How useful are these free prospect days that the MIAA schools have?
I have a kid who is on a club that doesn’t have a traditional connection to a school.
Are these the best way to get familiar with the coaches and get on their radar?
We went to one and it seemed to be a little less than effective but perhaps I’m not sure what to look for.
It depends on expectations. Prospect clinics are supposed to (key words) mimic a varsity practice at the prospective school. Pace, tenor, intensity, etc.
1) If your kid is the best kid (top 5, maybe) at the clinic, expect some attention from the staff and a followup request. If you take a tour, it should then absolutely include someone from the coaching staff. "Possibilities" for scholarships, team roles, etc may be thrown about but no commitments. May offer to "walk through" your kid's application if his test scores and grades aren't in the top 25% of applicants. Ultimately he will still need to make tryouts in February of 9th grade year, so.....
2) If your kid is not the top 3-5 kids at the clinic, it's really just for the sake of getting to know the vibe and pace of how the varsity players and coaches act and interact with each other on the field. The coaches will address the group of players but you won't get any personal time and your son won't specifically be remembered. Attendance is a good thing to mention when you reach out to the coaching staff during the application process.
Watch the 2027 BOTC board this winter, or look back at last winter's 2026 posts. You will see a whole lot of Dad Smoke about "this school is EXTREMELY interested in my son," "Oh yeah all the coaches are calling my kid," etc etc etc and in the end probably 50% of those kids don't even get admitted to the private school that Dad wants them to attend. So levity / relativity should be part of your focus as a parent.......very few lax kids will get lax scholarships, and most of those are 10% scholarships anyway, and 100% of them go to kids who the staff think will make varsity in 9th grade (very, very, very few kids in MIAA schools).
And another tip, unless your son is in the top 10 of an elite club lax roster, don't make this process all about lacrosse. The education and the brotherhood are important, whether you are talking Dulaney or Mt. St. Joe or McDonogh. Good high schools are intended to be a boot camp for high level college education, so "high school fit" is critical. Especially since lax coaches quit and get fired like anybody else.
