The Landscape of Summer Lacrosse

As I sit here and reflect on summer, I wanted to share a couple trends that I’ve picked up on. This summer, we ran our first event featuring recruiting, Best In Class.

The Landscape of Summer Lacrosse

We also ran our first true “camp” in Baltimore for 4-8th grades. We continued our small group training and online work. After talking with many players and parents, club directors, college coaches & so forth, there’s a few key takeaways. Note: I don’t write this from a place of judgement – everyone has their own opinions, and need to do what is best for them. I simply am writing this because I think that players and parents need to seriously consider how they approach summer lacrosse and the impacts down the line. We aim to be a guiding voice and give you things to consider when making decisions!

Games vs. Training

This area is one often discussed, but has simply gotten worse. I imagine the craze post COVID contributed to this. Many players we’ve worked with or know have played in 20-30+ games at least through middle of June, likely north of 40 at summers end. Between 1 day events (3-4 games in a day) to 2 day tournaments (5-7 games) it adds up quickly. When we ran our Best In Class event, we had several players going on 10-12 days of lacrosse in a row, lucky if they had a travel day or so of rest. Many college coaches commented having seen some players at our event at 3-4 of these prior.

We understand the need to be “seen”. We understand the uncertainty on which events to attend. We understand the worry that you won’t be evaluated when from a non-traditional area. At some point, you have to trust that you are being evaluated. Exposure is happening, in person AND on film. Make your games count!

On Twitter, I recently asked a few questions. How many days in June or July are you playing at least one game? How many total games? How many rest days? How many days of strength and conditioning training, or practice? It is important to consider the 2 months. It is crucial to manage breaks and consecutive days.

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Here are some certainties & thoughts that we’ve observed:

1. When you don’t give yourself enough rest between events, your body begins to breakdown and risk to injury increases. Your level of play tends to diminish.
2. When you are playing games and showcasing, you are often doing things that you are already comfortable with. If you leave no time for training, what are you showing a coach in mid July that he hasn’t yet seen in mid June?
3. Many parents express to us the need for the training, the skill work, the development. How are you allocating your sons or daughters time?
4. More “exposure” isn’t always better. How is the environment you’re competing in? Is it a team you play well with and have chemistry? Is it a showcase where you spend the first 4 out of 6 games adapting to new guys on your team? Is playing time equal? Are you ready to play physically?

Fear of Missing Out

College coaches hawk sidelines at many top events. They work their own prospect days. They discuss schedules with club & hs coaches, watch film, and evaluate tape. There is no guarantee, even if they are set to come to that event, that they will watch that game, that half, those big plays. There is a fear instilled that every event will have the most number of coaches possible and you will miss out if you don’t attend that event. Every event has the best players. Every event has the best coaches. We even ran our first event called Best In Class! FOMO is real. The social media craze is real!

The fact is that these coaches are evaluating many events throughout the summer. If you begin attending events where your play is physically diminishing, you might be doing more harm than good in terms of your recruiting stock. If you end up needing to withdraw, it is OK. Quality people will understand and not make you feel horrible about it.

It is also important to do your research when it comes to events. Take the time to ask questions, research the offering, ask parents of older players, and so forth. You can’t do it all, so make them count! There are many great offerings out there. While it feels great to be written up on the internet, or a big goal posted to social media, and every event looks top notch, you have to prioritize your goals and your body.

Prioritizing Events

With so many offerings, it is important to understand the landscape of what to sign up for and how to balance.

High School Events: HS teams often compete 1-2 times in the summer at high level events versus other high schools.

Club Events: participating with your year round team. 3-4 often is the standard number of 1-2 day events clubs participate in.

Showcase Events: events with pure gameplay, often 1-2 days, with players from around the country.

Training Events: events with training, instruction, and gameplay.

Prospect Days: 1 day college prospect days throughout the summer. We’d recommend 1-3 of these at targeted schools pending availability.

Here is a sample schedule of a First Class athlete that worked with his parents to really manage event participation. This led to fresh legs and continued excitement to compete through June and July:

• Showcase (3 Days)
• Club Event (2 Days)
• Training Event (2 Days)
• Showcase (1 Day)
• Club Event (2 Days)
• Club Event (2 Days)

The schedule has left time for training, touches some big events, and allows for time to fully compete for his club.

The same guidelines need to apply. One must pick and choose events versus trying to do them all. What is the total cost? Do I need more games? What is the cost on your son or daughter’s mental and physical well being? Does this added event provide something different than what I am already signed up for?

While invitations to a few top showcases doesn’t completely determine where you will land, due to spots, invite process and so forth, it is still important to continue assessing the reality of where you might fall and manage expectations.

My goal in writing this is to simply summarize what our staff has been observing, hearing and learning through this process. There are many options out there, which can be a blessing and a curse. Trust your instincts. Do your homework on events. Talk with people you trust. You can’t do it all!

Most importantly, keep getting better. If you keep learning, training, and competing, you will put your best foot forward.

We hope you found this helpful. We started First Class Lacrosse because we believe in the power player development. We believe you can get exponentially better if you combine a great work ethic with the guidance of knowing what to work on and how to do it. Luckily, we experienced it firsthand as players and coaches. Our goal is to pass on what we have learned and experienced to future generations of lacrosse players, parents, and coaches. Join our Email List here.

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