D1 coach from Elite University here. I attend one tournament a year and it's NLF. If a kid scores a goal at NLF: Scholarship! Makes a save: Scholarship! Now, not every kid at NLF plays a ton. But if an NLF coach "makes a call" for a player: Scholarship + NIL $$$. It's how the system works. Some coaches look for truly elite speed and athleticism. But real winners build teams based on who played NLF in 8th, 9th, 10th grade.
I love the direction this discussion is going. As somebody noted above, being on a well branded HS or club team in 10th-11th grade is important, but maybe the #4 or #5 biggest consideration. There are kids on NLF teams with 2.8 GPAs and 1100 on their SATs. They aren't headed to Yale, Cuse, UMD, UVA, Duke, etc. Elite college coaches don't want academic headaches and why should they tolerate them? "Oh you've had 11 conduct referrals in HS but you play on an NLF team? Come on in, here's your full scholarship and NIL bucks!" Please.
If you think the HS or Club team you play on is the 5th biggest consideration to getting to college than you know nothing.
Drinking on a Wednesday, I see. Some serious John Carroll School energy you're vibing. I didn't mean to threaten your hopes of paying MIAA tuition and holding your nose until Cornell called for your son.
A 3rd string midfielder at BL (or Crabs, or 91), who the coaches don't like enough to use their network to find college options for, with a 2.4 GPA and 1050 SAT, is not going to get to go where he wants just because he owns a BL helmet or a beautiful Crabs helmet with zero dings in it from never facing a live defenseman. Film? You got it. Practice film!
But maybe my posts are all a dream, and you should just sleep it off.
-Dad of a D1 and D2 lax player who attended MIAA schools (and 2 more hopefuls).
-Also a Dad who attended good enough public schools to know the correct usage of "then" and "than."
