Shamrocks Lacrosse Club

Academics, affordability, athletics

Academics

Can you get in?

• GPA / class rank
• Honors & AP Classes
• SAT, ACT, test optional
• Leadership
• Diversity

Will you be happy

• Campus size (<3,000, 4,000 - 9,000, >9,000)
• Class size
• Campus Setting (urban, suburban, rural, college town, etc.)
• Campus location (Midwest, East Coast, Northeast, etc.)

Will the school get you where you want to go?

• First choice major and ability to pivot
• Internship opportunities
• Career placement statistics

Affordability

• What does our family want to spend per year on college?
• Your cost = (Tuition + room and board + books + travel + activities) - (financial aid + merit aid + athletic scholarship + outside scholarships)

Athletics

• How much do you want lacrosse to be a part of your student-athlete experience?
• D1 is a full-time job, D2/D3 is a serious commitment, MCLA can be very flexible or just as demanding as D2/D3.
• Do you want to play early in your career, or would you want to go to a "better" program and fight for a spot with no guarantees?
• Are the coaches able to articulate your role in their program?
• Are the coaches good role models and leaders?
• Do the players on the team share the same goals, morals, and work ethic?
• Are student-athletes provided extra support with academics and career services?
• Does the team have an active career placement / alumni network?
• Is the lacrosse team willing to use an academic spot to get you into a better school than you could get into otherwise? Does your likely career path require a prestigious degree?

Guidance Through The Process

• Team Recruiting Meetings
• 1 on 1 Sit Down Conversations
• Discuss the 3 A's and create a plan specifically for YOU

SCHOOL FIRST DECISION

We firmly believe that college lacrosse is a great way for your son to round-out his college experience, not the other way around. That is why, at every step of the way, we will challenge your son to explain and support why his top college choices will help him reach his long-term academic and career goals.

College lacrosse does not end up being the right move for everyone. However, having an organized approach to selecting a college is universally beneficial and leads to making a more confident college decision.

FIND A SCHOOL

The NCAA Membership Directory is a great tool to help you find schools to visit no matter where you are in the county. We recommend that players as young as 8th grade start building campus visits into their family vacations - driving through the campus is fine, if you can stop at the bookstore or grab a sandwich in the cafeteria, even better.

Drafting and Emailing College Coaches

• Create a draft introductory email
• Send it to Coach Mike (michael.cervantes@steelheadlc.com) and he will proofread
• Send to all interested schools and make sure each email talks SPECIFICALLY why THAT school.
• Tag Coach Mike on all emails so he can help follow-up with coaches.
• Send follow-ups anytime there is something of importance to share with the coaching staff (awards, new highlights, season stats, test scores, etc.)

Example

Dear Coach _____,

My name is _______________ . I am a (Grad Year) student-athlete, currently playing club for (Club Team Name and City, State). I attend (High School) and last season, I was an All-American nominee.

I am beginning to explore my college options and am very interested in attending and playing Lacrosse at Duke University. It offers everything I am looking for in a college (distance, recognized business program, competitive (sport) program with a winning tradition). Therefore, I want to introduce myself and give you some information about my athletic and academic background.

Please click on the link below to access all of my athletic and academic information. In addition, you will find my contact information, coach’s contact information, awards & accolades, and travel schedule. I have also attached my recent season highlights.

I hope you will have the opportunity to watch our team play this season. I believe I have the ability to be a part of your team, and contribute to its future success.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Your Name

Your Phone Number

Showcase and Prospect Days. What Should I be doing?

We are here to help and guide through this process. You will start to get bombarded by emails. Most important thing to understand is what is worth your time AND MONEY.

Prospect days:

Every college staff uses PD's differently.

