Showcases. Why are you doing any at this age? No college coaches looking at your kid. However….they are good experience for when it does matter.
There's lots I can say about this. One is that the best girls in the country are going to these things, even at this age. I see them there. It's the same names over and over. And they play on high ranked teams. If you want to keep up with this level of competition and rub the correct elbows...this is one way. These girls are absolutely making a name for themselves...already. I am one of the coaches of a top 10 team. I know the names of three girls that I'd love to have on our 7th grade travel team. Guess where I learned them. I need a draw girl and I fully expect to have figured that out well before tryout season.
Next, it's something to do in the off season. Something separate from our teams. Playing a weekend in a full size indoor facility is a breath of fresh air in the winter when practices are typically in the indoor sewers of Long Island.
There are ample opportunities for networking- with event holders, with likeminded players, with coaches, with parents, with competition, and with college coaches and clinicians. Some of the people running these things are young ladies that our children watch on television- they're the Derek Jeter of the women's lacrosse world. Our kids love working with them.
There are also lots of learning opportunities. With that said, some of these events are awful and awfully expensive, so properly vetting them is pretty important. The dream of your kid going to college for lacrosse is only a sliver of the pie chart of reasons why you might want to go to these things.
