The odds are not at all stacked against public school kids in New York. Are you completely unfamiliar with lacrosse generally?
Everything else being equal, do you really think proper age public school kids have the same chance as the prep school kids of any age?
In NY especially LI whether you go to public school or private/prep school doesn't matter as much than a competitive travel team who plays in better attended tournaments.. Sure there are schools with more history of happening on having great players but they are also typically big population dense programs also vs smaller schools on LI. Travel programs is the focus, and No I am not a travel program owner doing an infomercial , just a parent like most of you
Cold Spring Harbor , Manhasset and even Garden City are not "Large HS" yet they are three of the best lacrosse programs on Long Island.
I would agree that on age Long Island kids are at a disadvantage when competing against "holdbacks and double holdbacks"... We still put out plenty of big time recruits but it is a clear advantage to be a year or two older than your competition. If I had the chance to do it all over again I would hold my son back a year before starting kindergarten, possibly reclass in the 8th grade and then have him do a PG year...
Your comment regarding playing for a competitive club team is accurate. If a player can compete on one of the Top 2 or 3 Club Teams on Long Island they will most likely have some very good opportunities at some very good universities. The High School team a player players is not as important as the club team when it comes to recruiting.
I don't think we really disagree. My "big school" comment was probably just cherry picking some of the schools on the large list and currently being in a position that my son plays on a top travel organization however will have a graduating class of about 150 total......so my point to the person was more to dispute that it is not a comparison on prep school vs. public school here locally. Maybe it was when I was that age but not now. Travel team competitiveness is more important[/quote]
The prep school kids have a huge advantage over the Long Island public school kids. What everybody is basically saying, and I agree with, is that the Long Island kids must supplement their public school lacrosse with a club program. However, kids who play for schools like Chaminade and prep schools also play on high-level travel clubs. Those prep school coaches have a history of feeding into most of the Division I programs. That alone is a huge advantage for those private schools over MOST public school kids from Long Island. Add to the mix that those prep schools many times have indoor facilities, much better coaching and much more money put into the program. As a result it is a great advantage to be there over a Long Island public school program. What happened to Garden City the past couple years is a perfect example. Basically those kids did not play travel given that the GC team was basically a town program entered in lower level tournaments. The result was no Division I commits. That Garden City team can probably beat most of the prep school teams throughout the country yet cannot get a division one commit this year and last year only had one. That is why it is clear that public school kids, even from Long Island, have a great achievement being able to make any division college team and especially those who made division one. It is a great achievement to be both the proper age, a public school product and be able to commit to a division one program.[/quote]
The only disadvantage I see long Island kids having is that in many other parts of the country it has been more prevalent for kids to be held back, re-classed or do PG year however, it is becoming more common on Long Island. Also, now that recruiting has been pushed back it doesn't hurt a true on age kid as much as when coaches were recruiting 8th and 9th graders.
It doesn't matter how good a player is, if they do not play for a club team that goes to the best tournaments their opportunities will be limited.
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