comes along with it, brings so much pressure.

Of course. Many kids, even in good high school programs, don't go on to play lacrosse in college. No need to try to opt in to recruiting if your son is not hoping to play in college.

Anonymous wrote:Is it possible for a kid to play lacrosse for the love of the game. My son has been playing for a couple of years and loves the game. Unfortunately, the focus on college recruiting, and the competitiveness that comes along with it, brings so much pressure.

Sure.

He just has to pick a spot where he can actually play. Even at the better programs there are kids who colleges really aren't all that interested in because they are too small, too slow and/or not athletic enough. The percentage of the kids that match this description increases as you get further away from the "power" programs.

There's a "Gold Rush" atmosphere surrounding high school lacrosse these days as better than average high school athletes, and their parents, have discovered lacrosse is a ticket to schools that would ordinarily be beyond their reach. Most of these kids would have no chance of being recruited to play basketball or football.

Is it possible for a kid to play lacrosse for the love of the game. My son has been playing for a couple of years and loves the game. Unfortunately, the focus on college recruiting, and the competitiveness that comes along with it, brings so much pressure.

Anonymous wrote:Is it possible to get recruited if my son does not play for any of the club teams written about above? He is a recent football convert but is already one of the star players on his high school (private school) team (he is a sophomore).

He should talk to his coach about a club team. You can also do some research on showcase camps. Finally, after talking to someone like the HS coach about his level of potential, he could go to some camps on the campus of colleges in which he might be interested (DIII or DI).

Anonymous wrote:Why is lacrosse even a sport where recruitment is such a big deal? I get football and basketball. Those are the marquee sports that bring in revenue, tv exposure, and donors. But lacrosse? No one goes to the games, it's never on tv, and I don't see donors opening their checkbooks simply because their school lacrosse team had a winning season.

Wow, you are dating yourself!

1. Good attendance (if not on football levels) at DI lacrosse schools
2. It's on TV all the time! On a national level, ESPN televises many college and pro games now -- and in this area, Comcast Sports televises games of area teams like UVA/Hopkins/Maryland.
3. There are some very generous donors from the lacrosse community -- the biggest athletic donors Yale has had in decades were two brothers who had played lacrosse and donated the money to build a lacrosse stadium.

Anonymous wrote:Is it possible to get recruited if my son does not play for any of the club teams written about above? He is a recent football convert but is already one of the star players on his high school (private school) team (he is a sophomore).

Possibly, but it is hard to be recruited if he is not seen. If his school is one with a strong lacrosse reputation (or at his his coach has one), that would help a lot.

Is it possible to get recruited if my son does not play for any of the club teams written about above? He is a recent football convert but is already one of the star players on his high school (private school) team (he is a sophomore).

Anonymous wrote:Why is lacrosse even a sport where recruitment is such a big deal? I get football and basketball. Those are the marquee sports that bring in revenue, tv exposure, and donors. But lacrosse? No one goes to the games, it's never on tv, and I don't see donors opening their checkbooks simply because their school lacrosse team had a winning season.

The recent trend for earlier commitments is not necessarily related to the revenue lacrosse brings in. There are more and more recruiting events where coaches can evaluate top prospects. Consequently, there is an arms race going on to get the best recruits as early as possible. The NCAA does not have any restrictions as to when someone can commit to a college, and many top coaches are willing to snatch up a highly regarded recruit at an early age. In the 2016 class, there are already three kids who have committed to D1 programs who haven't played a minute of HS lacrosse. Some of these kids (perhaps many) are not going to pan out, but there is no sign of this trend stopping.

As for revenue, lacrosse is not a minor sport. Nothing approaches college football, which typically pays for the entire athletic department. Besides basketball, baseball and sometimes hockey, there aren't any other sports that top lacrosse in terms of attendance and revenue at the gate. Lacrosse is seen on ESPN and some regional networks, so it is on TV. Yes, it is nowhere near the size of football and basketball, but it is a sport that is usually high on the college food chain. At some schools like Hopkins, it is the #1 sport. A school like Hopkins has a lacrosse-only athletic center that was funded by donors. There are many donors who open their checkbooks for lacrosse (e.g. Richmond is starting a men's D1 program funded by donors).

Anonymous wrote:Why is lacrosse even a sport where recruitment is such a big deal? I get football and basketball. Those are the marquee sports that bring in revenue, tv exposure, and donors. But lacrosse? No one goes to the games, it's never on tv, and I don't see donors opening their checkbooks simply because their school lacrosse team had a winning season.

because many of the D1 lacrosse schools are the ivy's or duke, johns hopkins, unc etc. It gives kids who may not be able to get into those schools on academics a chance to go to a top academic school.

