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St. Augustine, FL - Spending time at JU Elite camp this week with college coaches and US Squad players as well as some great high school and rising college players was awesome. While I was there, I asked a few of the coaches, Adam Norton, former head coach of Stanford University and a long-time lax coach, and Team USA World Cup alum Randall Goldsborough, former head coach of F+M and Bucknell, and assistant at UNC, and Stanford, what they thought the kids from the south could do better to improve their chances of playing at the next level.
This interesting look through the eyes of experienced lacrosse professionals should prove helpful in looking at the recruiting process. Before the interview, lets define some terms discussed by talent evaluators that are somewhat universal.
Measureables – A word used to describe traits of athletes that can be easily compared or measured against another. For instance, speed, strength, agility times from sport combines are ‘measureables’ as they can be transferred for comparative analysis from one recruit to another. If Morgan runs a 5.1 40-yard dash and Pat runs a 5.6 40-yard dash and each play the same position equally effective, the measureables point to Morgan.
Intangibles – This word describes the traits of an athlete that are not seen and cannot be measured quantifiably. These include internal qualities, values and character traits. An astute recruiter tries to pick up on these traits at camps, or in depth study of a game film or tournament ’stalking’ (seeing lots of tournament games featuring the same athlete). Courage is an intangible that is shown through actions over time and the way you play your game.
Game Sense - A prospect’s ability to sort out the high speed game of elite-level lacrosse. You can play all the wall ball in the world and lack ‘game sense’ and totally turn off colleges. Game sense includes understanding that lacrosse is played at your full-speed, lacrosse is a very aggressive game, and there are parts to the game that require tactical understanding. Having a strong non-dom has nothing to do with game sense. However using the non-dom effectively can only happen with game sense. For instance, setting up your dodges using your non-dom to get to your dominant side would be an example of using game sense to make a play. Sneaking in for a good back check would also be a great example on the defensive end. No look passes and clearing space for the ball also show game sense. This is a tricky part for recruiters as kids who have less experience playing lacrosse have less game sense. That is not to say that you can’t teach an athlete what you want them to know once they get to your college. And some players with great game sense at 16-years old are eventually surpassed by others when they are twenty.
What are the colleges looking at?
Randall Goldsborough: Reliability. Passion. Understanding of the game (game sense). Toughness. Effort. Loyalty. Trust. A lot of non-field traits or intangibles. Sacrifice for sure.
So you are saying that coaches are looking for things that they cannot really ’see’?
Randall Goldsborough: I think so. I think a good coach will see those things that others do not see that make the difference. I don’t think they are looking for the high scorer or the one who plays the most playing time.
If you were to advise a rising junior today (early August) what would you tell them?
Randall Goldsborough: I don’t know if they would be able to do this, but what I would like for them to do at this point is to go do something that they have never done before, something active, that would be virtually impossible to do unless they sought it out. Learn something really hard. Maybe conquer a rock climbing wall. You need a lot of grit. You need to grow. You need to be challenged. That same feeling is fgoing to be what occurs for the next 6 years. You need to learn how to gain confidence. You need to accomplish something you did not think you could accomplish. Go hiking for a couple days. Look at your fear and overcome it. The next year is a tough one. Tough on you. You need to know that you can survive. You need to have an ‘ah ha’ moment: “I have already conquered this. I can do that!” You get kncoked down a lot, not literally, but you face a lot of obstacles and you need to know that you can overcome them.
Randall Goldsborough may not possess all the measureables needed on paper, but her game sense and intangibles are off the charts!
They also need to be prepared for the year. They need to check their resume and their letter (recruiting info) and get it out there in August. August is important because: a) college coaches are on vacation. They will be coming back from vacation looking at all their emails and then sending out mass emails to those who contacted them while they were on vacation. Those Fall tournaments, if you do not get invited to junior days, you do not get a chance to play somewhere. b) You have to get seen in the Fall, you have to get this done if you want to be a Division I recruit. The recruiting process is accelerated now. Many top players are committed by January of their junior year. Others in the spring of their junior year.
Unfortunately the process has sped up so fast that you have to be prepared to perform in the fall. You cannot use the fall to prepare for the summer. That is what the summer season was for. You use the summer to build your team and then your Fall and the following summer are ‘it’.
As a person who has worked with southern players, has coached against Florida players at tournaments, and who has experience in the game with a wide range of players and coaches, what words of wisdom do you have for southern prospects?
Randall Goldsborough: I think first, going to a couple of camps early, like top college program’s camps, summer of freshman year or 8th grade, to see what it is like up north, or where it is more developed.
Kids need to watch as many men’s and women’s college games on TV as they can. They need to have something to copy or emulate. And if it is not around you every day than you need to find it. I think what kids in this area (the south) may have to do more than the kids up north who are playing against elite kids all the time, they have to start to udnerstand why they are doign what they are doing it. Why are they using fakes, or standing a certain way. Because if they can see what is going on first hand and then see it on TV or on video, they get to think about it more.
Certainly consistently playing with and against the best and most dedicated players is the best way to improve.
Beyond that, they have to find friends who are as into it as much as they are and just go play. Play 2 on 2, 3 on 3. They need to role play; Pretend like they are Katie Chrest from the US Squad. They should tape those games (World Cup) and watch them over and over again so they can emulate that level. When I was a kid I used to get a trash can out and shoot baskets into it and pretend I was Michael Jordan. Kids in the south need to do the same thing with lacrosse. The more competitive role models, the more maturing.
