C'mon Sage - thats just a cheap shot way of trying to discredit the discussion and not a reasonable request to volunteer a college coach's time to discuss this - they are full-on on crushed for time recruiting and running their programs 24x7 and could care less about our discussion here.
However, the basis of our discussion was that these same overworked and overloaded coaches have plenty of time to look at a single candidate at a High School Varsity match? If we are talking about a County, Long Island, or State finals, we can see the point for local institutions, however that does not play well regionally.
You need to do your own due diligence just as we are doing for our sons.
Having placed more than three dozen players in NCAA Division I, Division II, and Division III athletics, our due-diligence has been more than completed.
I'm only offering pieces of my due diligence as informational.
Understood.
My son plays on a club so I am not trying to trash the club scene on purpose - that would be silly since I'm paying damn good money for the club which I believe fills a void with value around the high school season.
The void that club lacrosse fills is the entire recruiting cycle. If you think we have it wrong, take the club money, bank it for a nice first year self-funded scholarship, and see how the recruitment scene goes for your son.
But, I thought it would be interesting to share elements of my conversations as well as conversations my son has had as recently as this past weekend. If others have heard differently, please share!
The point is that BOTC cannot share a single example where a College Coach would opt to recruit a player from a High School Varsity match over a collegiate showcase.
And please, no specific college coach names necessary!
Why? These folks are in the public eye and handling recruitment. If the landscape is tilted as you assert, better to let the community know which institutions are favoring High School over Club ball.
BOTC is in touch with all of the local college programs and many beyond - chances are, we are have spoken with most of the coaches that you would cite.
We're just sharing info here that I hope is truthfully what people are hearing direclty from college coaches. I sense they are fatigued, maybe jeaolous of the club money and also leary of the "pay for play" and marketing benefits of success stories that clubs have with potential recruits.
The club marketing does not mean all that much when you consider that the college coach is recruiting the player, not the team.
