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21 lacrosse showcases
The facts|
the format| goals
and objectives | the numbers
 the
facts
You are your team’s leading scorer, or its best defender
… you are a solid goalie, or a ground ball machine …
you have some great basic skills, but you just don’t seem
to be noticed when it comes to all-star teams or even your own
coach … Don’t despair, we at 21 Lacrosse want to help.
In the fall of 2004 we will commence a national tour of college
showcases that will help you get the exposure you need. Whether
you are a senior who feels like it is too late to be noticed by
anyone, or a junior who just needs a little help in getting in
the school of your choice, we can help you reach your goal.
21 Lacrosse is dedicated to the development of the greatest game
on Earth … Lacrosse … We want to assist you in realizing
a dream you may not have thought possible … playing college
lacrosse. You must have a million questions. Let me answer a few
here.
Q: How can 21 Lacrosse help?
A: We
are bringing showcases to you. Instead of you getting on a plane
and spending several hundred dollars just to get to a “showcase”,
we will be having showcases in many “non-traditional”
lacrosse markets around the U.S.
 Q:
Why not go to the “big” showcases in major lacrosse
markets?
A: Many
of these showcases are outstanding. They are put on by real professionals
for the “premiere” players in the country. Many of
the best college coaches at the most prestigious colleges attend
these showcases. Why? So THE COACHES are seen by the players they
want. They typically aren’t “farming” for new
talent, but rather attempting to seal the deal on their top prospects.
You may be just as good if not better than the players they are
pursuing, but you will have a hard time being noticed.
Having been both a college coach and athletics director for more
than 12 years I can assure you that there are not many schools
that have a recruiting budget that gives them the luxury to search
the country for the truly best players. So what do they do? They
concentrate their efforts in the traditionally strong markets
along the northeast corridor from Virginia to New England. Of
course there are the pockets in Ohio, Colorado and Michigan that
get activity from many colleges, but even those great markets
are too often overlooked.
Q: How can 21 Lacrosse make a difference?
A: By
bringing the showcase to you, and showing you effective methods
to market yourself. We not only help you, but we help the coaches
as well. This is a cost effective way to develop a targeted marketing
plan that can assist you in gaining admittance to the college
you most want to attend. This isn’t about scholarships,
per se, but a more realistic utilization of your lacrosse talents.
There will be more than 2,000 high school lacrosse programs next
year. That will represent more than 45,000 players. Division I
schools can give up to 12.6 scholarships per team while Division
II is limited to 10 scholarships per team. Assuming that colleges
are spreading their scholarships out over a four year period,
then Division I schools would have just over 3 scholarships available
per year while Division II institutions would be limited to 2.5
per year. There are 54 Division I and 31 Division II schools playing
intercollegiate lacrosse. There are at least 20 schools that I
can identify in the Division I ranks that either do not grant
any athletic scholarships, or are limited by school or league
policy to less than 5 scholarships per team. See the number dwindle?
That is what you are up against. (for a more detailed analysis
of the number of recruits and their geographic roots can be found
at 21 Lacrosse College Showcase: Goals, Objectives and Format).
What we would like to do is to show you a way to better position
yourself in marketing your skills to the colleges you are most
interested in attending. To be quite honest, in most cases we
are not talking about athletic scholarship dollars (there are
institutional grants available), but rather an edge that will
help you gain admittance to a school to which you might not have
otherwise been accepted.
Your “upside” or your potential to be a contributor
to a particular program will get the attention of the coach, who
will in turn contact admissions on your behalf. This is where
the “edge” comes in. You are no longer lumped together
with the general population of applicants, but are set apart because
of your ability to play the game.
 Q:
If I am an exceptional player, what can I expect in the way of
a scholarship?
A: Look
at any college’s sideline and you will see a team made up
of 35-45 players. Are the majority of these players walk-ons?
No, in fact the vast majority is getting some aid (this holds
true for programs that are fully funded – the MAAC limits
the number of scholarships made available as does the Patriot
League – the Ivy League states that they do not give “athletic
scholarships” but rather make awards based on need –
however, if they “need” a player bad enough, they
will find the aid). What coaches typically do is break their scholarships
into fractional pieces. Instead of 12 full rides, a coach may
have 2-3 full rides, 8 half scholarships, 16 quarter scholarships,
13 1/8 scholarships. The combinations may vary, but they will
do their best to stretch their grant dollars are far as they possibly
can to be competitive.
Q: More questions?
A: If
you have any questions about our showcases, or about the “recruiting
game”, please do not hesitate to contact us at 21 Lacrosse.
