Why do college coaches keep telling parents that high school lacrosse isn't enough?
The $4,000 club season your neighbor swears by might actually matter less than your sophomore's GPA and varsity minutes.
Every April, lacrosse families face the same expensive questions. Your athlete just crushed their high school season, shoot - maybe they’re still competing an extra month into playoffs! Maybe they made All-Conference, and now three different club directors are texting about summer tournaments. One promises college coaches at every game. Another drops names of recent DI commits. The third costs half as much but doesn’t offer any recruiting support and does not guarantee elite competition.
Which path actually matters for recruiting? Is what your athlete needs this Summer something that even can be guaranteed - and if yes, at what cost?
The answers shift depending on who benefits from your decision. Local club directors push year-round participation at $10,000-plus. A National Club director approaches your family and tell you your athlete is special, and to give a fistful of dollars, and a few dollars more. Showcase organizers claim you need maximum exposure. College coaches preach development over all of the extra spend.
So who do you listen to? The returns flatten faster than anyone selling you a roster spot wants to admit. Position matters. Region matters. Development matters more than exposure, until it doesn’t. But doubling your budget rarely doubles your chances.
What are college coaches actually evaluating?
Travel tournaments like Sandstorm draw 125-plus college coaches because the talent concentration makes evaluation efficient. When 90% of DI coaches say club teams are their primary recruiting pipeline, they’re talking about access to known competition levels, not the club fees themselves.
High school All-State selections and USA Lacrosse All-American honors obviously carry enormous weight depending on the state. These awards prove sustained excellence, not just a gamer balling out on tournament weekends. High school coaches become the references college coaches want to call for the good stuff. When the ACC needs to know if a midfielder handles adversity or the BIG10 wants character assessment, they’re calling your varsity coach, not your club director.
How does September 1st affect spending?
The NCAA’s September 1st contact rule for Division I programs fuels the entire showcase economy. Coaches can’t reach out until junior year, yet families spend thousands on freshman and sophomore exposure that won’t generate immediate results.
The math becomes clearer when you map actual recruiting timelines. Those expensive freshman showcases where coaches “might be watching”? They’re taking notes they won’t act on for two years. Meanwhile, that same $3,000 could fund several (depending on how much they charge) prospect camps and clinics junior year where coaches can actually evaluate and communicate with your athlete directly.
Regional programs in emerging markets face different calculations than Long Island or Baltimore families. If Towson and Loyola coaches already scout your conference, high school exposure could suffice. Athletes in Charlotte or Phoenix need club tournaments to access the same coaches who naturally visit established hotbeds.
What spending patterns actually correlate with recruitment?
Most Division I commits come from families spending a $5,000-10,000 annual range on lacrosse. Not because that’s the magic number, but because that’s the base cost that competitive regional club lacrosse costs in areas producing college players. Families spending $10,000-15,000 per year might see the same recruitment outcomes as those spending $2,000 on a regional club who strategically add the right showcases.
According to NCAA data, roughly 13% of high school players continue to college. Most land at DIII programs where academic credentials matter more than showcase exposure. These athletes often played one strategic club season, excelled in high school, and focused on academics rather than year-round travel.
The price gaps tell the real story. Elite and National programs charge up to and beyond $4,500 per season. Regional clubs run $1,500-2,500. High school combined with strategic summer tournaments costs under $1,000. Each tier provides different access, though the expensive options don’t necessarily guarantee better outcomes (or networks).
Which path makes sense for your specific situation?
Start by mapping where recent graduates from your high school landed. If multiple kids play college lacrosse, study their routes. Did they all play for the same elite club, or did they take varied paths through regional programs and strong high school performances? Maybe they had a solid 1 on 1 coach or clinic program that primed them for their success.
Ask your high school coach point-blank about their college connections. Which coaches texted them this season? How many programs attended your conference championship? Their answers reveal whether high school exposure alone might work for your target schools.
Division goals matters for planning. DI programs recruit nationally and do require elite competition exposure. DII programs often recruit regionally, making strategic tournament selection more important than volume. DIII schools evaluate the whole student, where a 3.8 GPA and strong SAT scores matter more than another showcase.
What’s the play for each grade?
