It can be difficult to navigate all the LAX "extra curriculars" like showcases & select team region events. IMHO and generally speaking, some folks get a little too worked up about the significance of the events. None of them are be all, end all, must attend events and you will break the bank trying to attend all of them. All of the events depending on an individuals perception could be called "money grabs" so for the purposes of the post, I am assuming cost is no object.
Most of the select national events with a tryout or a vetting process are flawed and will continue to be until these events hire unbiased evaluators with very few contacts in the pay to play LAX orbit. You only needs to look at the coaches and or reps in a given region to understand who will likely have a leg up on being selected to a team. The majority of these coaches and regional reps operate and coach for clubs that offer fee based lacrosse programming. Obviously they will try to get some of their customers on the teams, its good for business. I think most people realize this and understand that some politics are going to be baked into the cake. The bigger issue is when this privilege is abused by the evaluator. Based on many posts on BOTC and "word on the street" claims this is commonplace for some events. While that may or may not be true depending on your perspective. The truth is that inevitably some kids that want to attend or "should have been selected" do no not end up getting selected. It is not always due to political reasons, some kids do get missed or fail to pop at the tryout. There is also a percentage of kids that are sub par talent wise that end up getting selected for the events. Its like going to a singles club, there will be very few 10's a few more 9's, some 8's and a bunch of 5-7s and of course some 1-3s. Occasionally a 3 gets mistaken for an 8 and vice versa. It is extremely difficult for a few evaluators to dial in the top 20 kids at a 1 day try out. Arguing about which kids are going to be at each event and which event is going to be better is pretty short sighted and singling out teenagers on this forum like some have done is childish. I strongly believe that all the operators of the events have the best intentions and integrity. It is unfortunate however that some fail to realize and correct some of the flaws in their selection processes. Some of the flaws are so glaring and obvious that it is no wonder the events get a bad reputation for being "polittical" or "money grabs" when really its their regional reps, coaches, and evaluators that are abusing or not taking the the process more seriously. It is a catch 22 for the operator if they continue to use this model. The people who want to coach, rep, & evaluate have different goals and motives than the operator.
The coaches 100% understand the process flaws for these events and weigh participation accordingly. Conversely, they do not view kids that don't participate or make these teams as a negative. If you think about it, there are way more reasons why a kid did not participate than reasons why they did. Additionally, it is a subset of the player pool that even tries out for these events. There are many good players that can't afford or don't even want to play in the events. The coaches definitely understand this as well. IMHO nothing beats going to the camps at the schools your player is really interested in. The camps are a fraction of the price and it is the only way to ensure your player gets an honest look from a particular school they are interested in.
I will breakdown my own opinions and observations below. Please don't come back at me with insults and attacks if I missed this event or I am wrong about this or that event. Feel free to pen your own review(s) for people to read. I don't claim to be an expert. I will repeat, these are my own observations and my own opinions. My girls have made and not made the cut on all the regional events the last few years. I have done rudimentary research and have discussed most of the other showcase events I will list with people who have attended so some of my opinions are based on some second hand info as well as my own. The second hand information is from current & former club and school coaches, parents, club directors and players. Some with whom I know well and some from people I met at these and other events with whom I struck up conversations with. I am sharing for anyone new to this or does not already have a foundational understanding of these events. I have absolutely no affiliation with any of these events. I am just like most guys who find their way to this board, an over invested, over opinionated lax dad. Hopefully everyone will do their own due diligence and find the right event(s) for their player.
Regional Team Events US Lacrosse - USA Lacrosse High School girls tournament - AKA "School Girls" - Most regions coached by HS coaches which leads to what I would consider relatively low political impact. The HS coaches usually only have a few legitimate mouths to feed. Their employment/business is typically not dependent on a pay to play Lax club. The event is fairly well run and takes place the same weekend and in near proximity as the NCAA women's D1 final 4 weekend. The teams are made up of HS girls that are not year specific (HS Open) and I am pretty sure there are some NCAA rules associated with coaches evaluating and attending the event because of the NCAA final 4. It may actually be a dead period and used to help fill stadium seats at the final 4 and championship games.
Corrigan Sports - Under Armour All American - No need to write up, I assume most in this forum are familiar with the event. Unfortunately it seems politics has completely over run this event and has opened the door and inspired the next two regional events on this list. It is sad that this once esteemed event now carries a bit of political baggage with it. Probably more than what is warranted but as they say ...it is what it is. The political knock on this event has been around for at least the 5 or 6 years that I am aware of and probably longer. The tournament operator had many years to correct the problem and failed to do so. They continued to let their coaches abuse their privileges.
American Select Lacrosse - American Select - Under Armour 2.0 The inaugural event did indeed have some teams that were pretty much complete club teams in attendance. The event appears at 1st glance to be on a similar track "politically" as UA All American based on how the region reps. The event is actually being held the same dates this year which will require kids who wanted to play in both events to choose. If the event operators were smart they would ensure legitimate tryouts to separate themselves from the now tarnished UAAA. They should take the lead of the AU event below a step further and pay some unbiased local college lax girls with no club or HS affiliation to evaluate and pick the teams and then hand them to the regional reps and coaches. The evaluators should conference for 1/2 hour after the tryout and announce the team and alternates on the spot so everyone in attendance can see who made the team. It will be interesting to see what this event looks like in a few years after a year or a few years going head to head with UAAA.