I think also at the same time, with all of that, they need to be creative on their own. They need to create what Florida lacrosse is. Maybe Florida lacrosse has nothing to do with skills. Maybe it has to do with grit and hustle. A lot of (college) coaches would rather have the grit and hustle than the skills. They can teach the skills. But really just have fun with it and be the player you want to be.
Bring out the imagination in your game.
And honestly when I was growing up (in Severna Park, Maryland) we just went hard and played an aggressive style. There were some real brutes playing the game because we did not have great skills back then (early 90’s). And then we learned stick skills over time, so we had the best of both worlds. We were the hard working, tough players, with skills that were learned over time.
Adam Norton, former co-Head Coach of the Stanford Cardinal, sees recruiting and Florida lacrosse through similar eyes. The two served as assistant coaches at Stanford and helped lead Stanford to a 14-3 regular season record during Coach Norton’s season as head coach.
What are the colleges looking at?
Adam Norton – The gestault of the player and what makes them attractive in that collaboration and connection of talents and attributes is going to change from one program to another. There are programs that stress a well-rounded scholar-athlete and programs that don’t discount academia but it is not an inhibitor or limitor to their search for talent. They are Division I programs and they operate more by the DI standards for qualification.
Personally as a coach, I believe very strongly in the concept of “team is family” in that I want great players and great people. And I am not willing to sacrifice talent over character.
Adam Norton led Stanford to a 14-3 record with wins over several top-10 Division I programs. He also plays on men's masters and elite teams.
So you are saying that coaches are looking for things that they cannot really ’see’?
Adam Norton – Yes. You can get the jist of who a player is recruiting at tournaments. You get to know whether you want the person “in-person” at a camp or on a campus visit.
If you were to advise a rising junior today (early August) what would you tell them?
Adam Norton – The key things that they should be doing now are: 1) Accumulating video clips of themselves. 2) Educating themselves about the depth and bredth of college programs out there. 3) Formulating at least the beginnings of a self-assessment of what they want from the whole college experience and not just lacrosse and just sports part.
On top of that, at this point they should have the widest of wide in brainstorming college lists, whether it is 20-50 schools long at this point. And, I would contact each one of those schools with a 1-page reusme or summary of their bio-metrics in terms of height, hand dominance, if you have a 40-yard dash and mile time, go ahead and put those in, and then your academic profile, SAT, PSAT, whatever thety have thus far, academic interests, and hobies and passions. Include where you are going this Fall because the Fall means everything now in the DI time frame.
That first round of connection, there is nothing wrong with it being generic and mass produced. The colleges are going to behave in the same manner for the most part as the lists are quite large.
Once they have established contact with a coach, don’t try to be impressive, just be yourself. Don’t try to be someone who you are not. Be authentic and don’t worry about trying to impress someone. That is my advise to coaches as well.
As a person who has worked with southern players, and who has experience in the game with a wide range of players and coaches, what words of wisdom do you have for southern prospects?
I would say quite simply that while you may not have been playing lacrosse as long as some of the traditioanl ‘hotbeds’ of lacrosse, you are seeded in the backyards of the greatest growth in the sport. And at the rate the sport is growing it is creating tremendous opportunities for kids form all over the country and not just the midatlantic, or northeast, but the entire eastern seaboard and other pockets where lacrosse is moving and shaking. No where is it growing faster in terms of rate and population or level of play than Florida.
I would also say that talent has no discriminators or ‘limitors’. Talent is talent regardless of where you come from. So the more people who are playing on any particular area, the more talented players from those areas will be produced.
Every Coach is Different – Every Program is different, but Good Advise is Always the Same – P-MC’s perspective:
After speaking with coaches from all over the country this weekend, the resounding traits that they like from Florida players are:
Grit. Determination. Speed. Toughness. Passion. Intensity. Attitude.
Not once did any of the coaches mention ’stick skills’ as a factor in their recruiting. Nor did they mention that winning tournament games was a factor. They also said nothing at all about scoring goals. They actually talked more about things that are intangibles vs. traits that are in plain site. I would like to hope that club players in the south who have the traits listed above are being driven by those traits to develop game sense and stick skills too. Might as well. They are huge components to the game. But are they really necessary to be identified as a top prospect? That depends.
There are over 300 college programs out there. Jeb Chagan from Villanova places a premium on stick skills and polish. Torrey McGowan from Notre Dame College in Ohio is looking for speed and toughness and could care less about stick skills and polish. And there are coaches all over the map in between. Roughly 800 coaches recruit players (head and assistant coaches). Most are looking for different things. Even coaches on the same staff have different opinions. In all honesty, reading the previous Blog about ‘There is no off-season’ would probably do a lot of prep players good as it is what they can CONTROL in this process vs. what a specific college is looking at. Who are you? Develop ‘who you are’ to the ‘nth’ degree and show that to the colleges. Push yourself to the ‘nth’ degree to bring out YOUR best.
If you are a prospect or a parent of one, be honest with yourself. What makes you the player you are now? Is it your game sense? Perhaps your measureables? Or even the intangibles? What areas do you need a lot of work in to be a great prospect? You need to work on those areas within the next 48 hours! Start a plan to fill in the gaps of your ‘profile’ as a recruit. Make yourself more attractive to more coaches.
