The greatest predictor of lacrosse success and early commitments are birth dates. Loved to watch the dads when their third grader was a phenom and dominating the PAL. They were so proud. Only to find out 8 years later that Junior was a full 9-11 months older than everyone else. On top of the fact that some town programs had kids playing up due to low roster numbers, so he was running over kids a year and a half to two years younger. Junior was the next Mikey Powell or Nicky Polanco. The travel coaches chose maturity over ability and lobbied his parents to join their "A" team. He got better coaching, better tournaments and better opportunities to play with better players. So for all you dads believing you must have magical sperm imparting those superhuman genes on your offspring, think again. You either got lucky, planned the conception masterfully, red shirted your kindergartner, or had him reclassed. Congrats. In this new age of less physical play, out of control club teams and college coaches fighting over 9th graders, you hit the jackpot.