If this recruiting cycle is not proof enough, the current state of the NJ club lacrosse scene is nothing short of all out war. The competition for talent has seemingly increased year after year, with the clubs now using any sort of advantage to gain an upper hand in the battle. Geography no longer matters like it once did; NJ teams have players from LI, CT, NY and even apparently Boulder, while NJ players are also playing for out of state clubs, 91 LI, 91 MD, and Primetime just to name a few. One factor that I think is not discussed enough however is the role of social media and social capital in this equation.
First just look at the equipment, when my son was playing in the mid 2000's , you would get a reversible pinnie and a pair of shorts. Now I'm seeing every club with fully customized jerseys, helmets, and more. Let's just say I truly feel for you Dads today. BBL and LE in my opinion have best capitalized off of the associated notoriety and exposure of the WSYL and NLF respectively. BBL's model is clearly more youth focused and allows them to assemble an all-star team for WSYL, of course a televised game on ESPN is no small consolation for the finalists. LE on the other hand waits for the dust to settle a bit more, but has clearly been successful in attracting top players once high school rolls around. There has been a lot of talk about "poaching" between the two clubs, but this unfortunately comes with the territory when you want the very best. It is an impossible task to keep everyone happy on a roster and players will move around in search of more playing time or better competition on the college level as well. What concerns me is more is the "highlightification" of the sport that can be seen front and center on instagram.
A lot of recruiting has moved online and now the clubs have resorted to shamelessly one-up each other in the form of custom commitment post edits, highlight clips, and posts highlighting their college alumni. It has gotten to the point that this cycle I have seen commitment posts from different clubs about the same kid, Riot players who moved to BBL and recently committed to Maryland and Bucknell. How do the BBL parents feel about that sort of poaching? The elite camps, tournaments, and high schools have all bought into the social media craze as well, all helping fuel the highlight machine. And I'm know coaches at all levels are watching, I am the only one who finds it bizarre that high school coaches are commenting on the posts of 8th graders? I say tread lightly, the goal should be to win and not to get the best 10 second clip for instagram. At the end of the day, the scoreboard for every club are the college placements, so here's what we've seen so far has been:
BBL: Yale, Bucknell, UVA, UMD, Princeton, Lafayette, AF, Navy
LE: Nova(2), BU, Dartmouth, UVA, Harvard, Cornell
Based on these results, I can see why top players are moving to these clubs, but at the same time there have also been commitments from a number of other clubs. The club team you choose is important but just one of many factors. Connections are another factor that should not be overlooked, for example it certainly does not hurt to have Tom Schreiber advocating on your behalf to the Princeton staff. It's the same for high schools, a former Delbarton/Villanova player is now on staff at Nova so it's no coincidence that they recruit Delbarton players year after year. Not to mention the number of players who will have an uncle, dad, older brother, etc who played somewhere. The point is the recruiting process overall is not an even playing ground, so it pays to leverage every possible advantage. | 
