My daughter plays on the 2014 4th team and was approached by 3 College Coaches this weekend. All three saw her play fall ball, contacted, stayed in touch through the year and came to Lax Cure to see her again. All three offered her a spot on their teams. My daughter is NOT a top D1 prospect, no interest to go to a large university... But she WILL be playing lax in college at a college of her choosing, and attaining an excellent education. Isn't this what it is all about? We think so....
Yeah but the question is this...did they offer her money to play?? after all the money you invested in your child over the years to play is she getting $$. The sad reality is we invest so much time and money and you dont even get a small percentage of that money offered to your child to supplement their education. In my opinion if your daughter had spent just as many hours hitting the books as she did on the lacrosse field she could have gone to the college she wanted to instead of spending all this money to play on a 4th team and get picked up by some sub par university. I find it hard to believe that colleges were offering spots on teams to a 2014 4th team player on the fields at a tournament. I know for certain there are 2015 Blue players and second team players who werent even approached by coaches that were there watching them. As well as 2014 2nd team blue and 2014 Gold team. So if your 4th team player was offered a spot on a team I would run with it and consider yourself lucky...
The question is not did she get money to play in college. The question is did lacrosse, as an extracurricular activity, help her get into a school that she might not otherwise not gotten into? Scholarship packages are not always just athletic money. They can be a combination of athletic, academic , and financial need. This depends on the school and the division since, Ivy league and D3 schools don't use athletic scholarships and sometimes not even academic money. So if your daughter wanted to go to Yale or Cornell, and they had good grades, but not spectacular, there is a distinct possibility that if they were a good lacrosse player they could gain admission that they wouldn't otherwise qualify for.
The reality is there are plenty of students that don't play lacrosse and really hit the books that do not get into schools that they want to.
If your town does not offer a way to improve then travel clubs are the only way to go and so you have to invest time and money. Hopefully, your child is playing because they love the sport. Although some will say, you get just as much playing wall ball and scooping at home, that is only a part of it. There is something to practicing with a team and learning team play. Again, if your town doesn't provide that service then you have to go to travel.
One last bit of advice, no matter what town, travel, or school team you are on, if there is a particular school that you are interested in you need to contact the coach and find out where they will be so they can see you play, If you don't match up at a tournament then go to a camp they will be at. Most college coaches seem to run their own camp. I think the sad reality is that there are parents who believe that their athletes will be seen and picked out of a crowd at a tournament. Not saying it can't happen, but there is a lot to be said for making things happen
