I suspect the earth doesn't move when you go to prospect days, but an embedded plus to them is to see a college campus via an admissions tour. Obviously for a 9th or 10th grader there won't be interviews or anything formal. But for the going rate of $150-$250 for a day on the field and on your own checking out a school that is a great way to establish a focus list for colleges whether or not you are really being recruited. I am always stunned when I ask people after they come home from a prospect day how they liked the campus to hear they didn't even see the campus. I believe these things are equally valuable for non-lacrosse reasons and that should be taken advantage of. Even if the NCAA puts a pill into early recruiting, attending a college camp day is still a good idea. By the time a kid is a junior he will have some knowledge about what is best for him and will have a better chance to be happy with his list when he's ready to apply to colleges. This is all through the lens of a dad who did have a son play ranked D1, but as a lightly recruited walk on. The best part of it for us is he picked a college -- college lacrosse didn't pick him. It worked out great. Use prospect days as nothing more than a chance to check out schools of interest and to learn about the lacrosse program. Here's a little secret -- some head coaches are real overbearing jerks. Some are terrific human beings. You can always see and feel that when you do a prospect day. It has a great value.