For every Mindy McCord and Mandy O’Leary at the Division I level, there are three Torrey McGowans, Julie Redmands, Dawn Easleys and Dennis Shorts. These coaches all have very specific things they are looking for in a recruit. Could be height, speed, smarts, silky smooth stick skills or a combination of factors. Some are in search of the ‘polished’ kid to recruit and bring in ‘early’. There is a huge risk for that style – for both the recruit and the college: They may not get any better. They may have peaked already and ‘polished’ their games as good as they possibly can be. What happens to these players can be very sad. Their games have peaked and by their sophomore years they are finding themselves surpassed and on the bench for the first time. So often college coaches at the top levels sign players early because they are ‘polished’ only to cut them when they get to college 2-years later because they are not able to adapt to their coaching or the college level game, or they are simply not as good as they were when they were 16 relatively speaking. They are ‘tapped’ out of their potential and they end up frustrated.
So my advise will remain the same: Get yourself out there and work very hard to follow your dream! Plan and chart your progress. Are you filling in the ‘holes’ in your game? How about the ‘holes’ in your personality (we all have some element of our humanity that does not work ‘for’ us in our training). Enjoy getting better and know that you are from the south and have not played nearly long enough to reach your potential. You have a long way to go!
Final Advise:
The real secret is looking for qualities that coaches do not necessarily always notice on the field – the intangibles. The intangibles drive the measureables. If you are working hard, you will want to improve your speed, quickness and footwork. You will want to improve your game sense by watching games on TV or attending high level college games in the Fall to find some role models. Hard work, effort, speed and quickness, anticipation within the game, intelligence, and mental toughness. You have to do your homework and research/visit schools and get your recruiting assignments out there. You need to have a LONG list of potential schools and be sure that they are not all top-level DI programs.
Nobody in the south has ‘peaked’ yet. You have not played the game long enough or at a high enough intensity over time to bring out your true best. The better your work ethic and consistency of effort and the smarter your training, the more you can unlock your inner and outer potential! A great example of this is Alyssa Emmons at Rollins College. Alyssa played very little high school lacrosse and was known as a soccer player growing up in Naples, Florida. Her freshman year at Rollins she started on defense and played well. She is learning and growing exponentially under the care of Coach Short and Coach Pinneke. Would ANY DI program take someone like that – with no track record?
YES! Some DI programs take great athletes from other sports and they end up all-Americans even without high school experience. They are great athletes with intangibles and measureables and the coaches teach them the rest.
And don’t forget these words. Matt Stover, a pro-bowler I coached during my stint with the Ravens tells young aspiring footballers this all the time. Heed this lesson as it comes from someone with 20 years of NFL playing experience.
“No one ever had to tell me that I needed to go out and practice.”
Now THAT is a great intangible.
St. Augustine, Florida – There are lots of opportunities to leave Florida and play lacrosse. You have the IWLCA’s, the National Draw, Lax-4-the-Cure, and many other events up north you can attend. But during the weekend of July 17-18th of this year, what is the point of leaving Florida. You have the best 7-v-7 tournament right here!
Members of the TFG 2010 White team lost two games by a total of 2 goals, including the Atlantic Championship game. Another team with only a couple subs, the 2010 White team gets my award for best teamwork!
That’s not to brag. It’s to rationalize why we (The Maniax) as a club do not go north during Heatwave Championships. We go North many times a year and we always schedule our trips north to not conflict with great events in the South. Why would we want to do that? There are so few good southern tournaments to attend in the first place! The Heatwave Championships are one of the best! And this is why:
1) The Venue – The ONLY lacrosse park in the south is Landrum Lax Park in Ponte Vedra Beach. It has perfect fields, and is 1 nautical mile from the beach. Its strategic fencing (for lacrosse) and layout provide a great team tent environment and atmosphere.
2) The Teams – This year, more than 24 high school teams alone attended. The competitive levels were better than ever and the teams improved as the games were played. Seven middle school and three women’s teams rounded out the field. There is something for everyone there.
3) The Format – 7-v-7 on a small field (35 yards by 60 yards) with ‘instant clears’ in a tournament format. Plus, this year’s 3-v-3 Championship (sudden victory; single elimination) and the 2nd Annual Braveheart Championship (sudden victory; single elimination), added to the hysteria.
4) The Location – PVB is at a cross-roads. 5 1/2 hours from Atlanta, 4 hours from Miami, 5 hours from Naples, 2 hours from Orlando, 7 hours from Charlotte. It’s a great place to meet for a weekend tournament and with planning, teams can drive to town or catch a cheapee flight into JAX.
5) The Intensity – There are a lot of Maniax teams that attend this event. There are a lot of other club programs who attend as well. The sheer intensity of the Maniax playing each other for bragging rights and the other club programs raising their intensity in that spirit makes the event more ‘college-like’ than other tournaments intensity-wise. Plus having college teams there is a big help!
Jennifer Armbruster (11) helped lead TFG '11-'12 Central to a runner up finish and a win over HOTlanta Heat. '11-'12 Central stopped rival TFG '11-'12 State by a goal to advance to the finals.
Club programs who attended the event included: LaxManiax Elite (4th year club), HOTlanta Lacrosse (3rd year club), SOFLA (4th year club), Team Trident (2nd year club), and Beaches, Planet Lax, Eagles Stix, Copperheads, and LM Lax, all first-year clubs. It was an excellent showing for the teams who made the trip. Other than a 30-minute lightening delay during pool play, the weather cooperated. Scheduling a tournament like this in the morning is key in Florida this time of year.
