The topic seems to be a return of investment, it really is silly and few and far in between that will gain from this.
In lacrosse, a year-round player can expect approximately $2000.00 in family spend in the early years and more towards the later years exclusive of travel costs, hotels, meals, and other training costs. An expenditure averaging $4,000.00 to $5,000.00 per year would not be unusual when everything is added together. So, if you do this for six years (13-18), that is about $30,000.00 cash.
For a $40,000.00 per year college institution, a 0.25 scholarship would be worth $10,000.00 per year. Hence, the investment could have some minimal level of return in the college years although chances are very likely that your family will still be paying for most of the college load and not feel a positive return. Looking at youth lacrosse as a financially viable investment in your daughter's future is not a grounded reason to be part of the game.
Yet travel parents seem so sure their daughters will get full rides to where ever they choose cause they played on blah blah team.
While BOTC has gone over the number multiple times, please dismiss the notion of a full-ride. On pure numbers, 12.0 equivilent scholarships divided among 25+ players should tell you that full rides are virtually non-existant with some basic arithmetic.
Many parents will include academic money or better yet, financial aid, in their statement of receiving a full ride. Our experience however shows that most families participating in the $5,000.00 per year lacrosse chase have available assets which often exclude (or severely curtail) financial aid awards.
A metric often used for the cut-off for financial aid at the Top 50 national schools is as follows : If you have $150,000 in total annual income, $100,000 in cash or financial assets, and own your own home, you can expect that your FAFSA and college contribution will place you outside the financial aid world.
It is the story and promise handed down to them when their daughters started playing and its the same line of BS that gets fed to the newbies then parents sell it to other parent. It is an idea these clubs sell to everyone, but it is far from reality. Hopefully your daughter plays because she enjoys it and you can afford it
This used to be a common fantasy in the soccer world also. As we have often said, lacrosse is about five to ten years behind soccer in terms of the youth sports evolution (premier leagues, tournament regulation, player passes and such). We tend to find that soccer parents are better educated on the realities of receiving athletic scholarship money.
The one advantage that lacrosse families enjoy is a lack of overseas competition for roster spots and that their east coast location remains a recruiting hot spot. This will certainly morph in the next decade as US Lacrosse continues to expand the game's reach. Therefore, today's entering players at the 2023 level will face a very much tougher recruiting world that being experienced by today's high school varsity participants.
