Prospect days can be a great resource but they are, by far, the easiest money-maker for college coaches. In my experience, if a coach has a real interest in a player, they will usually reach out to your club or high school coaches and ask if you can attend one of their prospect weekends. They typically have 10 or 15 players that they saw in the summer and wanted to get another look. Otherwise, unless you're an astounding player, it will be difficult to get noticed. Do not be lured in by the "Dear X, Congratulations on being selected to attend our Prospect Day" You are most likely 1 out of 300 in a group email. However, if you think your son had a decent showing, have your club coach call the college coach to get their evaluation and ask if they should follow up. If they tell him, they like you but want to see you play some more .... move on.
Yup Overheard a conversation end of last summer between two dudes at a pizzeria and they were discussing the windfall of cash that the local university's prospect camp was generating for the HC of the schools Lax program. Curious as to who they were. I googled the schools Lax coaching staff and confirmed 1 was assistant to HC and other was his college buddy. Assistant was amazed that haul was in excess of 40k for the 1 or 2 day camp, less expenses!
my 2018 has gone to 5 prospect camps and his HS coach got calls within 24 hours from 3 of the 5 schools, We then set up visits and went back to meet with the coaches and tour the schools. He has not gone to the prospect days to any of the schools he has no interest in, it is all a matter of being realistic about your kids ability and picking the right schools, I think it is way way better then the camps and fall tournaments at least for my son. As far as them being money grabs I don't see that at all. 80 to 100 kids at $150 ea. is $1200 to $1500 gross - they have some expenses (Refs, pinnies, trainers and I am not sure if they are allowed to give money to the kids on the team that help out) so maybe at the end of the day the coaching staff nets $10,000 and in my opinion this is the best money you can spend on your sons recruiting just pick the right ones and don't go to everything.