Why is lacrosse even a sport where recruitment is such a big deal? I get football and basketball. Those are the marquee sports that bring in revenue, tv exposure, and donors. But lacrosse? No one goes to the games, it's never on tv, and I don't see donors opening their checkbooks simply because their school lacrosse team had a winning season.

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Anonymous wrote:Freshmen committing to college seems ridiculous, indeed. Just heard that there is a Landon freshmen who has comitted to UVA as of this week. Strange but true apparently.
Is this the new norm?

Just because a freshman commits to a college, doesn't mean that that college has recruited him/her or ever will. As a high school freshman, I committed to going to Princeton, but by senior year, I wasn't good enough to get in. Freshmen/Sophomores/Juniors can announce they are committing to a school, even though that school's coach has not contacted them. College coaches cannot initiate personal contact or make a scholarship offer to any athlete until June 1 before the athlete's senior year. The fact that a high school underclassman commits only tells the college that he/she is very interested in attending that school and alerts the school to that fact. The college admissions department can then send out admissions brochures and other information about the school that they send to all interested potential applicants and begin the STUDENT recruitment process. At that point, the athlete is being recruited as a student, not as an athlete. The coaches at the college can monitor the player's progress through high school and decide whether to offer the player a scholarship or not.

A student-athlete can commit to a college, but the college and its coaches do not automatically commit to the student.

My son has played with Sam Offutt, the kid who committed to Starsia and UVA. His commitment to UVA is reciprocal and legit. You are correct that college coaches cannot INITIATE contact prior to the summer before the kid's freshman year. Offutt, however, along with two other 2016 kids have committed to D1 programs. As long as the kid is calling the coach, it is permissible.

There are three 2016 kids who have committed to D1 programs. It is an insane development, for sure, but this is not the case where a kid says "I'm going to UVA" in his own mind. Even if a kid were to do sure, the announcement would get pulled after prompting by either his HS coach, his club coach and/or the college in question.

Offutt's commitment to UVA is legit.

This is accurate. It is not an issue of a student just saying publicly "School X is my first choice" -- it is a two-way street. HOWEVER, with early commits there is no question that sometimes the school backs away from the athlete when it comes time for admissions decisions. This happens rarely, in large part because word gets out about schools "reneging" and other recruits will shy away. But I've definitely seen it happen (sometimes it's an Ivy situation where the student doesn't get the SAT scores/grades when it comes time to take the SAT for the record). Colleges lacrosse coaches say they hate the increasingly early commits, but they are all afraid to be the last one standing when the music stops if they don't stay with the herd.

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Anonymous wrote:The good players will get noticed.

In this area, simply being a good player for your HS (especially a public one) is not enough. You need to either be playing for a club that gets looks and/or attending individual recruiting camps in the summer/fall.

So anyone can attend the recruiting camps, or are they by invitation only?

The best ones are invitation only, and you have to be nominated by your HS and/or club coach. Some camps get a lot of college coaches in attendance; many others do not. There are other factors as well (e.g. location of the camp, some camps are more focused for certain class year, some are focused on particular college divisions, etc.)

I thought most club programs end at U-15?

I'm guessing you live in Montgomery County and you're pretty much only familiar with those programs (e.g. Club Blue, Bethesda (which really isn't a true club program) Next Level (which has a couple of combo HS teams, and/or Breakout).

There are some club teams that just field youth teams. But most clubs have HS teams (e.g. local clubs like Madlax, VLC, Baltimore Crabs, etc.)

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:The good players will get noticed.

In this area, simply being a good player for your HS (especially a public one) is not enough. You need to either be playing for a club that gets looks and/or attending individual recruiting camps in the summer/fall.

So anyone can attend the recruiting camps, or are they by invitation only?

The best ones are invitation only, and you have to be nominated by your HS and/or club coach. Some camps get a lot of college coaches in attendance; many others do not. There are other factors as well (e.g. location of the camp, some camps are more focused for certain class year, some are focused on particular college divisions, etc.)

I thought most club programs end at U-15?

Anonymous wrote:Still, the "commitment" is not binding. He could get hurt, he could stop liking lax, his grades could tank. Will he go to UVA? Probably. But this system of earlier and earlier "commitments" by 14 year olds puts more and more pressure on the type of kids and parents who don't really need any more pressure.

What's next, 8th grade commits?

Of course things could change - that happens with verbals in others sports like football and basketball. But there was an insinuation that this could be a case where a kid says he has verballed to UVA when no such agreement has been made.

I can assure you this is a legit verbal, not something a kid made up.

Still, the "commitment" is not binding. He could get hurt, he could stop liking lax, his grades could tank. Will he go to UVA? Probably. But this system of earlier and earlier "commitments" by 14 year olds puts more and more pressure on the type of kids and parents who don't really need any more pressure.

What's next, 8th grade commits?