Take for what is worth, those were just my opinions. My other opinion is early recruiting can blow up and blow out as quickly as it came about in the recent couple of years. 8th graders should not be thinking about choosing a college, and lacrosse is a bad excuse to use to compel them to or to let a club lacrosse guy compel you to do as a parent. If your son is now a 2020 and he emerges as a star as a HS junior, he won't be the only one and I am sure the current state will unsettle to correct things so that top kids have great opportunities. That is just what I think and no guarantee, but I have a hard time believing coaches won't follow their best interests at all times. Have a little faith and emphasize that the best statistical chance a kid has to go to Hopkins is to be a STUDENT that they would admit without lacrosse.

Of course what I write doesn't comport with the recipe that club owners put your way to follow. I find it really disturbing to read that the keys to the kingdom are some fall tournament for 2020s where half interested coaches are watching 20 minute running halves of sloppy club fall ball. Sure, the coaches are there and watching and sure if your son stands out maybe you'll get a visit out of it...but I don't believe I am wrong to write that most of the recruiting determinations on what kids club owners are going to push have been made before the games are played and seen by the NCAA coaches. A friend of mine who was an assistant at Princeton before leaving last year for health reasons recently told me it is now the Wild West...coaches freely admit they know little to nothing about the young recruits and have no idea if these bets will be good ones or terrible ones in the next few years. But remember -- they can fix it by backing away from your son, changing the deal, suggesting you look at other options, etc. Believe me, it is already happening. Some kids local to you in Baltimore didn't get into the Ivy they "committed" to because later on the coach just didn't support the application. Easy out. It sucks, but just be aware and acknowledge it. And try to let your kids have some fun. Urge the fun side of it.