First, focus on academics. Every. Year. This recruiting circuit is not worth it if your athlete is not equipped to pursue a collegiate degree. I write this knowing countless athletes that failed out or decided the burden was to great. It’s not entirely their fault that they were unprepared.
Freshman year should be about building the foundation.
Play high school, maybe one or two summer tournament for experience. Log training hours and clinics. Learn weight room mechanics. Coaches have always watched younger players - that hasn’t changed. What changed is freshmen don’t commit to Syracuse anymore. The early recruiting arms race got reined in.
But the club networks didn’t get that memo. I know a freshman traveling stateside from Canada for one national team, playing for another club at home, transferring from box - all before sophomore year. Maybe it leads somewhere. Maybe it’s prep school, then a top program. It happens. But for most families, that level of early investment isn’t about recruiting outcomes. It’s about not wanting to feel behind. Those are different things. Know which one you’re buying.
Sophomore year starts to matter if you want your athlete on the radar.
It’s also prime time for physical development. Most boys hit peak height velocity around 14-15, which means your sophomore is probably still adjusting to a body that just changed on them. Coordination lags behind growth - that’s why kids get clunky after a growth spurt. This is the year to work on movement patterns, directional speed mechanics, and building the muscle that will actually stick now that hormones are cooperating. Weak hand too. The stuff that makes junior year count.
Start practicing the conversation side of it too. Can your athlete articulate why they want to play in college? Can they talk about what they’re looking for in a program without freezing up? Some kids are natural communicators. Others are total lax rats who can barely complete a thought when an adult asks them a question. I was the latter - that’s fine. But better to challenge their maturity now than have them stumble into a coach’s office junior year unable to advocate for themselves.
It’s also the last year before coaches can contact them directly, so use it to get the house in order. Academic eligibility, highlight film, a target list of schools that actually fit.
If you haven’t been in the club scene, this is when to start building relationships. Find a regional club with actual college connections - not the biggest name, the one where the director picks up the phone when a coach calls. Talk to your high school coach about who they know. The network isn’t as closed as it feels. Coaches want to find players. They just need a reason to look.
Junior year is the window.
September 1 contact date for DI and DII means this is when coaches can finally talk to your athlete directly - calls, texts, emails, verbal offers. The summer into junior year, and everything before this was evaluation. Now it’s conversation.
If you’ve done the work in freshman and sophomore year, September 1 should feel like a door opening, not a fire drill. Coaches who’ve been watching already know who your athlete is. The question is whether your athlete knows who they are - what kind of program they want, what they’re looking for academically, what matters to them beyond the logo on the helmet.
This is also when prospect camps become the great equalizer. You don’t need five years of national club pedigree to show up at a prospect day and play well in front of the coach who makes the decision. Direct line. No middleman. Run the net price calculator before you book the trip so you know if the school is even financially realistic.
Club investment should be strategic now, not scattered. One well-chosen summer with a club that actually has college coaching relationships will do more than three summers of expensive exposure with no follow-through. Ask the club director who they’ve placed in the last two years and where. If they can’t answer specifically, that tells you something.
Film matters more than ever. Coaches are fielding hundreds of emails. A clean highlight reel with your best plays - not your longest reel - is what gets watched. Two minutes. Put your contact info and jersey number in the first five seconds.
Keep multiple school relationships warm. Nothing is guaranteed until the NLI is signed, and even then things shift. Coaches leave. Rosters fill unexpectedly. The families who stay in touch with three or four programs instead of going all-in on one are the ones who land on their feet when something changes.
Senior year is less about opening doors and more about not closing them.
Most DI and DII recruiting is wrapped by fall of senior year. Rosters are taking shape. The athletes who planned well are committing or already committed.
But guys do get found senior year. Late bloomers. Kids who didn’t play club. Athletes coaches missed the first time around. A strong high school season still puts you in front of eyes - just not the eyes you might have hoped for two years ago. DIII coaches are actively recruiting seniors. Some DII programs have late needs. Spots open when commits fall through or transfer.
This is closing argument territory. Coaches who are still evaluating want to see how your athlete performs when everything counts. Leadership. Consistency. How they handle adversity. A dominant senior season won’t undo two years of missed opportunities, but it can open a door that seemed closed.
For uncommitted seniors, the play is simple: keep playing well, keep emailing coaches, and be realistic about the timeline. DIII programs will recruit into the spring. MCLA clubs at major universities are always looking for talent. The path isn’t over - it’s just different than the one sold at showcases.