• Identify a higher Interest level from recruits
• Opportunity to coach already committed players
• Convenience - Large group of recruits on campus at one time takes pressure off of coaches
• Recruiting calendar Loophole

Reasons to attend prospect days:

• You should get something out of it (Experience, Development, Transparency)
• Experience - Get coached by college coaches. See campus. Big, small, urban, rural, etc...
• Development - You want to be coached by these coaches and see how this program does things
• Transparency - you want to be evaluated by this staff in order to be recruited

How to choose a PD:

• Does it fit your grad year timeline?
• Figure out what you want to get out of it (Experience, Development, Transparency)
• Targeted School from your list
• Invitation - Does the school fit the 3 A's (Academics, Athletics, Affordability)
• Convenience - Date/Location/ $$ lines up with family plan, trip, other events

How to use our support:

• Inform us on any PD invites - Coach can reach out to get transparency on interest
• Inform us on PD's that you plan on attending in advance so they can reach out to the staff before the event
• Follow up with us after PD to recap the event. This will give coach context when following up with staff for transparency
• Update your school list

SHOWCASES:

How/Why Chose a showcase:

• Targeted Schools will be in attendance
• Convenience - Date/Location/ $$ lines up with family plan, trip, other events
• Recruiting timeline - some events are better suited for different classes depending on where you are in your process

Reasons to attend showcases:

• Exposure - Another opportunity to compete in front of targeted coaches
• Get coached and evaluated by larger number of coaches and staffs than PD

How to use our support

• Registration /Application/ Nomination process
• Inform TI Coaches that you plan on attending in advance so they can reach out to targeted coaches before the event
• Follow up with TI coaches after showcase to recap the event. This gives coaches context when following up with targeted coaches for transparency
• Update your list

RECRUITING PROCESS BY GRADE

Freshman year - Start building a no-pressure list of as many as 40 schools that you may be interested in. Play top competition so you know what you're up against and what you need to work on to get to the level of lacrosse that you're aiming for. Also, whenever you can fit it into another trip (lacrosse, personal, or otherwise), visit a college campus. Even if you have no interest in that school, it will give you more exposure and experience with colleges of different sizes, academic focus, and campus locations.

Sophomore year fall - For aspiring Division 1 athletes, this is the first season that you will begin to be evaluated. Coaches will start making lists of players to follow-up on. At the end of the fall season, you can, but do not have to, make a highlight film and start filling out recruiting questionnaires (Ex. LINK) to demonstrate early interest. D1 Coaches may not contact you. Division 2 and 3 schools are not yet evaluating your class.

Sophomore year summer - Top Division 1 schools are identifying who they will make early offers too. Some top academic D3 schools will begin to evaluate. You should have an updated highlight film at this point.

Junior year, September 1 - This is the first date when Division 1 coaches can contact prospective student-athletes. All colleges approach this date differently. Some of the top 10 D1 schools offer out many of their spots, many D1 schools do not call anyone. It is important to know about and prepare for this date, but is also very much overblown. The vast majority of D1 college recruiting happens over the next 9 months.

Junior year fall - This is an important time for evaluation as mid-major Division 1 and the highly sought after high-academic Division 3 schools are getting more aggressive. Student-athletes who have narrowed down their list may want to consider attending an on-campus prospect day at one or more of their top 5 schools, or an individual showcase attended by several of their top schools. We will help you identify those opportunities!

Junior year spring - This is when many coaches at high-academic D3 schools will want to see your test scores and transcripts so they can submit them to their admissions office for a "pre-read" to determine if you are admissible as a student-athlete.

Junior year, July 1 - This is a very big day for high-academic D3 schools. Schools in the NESCAC conference, (Amherst, Williams, Tufts, Middlebury, etc.) generally make several offers on or around July 1.

Junior year summer - All schools at every level are actively recruiting and offering spots to prospective student-athletes. It's important to visit your top schools and it's not too early to lock up a school that meets your three A's. (academics, athletics, and affordability)

Senior year fall - The vast majority of players still commit in the fall of their senior year. However, at this time, many of the D1 and top academic D3 schools have offered many of their spots. Mid-major D1, all D2, and all but the very top D3 schools will still be evaluating new players and will have roster spots available.

Any questions please never hesitate to reach out to Coach Cervantes. We are here for YOU.