Our club had a very strong showing. TFG teams dropped only two games during the entire event. 2010 White dropped a 1-goal decision to HOTlanta Heat (8-9) and bowed out in the Atlantic Championship game 10-9 (vs. Trident Zebras). The other TFG teams included the 2010 Black team (undefeated winners of the Sawgrass Championship), and TFG 11-12 Central (runners up in the Sawgrass Championship but otherwise undefeated), and TFG 11-12 State (knocked out in the Sawgrass semi-final by their counterparts by just 1-goal). TFG 2013 played well, but was eliminated in the Atlantic semi’s by TFG 2010 White. The tournament was everything it was supposed to be – a lot of competitive action and excitement for players, fans and officials alike.
Middle school teams and elite teams played very well too. The Championship game in the Sawgrass MS bracket was won on a braveheart tie-breaker by CFL 2014, coached by Rollins College defensive mastermind Brad Pinneke. They avenged an earlier loss to Maniax South-Central coached by Rich Howard and company. After earning the #1 seed into the tournament, had defeated the CFL ‘14 team 13-10 in pool play.
The Atlantic Championship was swept by the Maniax Southeast, after not winning a game in pool play on day #1. The Southeastern girls rallied for two in a row on Sunday and a Championship award!
3-3 Titles were claimed by TFG 11-12 State (Maddy Blakeman, Olivia DiCarlantonio, Taylor McCord – all 15-year olds), and Maniax South-Central (Brenna Pinneke, Ali Williams, Mari Grace Gabrovic) at the Middle School level. Poetic justice for these teams whose championship runs were cut short in the 7-v-7. 
Braveheart titles were won by Emotion Silvestri (Mustangs Lax 2010), and Olivia Blakeman (Maniax South-Central). Silvestri, who plays for the LaxManiax 2010 White team, chose to put together a team of players from her high school to enter the Heatwave Championships. It was the first major tournament that girls from Mandarin High School, FHSAA District 1 runners up in 2009, had ever participated in.
One of the interesting stats of the event is the goals for vs. goals surrendered number. This is often a great way to show the competitiveness of a tournament. The Heatwave’s winners averaged 11 goals for and losing teams 6.5 goals for. This tells me two things: the games are very competitive and that defense determines who wins them. 6.5 goals on that small of a field over 24 minutes is not very many. TFG 2010 Black held all but one of their opponents to just 4-goals or less in their six games. One of those games was played without a goal keeper for the first 18-minutes of play. You really find out what your team is made of when they are playing without a goal keeper and have an attacker yellow-carded for 3-minutes! That’s why practicing man-down situations is a great idea! With just 1-sub for two of their six games, the 10 Black team also taught the club lesson in resilience and ball control. Some very high Lax-IQ players on that team.
Winning is mostly due to defense, goal keeping and clock management. Less about attack.
The scores were slightly higher on the middle school side, with the point spread closer to 5-goals between the teams on average. The higher goal count is mainly due to them playing with a 2-pass rule and not learning how to play ‘real’ lacrosse defense until they become club players. The 2-pass rule is killing the development of both defensive and midfield skills in Florida lacrosse. There are enough good players who have played the sport for a year or more to do away with the 2-pass rule. As quickly as kids can learn how to throw and catch, why ‘handicap’ a team to try to get the ball to the kids who do not work hard enough to develop their passing and catching skills? Isn’t that the intent of the rule? Help the kids who can’t really possess the ball in the first place, to possess the ball? It doesn’t work. It is simply a well-intentioned rule that slows the progress of 75% of the team in favor of those who do not work on their skills away from practices.
The 2-pass rule stinks even at the recreational level. May as well add a 5-step rule, like Ultimate Frisby. That rule stinks as well! Nobody has to stop the ball!! That’s the most important thing!!
I am sure a blog will come on the intention of the 2-pass rule soon! Stay tuned.
When polled, most members and coaches of other clubs enjoyed the 3-v-3, and Braveheart, Championships and the excitement they brought to the event. Plus, even if your team is not ‘on’, you can still ‘win’ something. Everyone likes to have a chance to win something at the Heatwave!
And they do!
Fort Lauderdale, Florida – Chanelle Coulon proves to be one of the most unlikely candidates to be a Division I lacrosse player that you can imagine. But if you only knew Chanelle the way this writer does, you would have known all along that she was going to be a great lacrosse prospect. It just took a little time and lots of adversity, effort and leadership for the ‘player’ to come out in her! Today, Chanelle capped a great junior summer with a commitment to attend the University of Cincinnati and play for Coach Lellie Swords.
As co-captains of the 2010 Black TFG team this summer, Chanelle and Caroline Lamere (Lake Brantley) chose the phrase ‘Dig Deep’ as their team’s identity for the summer. They even bought the team bracelets with the term embossed. Her story is a great one. One that has required her to frequently draw from her emotional reserves and to literally ‘Dig Deep’ herself while she followed her dream.
But it was not always a dream. Just a few years ago, Chanelle had never heard of lacrosse. Coach Sarah Anderson (‘Fish’) current head coach of St. Thomas deserves a lot of credit getting Chanelle to start lax as a freshman when lacrosse was just a ‘club’ at the school. Chanelle did play on the 2007 Florida Club State Champions at St. Thomas. She started out playing YMCA sponsored beginner high school club lacrosse. There was no other place to play and there was very little competition. But Coach ‘Fish’ proved to be a great mentor.
She started playing in the LaxManiax club three years ago, and I got a good look at her (and an earful or two) when we attended our first tournament of the season: The Bagataway Southeastern Championships. Chanelle was an instant hit with me when she started imitating Borat before I could even get her into the van at the ATL the day prior to the tournament. And for one entire tourney all I heard was “VERRRY NIIIICEEE!” “IZ NIIIICCEEEE!” and other memorable Borat the Movie-film quotations.
