Wow, some of you will never get it. Or should I say you will never admit that your opinion of your daughters lacrosse abilities may not be accurate. It’s not always about connections and politics.
I can attest from a different perspective. From a perspective that is not “sour grapes” or from some overlooked player, or parent of. A perspective from a player (parent) who made all the teams, made all the lists and was one of the most highly recruited in her age group. And absolutely YES, the politics are insane. All the quotes you dismiss above, are at play and hard. My daughter had her choice pretty much anywhere she wanted to go, heavily recruited but never had a political push behind her. Can’t complain because it simply could not have worked out better for her, but seeing and watching all the garbage that went on with a good number of players around her, it really is astounding what goes on. We were very lucky to rise above it all, but I certainly see some of those deserving players getting shafted, and I certainly see the friends and family or head scratchers as you call them. If you think it is a level playing field, and that there are no politics at play, then you have no clue of the big picture and how it all works. Even with amazing skill and talent, kids still need a little luck threading the needle. Good Luck to anyone still having to go through it.
That was our experience as well. There are at least 2-3 players on all the top programs recruiting class that should not be there talent wise. They will never see the field. Connections!!
Here we go again, another delusional parent spewing nonsense.
You state: "There are at least 2-3 players on all the top programs recruiting class that should not be there talent wise." That statement is not accurate at all. The top programs bring in on average 8 recruits per year, do you really believe that the coaches are bringing in 3 of the 8 because of connections and or politics? If that was even close to being true, the "top programs" would not be the top programs for very long.
The best programs are the best programs because they get the best players.
Below are arguably the 10 best programs in the country, these 10 programs are the only programs that finished the season ranked in the Top 20 in each of the past 8 seasons (obviously Penn & Princeton did not compete in 2021). Some of the other top programs would include Notre Dame, Penn State, Duke, JMU, Loyola, Stanford, USC. (i'm guessing the numbers would be similar at these programs.
Below is the number of Freshmen on each teams current roster.
5 - Boston College 8 - North Carolina 7 - Northwestern 10 - Maryland 7 - Syracuse 8 - Princeton 8 - Virginia 10 - Penn 7 - Florida 8 - Stony Brook
Sorry, coaches are not handing out 2 or 3 of their very limited spots to connected players. Coaches are trying to win and they need to bring in the best players in order to do that.
Your comment: "They will never see the field." is pointless, there are players at every program at every level that will never see the field... not really sure what your point was?
The bottom line is that many parents make up excuses as to why their kid didn't get "Ranked" or "make a team" and now many want to use the same excuses as to why their daughter did not get recruited or offered a spot.
Mostly agree, but players in a recruiting class never come in all with equal ability and potential. Not even at the top schools listed above. It's not like every single player on a top 10 program is better than every single player on a top 10-20 roster, or even every player on sub top 20 roster. Keep in mind that some players get very little or no athletic money. Each team gets 12 scholarships and some rosters are 40+ and some are not fully funded. The math doesn't lie even though most lacrosse parents won't admit if their child is technically a walk on or getting minimal money. There are most definitely players getting spots because they are willing to accept no money, and it's really no one else's business. Absolutely nothing wrong with doing that if you can afford it, but the pretending by some that this isn't happening gets annoying. There is no level playing field for anything in life. Focus on what you can control. There are most definitely some cases where players get offered spots because of family prestige and/or connection to school, but that doesn't mean coaches are passing on a better player because the "political offer" is made without much or any scholarship money (if the player is not actually of the caliber to get money at that program).
As far as club and coach connections - yeah, these can be helpful in getting on a coaches radar, but there plenty of players who get offers at top schools and playing time without that. I seriously doubt a top 20 coach is going to pass on a stronger player to appease a club director or coach, even for a top club like YJ. The bigger hurdle is getting on their radar to begin with, but it can be done if the player is good enough. The purpose of club lacrosse is recruiting, so rosters should be 18-20 and playing time should be fairly equal. Players getting limited playing time on their club team need to find a team where they will have more opportunity to be seen in action by coaches.