We are here to help you reach your goals.
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FORMAT
The 21 Lacrosse College Showcase puts you in control. We offer
you an outlet where you will get ample playing time. Teams will
be limited to no more than six attackmen, six defensemen, nine
middies and two goalies. In a typical 50 minute game goalies,
attackmen and defensemen will play 25 minutes each. This will
be controlled by 21 Lacrosse. Middies will evenly split the 50
minute games, playing approximately 17 minutes each. Again, 21
Lacrosse will monitor and control playing time assuring that everyone
plays equally.
Entire teams may opt to attend the 21 Lacrosse Showcase together.
The size of these units will be left up to the respective teams
/ coaches. If teams do opt to bring their own coach they will
control their players time on the field. If a 21 Lacrosse coach
is assigned to your team, playing time will be distributed evenly.
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 GOALS
& OBJECTIVES
The showcases will enable these players to show how they stack
up against the best players in their region. They will receive
two DVD’s from their best games to assist in marketing themselves.
21 Lacrosse will conduct a very informative session on the Saturday
night of each respective showcase covering such issues as college
selection, admissions, the financial aid game, and tips on marketing
their athletic skills. Do not underestimate any edge that will
assist you in getting into the college of your choice.
Our mission is to substantially change the college recruiting
process. Having been an athletics director for the past eight
years, I can assure you that there isn’t more than a handful
of colleges that can recruit nationally. Due to their budgetary
constraints, coaches logically tend to recruit where the largest
concentration of players exist, and that is in the northeast corridor
(Virginia to New England).
We are attempting to help you by creating a means and method to
market yourselves without the coach having to travel the nation
to see you. We will arm you with a couple of quality DVD’s
with which you can market yourselves as well as inside tips on
what gets coaches attention and how to do it.
Why not school specific camps? The answer is simple … if
you know where you want to go to college, feel relatively certain
that you will be admitted, and have contacted the coach and he
has shown interest, then by all means go to their camp. If all
of these stars aren’t aligning; however, be careful. If
lacrosse is an important part of your college selection equation
you may shoot yourself in your proverbial foot. If you have a
bad camp, or even a bad game in which the coach has decided to
observe you, your stock may drop precipitously. If, however, you
control what the coach sees by way of an exceptional game that
was recorded at our showcase, then you are in a much more leveraged
position. 21 Lacrosse can help you market your skills at the level
you are most likely to succeed.
Why not national recruiting camps? There are a couple of issues
/ elements here that are totally out of your control: 1) Which
coaches will be there … 2) How many players will be there
…. 3) How much time will I get on the field … and
4) Will there be someone or some method available to me to guide
me in my quest to play at the level I have chosen?
There may be a slew of coaches at a particular recruiting camp,
but who are they watching? Most coaches come to a camp looking
for specific players. They want to show their face, and show these
“superstars” how interested they are in their coming
to Lacrosse U. To get these coaches attention, you will have to
be extremely fortunate to do something spectacular at the specific
moment they are observing your game. Good luck. The odds are stacked
against you to say the least.
As for the number of players attending … this, as well,
has become problematic. With the proliferation of the game of
lacrosse, the numbers at these camps has exploded. Your quality
time on the field is limited. I heard of one camp where each team
had SIX GOALIES …. Even if you “only” had four
on a team, you would be limited to a quarter of play per game.
Having been a goalie my entire life, I can assure you, it is very
difficult to get into any sort of rhythm in 15 minutes of play
per game. Add to that the pressure and anxiety of performing well,
and you can fill in the blanks.
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THE NUMBERS GAME
There are 41 states and provinces represented in the statistical
analysis conducted by LaxPower (see www.laxpower.com,
and click on recruits under “Lacrosse Listings”, 2004-2005
College Recruits, and cross tab with State (HS) by Division).
As you can see, the numbers do not lie. The states that make up
the northeast corridor have a total of 1,538 of the 1,937 recruits,
representing 79.4% of the total. More importantly, the northeast
corridor has 86.7% of the Division I recruits, 72.8% of the Division
II recruits, and 87.0% of the Division III recruits.
The 10 states that we have targeted as primary growth centers,
and that could best utilize the “21 Lacrosse College Showcase”
service currently have only 7.7% of the Division I recruits, 18.3%
of the Division II recruits, and 8.2% of the Division III recruits.
Our goal at 21 Lacrosse, by way of our showcases, will be to show
these prospective student-athletes how they may be able to play
at an NCAA institution if they so desire.
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