We would never be the same.
Coach 'Goey' (in hat) and Chanelle (bottom right) and the rest of "The Borats" made a bright pink splash at their first Maniax tournament on 2007!
I had seen her at the Southeast Florida tryouts, I liked Chanelle as a player, but she was not by any means going to wear the crown “Chosen One!” upon first impression. In fact, I bet most other club programs would have cut her thinking that she was “not good enough” for an elite club. That is a short-sited approach to a game that is so new in the south that it doubles in growth every other year. There are kids like Chanelle who pop up all the time! So, with that mindset, we took her! And she was tremendous!
By the end of the first-year, I knew that her and Coach Sarah Burlingame (‘Goey’) had hit it off. It is nice being coached directly by a former Team Canada defender. It must be every defender’s dream: Being coached/mentored by someone who has been there and someone who knows how to teach her style of play directly! Goey deserves a lot of credit for Chanelle’s first and second years of growth as a player and person at the elite club level. Ironically, both coaches ‘Goey’ and ‘Fish’ were also teammates and captains at Cornell University. So, for the last two years, Chanelle has had some pretty good models who have been there and done that and she learned to aspire to their levels of passion and expertise.
But the last 12-months of her growth as a person and player belong just to Chanelle.
Chanelle (2nd from left) and her Maniax buddies found ways to be positive and have fun. This positive attitude contributed to Chanelle's success and helped her team find its identity.
Last year her club team (Maniax 2010) ran the gamut of performance and emotions. They went 3-1 in their first tournament of the year, even beating powerhouse T3-Shore. Then they self-destructed and went 1-3 at their second tournament. They lost to great opponents like the Check-Hers and PA Express, and they were missing one of their key middies who was tremendous in transition, when she was injured 5 minutes into the Chek Hers game. But that is not why the team did not play well in the 2nd tournament. Mainly it was not a lack of talent that held that team back in old #2. It was a lack of good attitudes. The team had players who could not get along or handle strong personalities that seemed to dictate what to do even though they themselves didn’t have a clue. On a guys team there most likely would have been a shoving match at some point. But teenage girls tend to be very high on the ‘I’ scale (Introvert) and they internalize a lot of emotions that can ruin their mindset and consequently their games.
It was a rough summer. It turned from a great high, into a great low.
Chanelle continued to work through the tough times and attended more tournaments in the Fall. She got onto some good lists and was in a good position for the following summer. If she was feeling better about lacrosse in general.
Her high school season was not up to expectations. Several players did not take the game as seriously as Chanelle wanted to. The coach (her mentor, Fish) was in law school and was a recent mother, and practices were not consistent in time, effort, or enthusiasm when compared to the championship seasons of the past. The team played up and down all year. The emotions kept swinging. After two emotional rides and many swings up and down, it was enough for Chanelle to question if she belonged at the next level.
After the season, Chanelle was not voted onto any “1st team” all-star teams. More than likely this was due to the lack-luster performance of her high school team and her ability to play middie, defense and attack on high school. She went from low defender to one of the leading scorers on the team. But alas, there is not room on the ballot for the position we call A/M/D. She was voted onto the deBeer all-State team, which is based on both the high school season and the previous year’s elite experience as well. She made the 2nd team.
After her high school season, Chanelle did not give up. She had to ‘DIG DEEP’. She accepted a captain’s position for her Manaix team this summer, and she tried out and made the southeastern US lacrosse team for the women’s division National Tournament in Towson. Her team, playing in bracket five, won the title. The team was co-coached by none other than Sarah Burlingame ‘Goey’ and the pair must have clicked! She showed well at the WDNT, but being good at playing ‘all-star’ lacrosse is no easy. It is a tough event to recruit at because of the ‘all-star’ format. Tough to tell one kid from another when they all do the same things.
Chanelle really came into her own at the IWLCA event and most importantly on the bus rides to and from the fields for practices, games and college visits. She was the DJ. She spun the hits! It was a great time and she had everyone singing and enjoying themselves! By the time we got to the fields, the team was excited to play. And her team played that way. Leadership on and off the field was key. The defense gave up very few goals throughout the tournaments, and some of them were not really the fault of the defense. Her team was a hit. And she was one of the leaders on and off the field. Much of the credit for her consistency comes from the positive advise and support of Coach Mary Hopkins, who has coached Chanelle at several tournaments and seen her mature and grow!
Chanelle (left - Cincinatti) joins fellow Maniax/St. Thomas alum Dani Wiedmeyer (right - Navy) at the Division I level. Chanelle is a great example of how positive thinking and hard work pays off. Good thing they are not going into DI hoops!
After the events, Chanelle became a hit with the coaches too. Several division I suitors came to call on her, eventually Cincinnati won her heart. And now, the story of the kid who just picked up a stick her freshman year and almost put it down her junior year, lives on. My wife has a saying she uses all the time. Everyone in the club knows it. “Attitude is the mind’s paintbrush. It can color any situation.” I think this phrase fits Chanelle to a tee. She has come a long way in her game, in her emotional leadership and control, and in her friendships.
We all hope that Chanelle remains a part of the LaxManiax program for a long time to come! You just can’t replace that leadership, personality or character. We all wish Chanelle the best of luck in her future college pursuit! Congrats, kid! You made it!