Quick math this week
Calculate what you’re actually spending versus what you could spend strategically. That elite fall club season might cost $3,500 plus travel, hotels, and tournament fees. Targeted summer tournaments with the same college coaching attendance could provide similar exposure for $1,500. The question isn’t which option is better - it’s whether you’ve done the math at all.
Private training adds up faster than most families realize. First Class Lacrosse runs some of the best clinics in the country - Deemer Class built his reputation coaching elite players and the instruction is legitimately top-tier. But their premium clinics run $625 a session. Do three of those over the winter plus some smaller sessions and you’ve burned through $2,000 before spring even starts. For some families, that investment makes sense. The player is ready for that level, the coaching fills a specific gap, and the cost fits the budget. For others, it’s spending elite money on a player who needs reps more than refinement.
Programs like FCL exist everywhere - GLE on Long Island, Lax Lab in New Jersey, regional academies in every hotbed. Some are worth every dollar. Some are lacrosse people running lacrosse businesses, charging premium prices for the name on the door when you could get equal instruction down the road for half the cost. Just because someone played pro doesn’t mean they can teach. Different skills entirely.
The counter is always the network - pay for the name, get access to the connections. But a network only works if someone activates it for you. Will that coach remember your kid in six months? Will they stake their reputation on a player they saw for a weekend? Or did you pay for proximity to a name, not an actual relationship?
The regional club director who watches your kid play for two years, knows their game inside out, and picks up the phone when a college coach asks about midfielders - that’s a functional network. A famous lacrosse name who ran a great clinic but couldn’t pick your kid out of a lineup by March is a transaction. Both have their place. Know which one you’re buying.
The tell is in the language. Is the director always selling you something? Massaging your ego about how special your kid is? Promising exposure and connections without specifics? Or are they upfront about what the training will and won’t accomplish? Do they talk about development differently than everyone else - or do they just have better marketing?
The best coaches I’ve seen are honest about fit. They’ll tell you if your kid isn’t ready for their program. They’ll suggest alternatives that make more sense for where the player is right now. The ones running a business will take your money regardless.
Identify your realistic targets
If every school on your list requires a 3.5 GPA, another showcase won’t fix a 2.9. If you’re targeting regional DIII programs, year-round elite club probably exceeds necessity. If your athlete is a late bloomer still growing into their body, expensive exposure events are premature - development training makes more sense.
Run the net price calculator on your target schools before you spend another dollar on recruiting exposure. If the schools you’re chasing don’t work financially even with maximum aid, you need a different list - not more showcases.
Have honest conversations
With your athlete about their goals. Not what they think you want to hear - what they actually want. Some kids want to play in college. Some kids like lacrosse but don’t want it to consume their high school years. Both are valid answers that lead to very different spending decisions.
With your high school coach about realistic outcomes. Where does your athlete stack up against kids they’ve coached who went on to play? What level seems realistic? High school coaches see hundreds of players over their careers. They know what DI talent looks like versus DIII talent versus a good high school player who probably tops out there. Ask the question. Listen to the answer.
With your spouse about financial sustainability. Can you maintain this spending for four years? What happens if the recruiting outcome doesn’t match the investment? Is this money coming from somewhere else - college savings, family vacations, retirement? The families who navigate recruiting successfully aren’t mortgaging their futures on a lottery ticket. They’re making sustainable investments with realistic expectations.
A winning formula
The club versus high school debate misses the point. It’s not either-or anymore, and it probably never was. Smart families use high school for validation and development - the daily reps, the team structure, the competitive games that coaches attend anyway in hotbed areas. They strategically add club exposure when it matters most: summer before junior year, targeted prospect camps, the specific tournaments where their target school coaches will be watching.
The winning formula isn’t spending more. It’s spending smarter, at the right times, for programs that match your athlete’s academic and athletic profile. It’s knowing when development matters more than exposure, and when exposure finally becomes the priority. It’s recognizing that a $200 prospect day at a realistic target school might do more for your kid’s recruiting than a $2,000 showcase weekend where they’re one of a few hundred midfielders.
The families who get this right aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets. They’re the ones who asked the hard questions early, did the math, and built a plan that fit their specific situation instead of following someone else’s playbook.