Athletes Unlimited - Athletes Unlimited Futures is the most unique event and IMO offers a great experience and fantastic messaging for young women. The tryout we attended was conducted by local lax girls that did not as far as I know have a club affiliation. I don't know if this was true at other regions or not. The emphasis of the event was to promote and I assume pay for the inaugural AU women's professional league. The futures event was fun and relatively stress free for the players. They were able to meet other girls, play lacrosse and learn from multiple current professional women's lacrosse players. The event in my opinion was spot on and frankly the only extra curricular event my player said she must attend this summer!
National Lacrosse Classic - I do not believe this event is still in operation. It used to be sponsored in different years by Adidias, Brine & Maverik.
Select Showcase(s) Robinson Sports - Under Armour 150 - appears to still be "The Event" the others are trying to re-invent with the most legit centralized selection process that includes video evaluation & club/coach recommendation or affirmation. Their vetting process would require someone to flat out lie about a player which is a bit different than overstating or understating a player skill level at a brief tryout. Website lists college coaches that attended the year before and its worth noting the selection process seems the most legit.
Regular Showcases There is no shortage and probably a couple dozen summer showcase events. Some of these come and go every couple years. Some even get cancelled last minute because they do not get enough kids. The ones I have heard good things about that I know are still in operation are listed below. I would suggest you vet any event you are considering by sending an email to the operator requesting the schedule of events, college coaches attending, the coaches who will be running the drills and coaching showcase teams as well as number of kids attending so far. If they can't provide all 3 in a timely fashion, I would be suspect.
Not sure exactly what these two events are classified as. There seems to be some confusion on the operators of these 2 events and I would not consider either of them "showcases" until they publish an event schedule as well as some sort of list of women's college coaches that will be instructing, coaching teams, and most importantly evaluating players.
Best In Class - 1st year girls event - The company's (FCL) core business seems to have a niche offering with virtual training & recruiting services for boys. They have an impressive list of men's coaches for their "event" but it does appear to be a secondary revenue stream and not part of the company's core offerings. The website only has a small link at the bottom of page that says "recruiting showcases". Upon further reading, this sounds more like instructional training that they are inviting college coaches to attend. No list of girls colleges coaches attending, no schedule and no list of female coaches actually coaching is a big red flag, I have to assume it is the same staff as the boys side which may or may not be fine depending your personal preference. As a side note, the companies core training & recruiting services look fresh and new. The operator's core staff looks accreddied and professional. I don't know any of them but I have seen positive endorsements for most of them on BOTC and other websites. I would strongly consider giving this outfit a try if I had a boy looking for the services they offer. I am not even sure the girls event would be considered a "showcase" as history would define it at this point. I would be inclined to let the girls side of this operation percolate for a year or two and see if it still has legs in a couple years. Maybe they will add female coaches. I like where it appears the company is headed but I have been in business myself long enough to realize that a company can't be everything to everyone. These guys should concentrate and grow their core boys business and then try to expand. I feel like they are trying to run before walking here by adding a girls event to their product mix..
[ChillLaxin] out of it. These donkey can't get enough pay to play LAX and will eat it up. The site has links to "be evaluated" and claims to vet and only take top players. I am not sure if that is true or not. Most folks I have discussed this with on and off the island claim that this is info is at best debatable and at worst not really accurate at all. I do not believe it even matters. This event is off the range, its just another showcase packaged and hyped up as something new. Maybe a few NY/NJ/PA folks with ties to the operator and nothing to do over the 4th of July will bite and justify this event. It is pitched as "the only showcase 2.0 in the country" to try differentiate themselves. I guess some aggressive marketing and a couple social media posts make it the only showcase 2.0 event in the country. It appears they send out a social media post after a player is signed up and paid I assume. I know I said I would not mention cost, but could not help noticing the premium price tag for this event. I can't help but wonder if the operator may possibly be paying commissions to the club coaches, partner websites or anyone else promoting the event that gets people to pay. After diving down this rabbit hole, it looks pretty much like a few HS & Club coached pick up games after the holiday. I mean come on man! July 5th? Huh. How many players & college coaches are going to travel on the 4th or early on the 5th of July to get to get to this event. No list of college coaches attending and no schedule of the event is a definite big red flag. This event looks like complete smoke and mirrors and relies on sensationalized bullet points on their web page. Using what must be boys testimonials from previous years on the girls page for a 1st year event is misleading. Multiple partnerships/sponsors should make it cheaper than other events especially given the events illogical dates. The website's first bullet point is "Uber Competitive Format led by the best HS & club coaches on the planet" (ROFL). Where does one find the list of best club and HS coaches on the planet? IMHO, you need to run, not walk away from anyone pushing this event to you. Sorry to be so harsh, I'm sure the folks (I have no idea who they are, their companies are listed) behind this are nice enough folks and might have good intentions but they too should stick to their core businesses because this one doesn't past the smell test.
All that being said, if you are a player that plays in a rec league, or does not play any east coast summer events with your club or would otherwise not get an opportunity to play against top level competition the select events would probably suit you well. If yo play for a club that regularly see's top 50 teams in summer play, you can probably find a better bang for your buck going to a regular showcase and some school camps.
