Excellent read. What I don't understand is all of the people who think that the travel teams are the only way to go for a scholarship. My kid plays travel because he is good at it and he enjoys it. We are on the same team since he started, many have come and gone, but the core group is there, and he has friends all over LI now. If your kid isn't on a wall every day, running 2 miles 3 days a week, and does stuff outside of lax, there is slim to no chance to be part of the 2% that gets to play at the highest level, much less get money for it. The money is in the academics. Pay for a tutor, take the SAT classes, and get good grades. Lax should just be another notch on the application to show a well rounded student.