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 – Bethany Beach, Delaware – As the class of 2010 continues to move through their recruiting process, I wanted to take some time to help everyone get a better idea of where they fit in the scheme of college lacrosse. I get asked many times the uncomfortable question “Coach Paul, where do you think I can PLAY college lacrosse?” It’s uncomfortable because it’s not an easy question to answer AND because sometimes the answer is a bit of a ‘dream buster’, however honest or realistic it is. And no one likes pigeon holing someone LESS than I do. I made it to the National Football League without a scholarship and played Division I and Division III football, and I came out of the Diamond State which at the time had only a few major college and NFL players to its lineage (sound familiar, Florida lacrosse?). So when a lot of D1 programs would drive thru Wilmington, Delaware on their way from Baltimore to Philly, many of us were told “You can’t play there!”
Not so fast, old men on the message boards!
There is a system to the madness of recruiting and we run a very good recruiting program for free (it comes with the membership) and this keeps me full-time busy assisting the rising senior class. I guess you could call me the world’s poorest sports agent! 
First, let’s answer the question “where do you think I can PLAY college lacrosse?” Let’s break down this question into two parts: THEM (the colleges) and YOU (the student-athlete). First let’s start with THEM!
THEM: Profile – NCAA programs from new start-up D3 schools to Northwestern (5x NCAA D1 champ). NAIA/Scholarship club programs like SCAD (Savannah College) would be considered like a D2 or D3 program. Let’s take a look at THEIR LEVELS first – because it’s not anything like the mature sports of football, soccer, and basketball. Lax recruiting may as well be the moon relative to those other sports!
LEVEL 1 (The best of the best) – Consists of the top D1 programs (40 of them) who are recruiting the top 200-300 players in each graduation year class. Florida and Jacksonville would be in that mix at this point because most high school prospects want to look at Florida’s programs because they are in, well, Florida. This means both of those programs are going to be very tough to be recruited by. This level also consists of the top-8 D3 programs and the top-4 D2 programs. If you take those 52 programs, you are looking at the most difficult to ‘play’ at in terms of playing time and selectivity.
More than 35 colleges of all levels, including Level 1, saw the LaxManiax show very well against Westchester (NY) Elite. Coaches and club parents handed out pink Maniax rosters to all the watching coaches.
Level 2 (really good lacrosse) – Consists of D1 programs from #41-#75, #5-#30 D2 programs and the #8-#40 D3 programs. These roughly 75 programs are very selective and many offer scholarships (most of the D1 and D2’s do, though some do not). Keep in mind, many of the D3 programs will easily beat the D2 and D1 opponents if they played them on the field. This does not happen often as there are tons of D3 schools for them to play, but well established D3 programs at this level, like McDaniel, will “put it to” schools that are listed as “higher level”. It is still VERY difficult to be recruited by this level of program.
Level 3 (solid college lacrosse) – Consists of the #76-100 D1 programs (more adding each week), the #31-40 D2 programs and the #41-110 D3 programs. These are programs where the competition is very good and most schools play in competitive conferences within their own right. It is important that the student-athlete look at these schools to find the exact ‘feel’ they are looking for. These programs will struggle to move up the charts ahead of the schools in category 1 and 2, but often the quality of life for the student-athlete is very high at these places. FIT is the key.
Level 4 (college lacrosse) – Consists of some schools of each level. You can check the results on the web to see where they would fit in terms of competitive level. Many of these programs are located in the south and are focusing on southern recruiting. There will be tremendous growth over the next few years in these programs. Take Rollins for example. Their first season out they won a few games and cancelled their season early. They then recruit well and played this year a much improved game and rapidly advanced from Level 4 to more of a Level 2 program. And they did it all without scholarships which tells you how many northern kids just want to play college lacrosse in Florida and what a great recruiter Coach Short is! So you can see from the Rollins example, schools in the south that are new can go from level 4 to level 2 or 3 in a year or two.
Level 5 (“This Just In!”) – Schools that announce programs over the next few months that they are starting a program. For 2010’s who really want to get playing time, these schools are a great place. High Point, Georgia State (if they ever name a coach), LaGrange, Agnes Scott, are just a few programs in our region who are looking for players and have not recruited a class yet. They will be relying heavily on their class of 2010 recruits to get them off the ground and competitive over the next few years. So if your dream is to play Division I lacrosse and you have not gotten any D1 interest, the schools to contact are Georgia State and High Point. They will be looking to fill a class and are behind the 8-ball in the recruiting process.
OK – now lets look at some statistics and start figuring out where you fit in to the process. This year there were 1,200 girls from the class of 2010 competing at the IWLCA events in the grad year exclusive brackets and about 400 competing in the Open Division brackets. That means there are about 1,600 girls who were showcasing at the tournaments from the class of 2010. Of that grouping, about 80% would like to play in college. 20% are going to college for other sports or no sports at all. That gives you a list of about 1,280 girls who are looking to be recruited at the IWLCA events in June. We had 40 girls competing as a club and a few other clubs had some Florida contingent to them, so Florida girls made up about 3.5% of all recruits (a pretty decent number considering 75% come from MD, PA, NJ, NY, MA, CT). Let’s breakdown now what the NEEDS of the different levels are so you can determine where you stand numbers wise and how difficult it is to compete for various levels:
Level One: 52 Programs recruiting an average of eight players each: 416 players will commit or sign to play with these programs from the class of 2010. That is about the top 33% of all 2010’s at the IWLCA. Remember, this includes the Skywalkers, Heros, Yellow Jackets, Capital, and MD United kids as well! If you look at it from a pure percentage standpoint, Florida will have about 14 or 15 players looking to go to schools at this level. If you factor in that Florida is not as good of a lax state as Maryland and New York, this number may be closer to 12. So, if you look at your game as one of the top-12 in the State of Florida, you probably will fit this level for the 2010 recruiting year. My prediction is that in 2011 there are closer to 20 for this level as each year the state matures as a lax state and our club’s alumni reputation continues to thrive.
