BASIC LACROSSE RECRUITING TIPS
ACADEMIC AND ATHLETIC ADVICE AS YOU GO THROUGH RECRUITING PROCESS
Lacrosse is an amazing opportunity for young athletes everywhere. The sport can provide a tremendous amount of opportunities for education, life experiences, meeting friends, traveling around the country and world, and much more. We will be building out our ICON services to help high school athletes more with the recruiting process, but for now, check out this interview and LACROSSE IS A KEY with Trevor Tierney and keep your eyes open for more information coming soon!
Below is a timeline that a young lacrosse player should understand in order to make their goal of being a college lacrosse player more attainable. These are some questions that ICON asked Trevor Tierney to share his knowledge of the recruiting process :
What should kids be starting to think about when they are in eighth grade?
It’s time to get serious! This is when grades start to count. To play college lacrosse, first you have to get into school. Many of the top college programs around the country are some of the best schools in the country. In order to get accepted, you have to show that you are a hard working student. Getting good grades before high school allows you to get placed into AP and higher level classes, which is something admissions departments are looking for.
As an athlete at this point, you should be starting to understand that lacrosse is like a second job, second in line to school priorities. It is time to start weight lifting and conditioning as well as playing other sports in the off-season. College coaches look for well rounded athletes. They like players who also compete in football, soccer, basketball, hockey and other sports. So, pick another sport and plan to play it through high school. Lacrosse though, should be your main priority in the spring and summer. If you are hoping to get recruited for lacrosse, now is the time that you have to work on your skills. By your junior year in high school, it will be too late. You have to be willing to put in long hours individually and at camps, clinics, and team practices to make your self a recruited athlete!
What do freshmen need to do to get ready for the recruiting process?
This is a tough transitional year as you start high school, but the harder you work, the smoother the sailing will be throughout the rest of high school. This is a time when it is really important to start off on a good foot with all the teachers and administration in high school. Colleges will be looking for consistency throughout your high school years, and this is where you start everything off. By studying hard now and developing good study habits, you can set yourself up for success in the classroom. Start to pick a couple subjects that you really enjoy and do your best to excel at those. As we talked about before, college admissions will be looking for some AP classes on your resume.
As far as lacrosse is concerned, this will differ depending on the type of high school program that you are involved with. If you are at a high school with a very good varsity team, then your goal should at least be to start for the JV team at your school. If you are a tremendous player or your high school team is mediocre, then obviously you should try to be playing for your varsity team. However, the high school season is not the only important season of your young lacrosse career. Most high school athletes get recruited off of the club teams and camps that they participate in the summer time. It is important for you to get on a serious club team (like ICON ELITE) and participate in as many camps and tournaments as you can in the summer time. This is where you will face some of your toughest competition and really be able to grow as a player.
What is important for a student athlete to focus on in their sophomore year?
As discussed, consistency is important to college admissions (unless, of course, your grades are consistently bad). So, it is important to work hard and get the same type of good grades that you were getting as a freshman. It’s also important to try and take the most advanced classes that you can, on track to get into AP classes for your junior and senior year. Also make sure you are making yourself a well-rounded student. Get involved in community service projects and a club or two that you are interested in. It is important to take advantage of all the opportunities you are surrounded with and show yourself and others, that you are much more than a student-athlete.
In lacrosse, it is go time! It is extremely important to be working as hard as possible on your skills whenever you have time. You should be training hard in the weight-room, keeping yourself in great cardiovascular shape, eating well, and taking care of yourself in order to become the best athlete that you can be. You should be striving to play for your varsity team in an important role, and although you probably won’t be voted captain, you should lead by example with your hard work and determination. Just as a freshman, you should continue to play as much as possible in the summer with a great club team. You may also start going to some recruiting camps back east that are set up for “rising juniors”. This is where college coaches will first get to see you play, so you better be ready to go!
Junior year seems to be the most important year for student-athletes in high school. Could you explain what a junior needs to do?
This may possibly be your most important year academically. You should be in some tougher classes and you should be excelling in all of them, or at least doing the best that you can. This is also the year to take your first SAT and ACTs. It’s good to take these as early as possible so if you struggle the first time around, you can go back and do it again one or two more times. Another thing colleges will notice is how your test scores line up with your grades. If you are a student with average grades and amazing test scores, that will show colleges that you are an underachiever who may not work as hard as they would like. If you get great grades and lower scores, then it shows the colleges that you at least work hard, and will be willing to put in the extra time to succeed in college. If you do well on both your grades and scores, then that will obviously look great to the admissions department!
Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, recruiting for college lacrosse has gotten earlier and earlier. Now, some of the top junior prospects commit to colleges by the end of that school year! If you are not getting this type of attention from college coaches yet, that’s okay, you still have time. But, the summer after your junior year may become your most important! The school year before that summer, you will have to do everything you possibly can to be the best lacrosse player that you can possibly be for those camps and clinics. If you have a good summer at recruiting tournaments and camps, then the college coaches will come calling!
Finally, what does a senior need to be ready for?
In an ideal world, at this point, you will know what college you are going to and be committed to that coach. However for many, this will be a time to decide. By the fall of your senior year, you should have at least narrowed your choices down to around five schools that you would like to go to. Your application should get sent in and hopefully, you will have the support of the lacrosse coach at each school that recruited you. Your other options are to take a PG (Post-Graduate) year at a prep-school, so that you have more time to develop athletically and academically, or you can just apply to different colleges and try to walk on to a team. Our goal with ICON PRS would be to have you getting recruited by at least a few schools where you would feel comfortable athletically, academically, and socially.
Senior year, whether you like it or not, is no time to slack off in the classroom or on the field. If you want to achieve success in college, then the work has just begun! You need to keep working hard at lacrosse and becoming a better athlete. Also, make sure you do not slack off in the classroom. A couple really bad grades, and a college could easily take away your admittance letter!
