Originally Posted by Anonymous
We have been through the process and the travel club scene coupled with very lose if any guidelines on early verbals is out of hand. As stated on another thread parents boast that their kid makes Blue or top team even if they don't play, then they boast on the summer sideline that their 7th or 8th grader got called up to varsity, then all the talk last summer was about the kids that committed before entering 9th grade! The only way a 14 year old is picking a college that FITS at 14 is if their parents said it was a fit for them. My kid wasn't a top 25 d1 lacrosse kid, so we waited and picked a school that was strong academically and that they wanted to be at even if the lax didn't work out. The hardest part was keeping my kid from picking a school just because a coach "had money" because every kid and most travel parents eyes light up


Not really sure I understand your comment. If some kid commits at 14 and gets offered $ to play lax, what is so bad? THe schools that are in the early commit game are among our top educational institutions. A kid that gets an early nod is at a significant advantage because the $ for lax is very limited.

Good fit? Come on, more than half the kids picking schools in their senior year don't know what will be a good fit...nor do they know what they want to study. That is what most people figure out in the first two years of school.

If it was a bad fit, transfer. If the coach pulled your offer-as indicated in the bleacher report article, find another home. If the coach quits before you get to school, find another home...

These kids that commit early have full flexibility, if something better comes along, they can take it. Sorry to the people that feel differently, but let's all be honest, there is no downside to committing early as just as the coach can back out, the kid can back out. I would love to know the percentage of coaches that have pulled verbal offers. Other than for academic reasons, i bet the percentage is extremely low.

Why does anyone care? Why not just tell the kid congratulations, I hope it all works out for you really well...If your kid is getting offers but you think it is just too soon and you can afford the full $45-60k per year, wait.