Level Two: 75 programs recruiting an average of eight players each. 600 players will commit or sign to play with these programs from the class of 2010. That is the middle 50% of all 2010’s at the IWLCA. From our club’s two teams and from other Florida prospects, the majority will find programs in this strata to continue their education. If you look at yourself as a good player in the LaxManiax club program and you have game and instincts and speed, you should find a home in this area. But this area is for girls who have lax on their mind just as much as the Level One players. Not much separates the recruits of the two levels. Sometimes it is just a missing element in your game that can be worked out in college. Maybe you have not been dedicated enough to lacrosse because of other extra-curriculars that spread your life far too thin to excel in anything to the top level. Many in our club suffer from “spread me too thin so I can be more ‘well rounded’” syndrome. The over-scheduled kids are the ones who never truly achieve greatness in any one thing because as 16-year olds they are still trying to figure it out in stead of pursuing their passion with, well, passion! But that is another BLOG on another day. Of the roughly 50 kids from Florida at the IW’s from the class of 2010, expect roughly 15-20 commitments and signees from Florida this year. This could fluctuate based on the geography of these schools. Many of the schools are not within a 5-hour drive of kids from Florida, so as proximity would have it, the kids decide on other schools in level 3, 4 or 5.
Level Three: 90 programs recruiting an average of eight players each. 720 players will commit or sign to play with these programs from the class of 2010. If you are doing the math right now, do not scratch your head. You are correct, the 600 level 2 players, 420 level 1 players, and 700 level 3 players add up to 1,700+ total players and the IW’s had a little over 1,200 players who will play in college. There are more spots open for college student-athletes than there are actual players on the club level at this time. It is a BUYERS market. There are some kids who are attending other tournaments and others who are just high school kids. These players will inevitibly find a home somewhere, just maybe not at a Level 1 or 2 program and most likely not a Level 3 program. But all of our club members can play at Level 3 somewhere. They need to be committed to the distance factor as mentioned above. Proximity is a key factor in the decision making process – every bit as much as academic major. Level 3 has been a successful home for the majority of our alumni from 2007 and 2008. As of 2009 a shift to level 2 started to occur and now our 2010 class is shifting to the top end of level 2 for many prospects. This is GREAT for Florida lacrosse.
With more slots available than club players to fill them, LaxManiax players of all ages need to 'stick' with their program to realize the greatest rewards in the process. Over the next seveal years, Florida lacrosse will become a hot bed. As an old cliche' goes "It's not a matter of 'if' it's a matter of 'when'".
Level 4 and Level 5: These programs are looking for more players. Most are looking for 8-12 players on average. For this we will estimate 10 players to keep the math simple. 110+ programs searching for 1,100 prospects to fill their rosters. 2,800 total members of the class of 2010 are “wanted” and only 1,400 of them were competing at the IW’s this year. You can see why ‘limiting’ tournaments at any level is like the college coaches chopping off body parts – they need more players than are available. This was one of the prime rationales for LaxManiax starting out and then expanding to grow more players and more ability levels. Helping as many Florida kids as possible find a college home AND develop into all-stars is what makes the program unique.
Now that we know there is a home for everyone in our club, lets now talk about the variables that create more opportunities and the factors that go into making a decision:
Variables include – Club prestige and reputation. The LaxManiax has been around and attended 6 IWLCA tournaments and over time has placed more than 60 players in colleges nationwide. This year and last year’s senior ‘A’ teams competed against the top programs in the country and found success and a roughly .500 record against hot bed teams. In other words, we are just like them. Therefore, colleges know we have players and they come to see us play. Add in the connections that 100+ years of playing and coaching experience on the NCAA level add up to and you are a part of one of the hottest things going in lax. The reason why Inside Lacrosse and members of the IWLCA are so interested in the ‘rise of Florida’ lacrosse on the national level.
Our 2011 class has some very high level recruits. The effect of their recruitment and the success of our alums playing in college so far will tweak more and more interest in our club’s 2012, 2013 and younger classes. The more they stick together, grow together, and play together as a club, the better they will be as time goes by!
With a dozen Level 1, or Level 2 prospects, the class of 2011 is on its way to becoming more storied than the 2010 and 2009 classes. Many of the 11's have played together since their 8th grade season, helping them to progress and develop together and learn the club's complete curriculum.
Performance at the SAT by the TFG programs was huge. None of the TFG teams fell to another outside club. This shows that the teams are as good as it gets in the South. Playing against some great southern clubs in grad year competition also raises the level of the club and the other clubs as well. The coaches at that event talk to other coaches and the reputation builds.
The Bolt sisters and Melode Adolphe strike a pose at the Southern Alliance Tournament. The Maniax teams played very well and established themselves as one of the south's top club programs for the forth consecutive year.
Vero Beach High School’s trip to Maryland (which ended up pushing them over the limit for games vs. Out of State opponents) this year helps as well. The trip may end up costing them a state title, but they played well at the Maryland based Centennial tournament. No matter what your opinion is of the men of Vero Beach, their players are very good and when one program in Florida performs well, everyone benefits. We should always seek to build up and not denigrate other Florida lacrosse people, like them personally or not, we cut our nose to spite our face when we look down on other programs, whatever the reason.
