Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Now that there are high school summer and fall tournament club lacrosse will discontinue after 8th grade. It’s going to become even more difficult to be seen unless you go to a private school. Th


This is certainly true in Maryland. Private school lacrosse has a disproportionate value relative to lacrosse players wanting to play in college @ D1. If you are a very good youth player and go to a public middle school, your best path is to find a private. Spalding, Calvert Hall, Loyola all have open doors to diverse populations. They are great educations and have great lacrosse programs and coaches to mentor your sons.

Bearing in mind that "finding a private" is not universally easy.

I recall St. Pauls admission approval is about 10%, Loyola is about 20%, Calvert Hall is about 25-30%. Loyola's MIDDLE SCHOOL is about 30%.

At any of these schools with a MS, remember that 1/3 of the MS kids matriculating to HS "play club lax" and most of those play AAA/Elite ball. And the coaches know who they are. So it's not like the coaches are running out to find 8th grade kids with 3.1 GPAs from public MS and get them admitted because they can shoot with their left hand. They have 15+ kids per year who already can handle the academics, understand the rules of conduct, and are "fast enough" and can "basically play at a HS level."

Now.......will they cut those MS kids at JV and Varsity for studs who show up out of the public school system (or Texas)? Yes, 100%. With no remorse. But it's up to your son to be that stud.

All the AIMS (Association of Independent MD & DC Schools) have doors open to diverse populations. While some families are fortunate to be able to afford the tuition, those families that can't are offered a financial aid package with their admission letter - sometimes a little, sometimes a full package based on financial need. Academics, arts, athletics all are taken into account as admissions offers are made.

Some schools go after athletes with $$ even though the family can afford the tuition. MIAA rules discourage athletic scholarships, so the schools with money to offer athletes call it "merit aid" and kids get recruited. One school will offer a few thousand in merit aid, and the same kid will get offered a full ride elsewhere, even though the family has the ability to pay. It shouldn't be that way, but it is.

The open spots at each private HS that has a middle school can vary from year to year. I believe there are fewer spots all around this year as parents continue to look toward the independent schools after bad experiences with remote learning in the publics.

The coaches at my son's school have been watching the MS boys for years and have some of them working with varsity players to learn their positions/offensive schemes/etc. Our school likes to develop from within, others like to recruit. Like local club teams - some recruit away from other teams to build a wining team, others stick with the kids who have been in the club and help them develop.

Some schools continue to recruit boys through high school in order to offset attrition or to bring on a talented recruit. This happens more at some schools based on the philosophy of the athletic department, similar to teams in the NFL. Some teams like to draft and develop, other teams pay for talent in free agency.

Another factor among the MIAA/IAAM schools is the number of college counselors and the counselor/student ratio. Private schools are keenly aware of why parents make the investment - primarily college admissions. The prep work for college is given a high degree of attention, and the number of kids a counselor has in his/her portfolio is much smaller in the private schools. Public school counselors may work with hundreds of kids in each grade year, private schools a few dozen. This makes a big difference, as the private school counselors have more time to develop relationships with the college admissions folks. If a kid is in contact with the coaching staff, and the counselor is talking with admissions, the chance for a successful recruitment is much higher. Check out the MIAA group on Facebook, in which you can see the connections between local private schools and colleges.

Hopefully this is helpful info to some of the folks on here.