Other variables include the success of our LaxManiax alums, which has been nothing short of miraculous. Our players last at college and they earn starting spots. Coaches come back for more players when they have a positive experience with one of them.
Mel Hicks '08 (Detroit), Mindy McCord (JU), and Katie Carbiener '08 (Longwood) are three examples of successful LaxManiax alumni who are now performing at the Division 1 level. Their success creates more opportunities for all kids from Florida. Hicks, who anchored the UDM defense as a freshman, was instrumental in recruiting/hosting Park Vista (FL) graduate Megan Cunningham this past Fall.
Now lets go into Factors of Making a Decision: For this I like to break it down using the term S.L.A.P. SLAP stands for “SIZE”, “LOCATION”, “ACADEMICS”, and “PERSONAL FIT”. These are in relative order, although “SIZE” is closely related to “PERSONAL FIT” insomuch as you would not attend a school that did not “FIT” because it was entirely too large or small. So, “SIZE” is relative to the size of the campus, and the interactivity of the student body and team. Some small schools have a big school dynamic and some big schools are essentially “Suitcase colleges” where kids go home every weekend, or the school was a community college in the state educational system and grew way too large so they added a couple of years on. Either way, “SIZE” does matter.
“LOCATION” is a key as well. Student-athletes will not go where they do not want to be. I asked one of my players who a major D1 had inquired about if she would like to stay in the South and she said, “NO WAY! I want OUT of the south!” No point in forcing that point! Find the location that is right for you. This is why so many of our kids slide from Level 2 to Level 3 – more level 3’s in the south making it a closer proximity!
“ACADEMICS” is also a huge factor in the decision making process. This is impacted by the maturity of the prospect and their families understanding of a few simple truths. If the prospect has it set in his/her mind that they are majoring in THIS, than super! Not to burst anyone’s bubble, the average state school prospect changes their major twice before graduating and the average private school prospect changes their major once. So, finding a school that is the right fit academically and has a variety of majors you would like to pursue is key.
So, in my advise, while every mother says that school is all about academics, I would have to disagree. It has as much to do with location as it does academics. How many kids who do not play lacrosse do you know who come home from school and don’t finish? A large number of these cases are because they went to school for a football team, or they went to the wrong location. Look around and visit schools the summer and fall going into your junior year. That is a key to knowing if the location is a fit for you.
Excluding or including schools at the various levels based on SLAP creates a better success rate in college decision making. There are lots of Level 1 players who choose to go Level 2 or 3. The choice is theirs. Occasionally there is a Level 3 player who tries to cram themselves into Level 1. The success rate of kids who do this is not very high. There are some clubs that live on the reputation of getting kids to Level 1 schools when the kids are not level 1 kids. This does a disservice to the kids they are supposed to be guiding in the process and is not the point of the club system.
It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish. If kids get pushed Level 1 and only play one fall, you have not really helped the prospect. You may have ruined their chance of actually having a college career, or in fact limited their career to 1 semester.
Final thoughts: When to Commit?
IWLCA coaches struggle with the ethics of recruitment and dealing with legal minors making adult-level commitments. As a business person, nothing is legal until the guardian has signed with the minor and taking a minor’s word for it is not a position I, or any good business person, would want to be in. Pressuring the minor to follow through with their obligation made as a 16-year old gets even more problematic. While we cannot control the coaches and their ever changing whirlpool of recruitment policies and ethical dilemmas, we can control our behavior as prospects and club programs. Here are a few rules to be aware of:
1) YOU are the PROSPECT, not them. If they want you, they will respect you as a PROSPECT with options and a duty to investigate those options. If you are late in the investigation and have not seen all you need to see, explain this to the college. YOU are the consumer – they are the salespeople.
2) UTILIZE your PARENTS and CLUB COACHES. They are your adult advocates and can help you in dealing with adults who are trying to woo you. Do not allow anyone to pressure you, especially club lacrosse coaches who are wanting you to ‘commit’ to top-level schools so they can show you off. You are not a pawn in the marketing game of a club. The club works FOR you.
3) CALL the COLLEGES. They cannot call you until July 1st of your rising Senior year, but you can call them. Best time to start calling them is the summer of your rising Junior year as you are visiting campuses and attending tournaments and camps. Get to know them then so you feel more comfortable making decisions when you reach July 1st of your rising Senior season. Many colleges at Level 1 look for you to decide around the July 1st date, even though this date was established to allow colleges to call you (first call date for D1’s). Some Level 2’s are now looking at this as a date to have a lot of their recruits “committed” as well.
Kaylee Quint (Left), and Morgan Derner (Right) are 4th year LaxManiax members (they lasted thru the hiddeous pinnie stage of the club) who have used the club's prestige and their personal development and team relationships to become Level-1 Prospects are rising seniors. Their first year in the club (the club's 1st year) was their rising freshman year. Imagine how great the club players who started as 6th graders will be in a couple years!
For LaxManiax members, you have a great website and recruiting system and network that no other club can offer. And you have the benefits of playing with your fellow-prospects from middle school on through, providing you with more familiarity and experience than just playing on an all-star team. Follow your programs and know that the advise you receive comes from people who care about your individual decision and not their personal pride. We have won our Super Bowls and NCAA titles in life and now we want to help you all reach your goals.
Yours in recruiting, Coach Paul
