<p>My younger son is a 9th grader, and is a very talented lacrosse player. We are NOT sports people, both my husband and I did not participate in sports (does track in 8th grade count:) and aren't big followers of sports in general, though we both are decent golfers. Amazingly our kids are very good atheletes who love sports. We are fully supportive of all three of them and happily get them to each and every game, practice and tournament.</p>
<p>We live in a hotbed for lacrosse (Maryland), meaning its UBER competitive around here. He also plays in this areas top youth team which competes all over the northeast. He is attending an invitational only camp next summer as well. He will play varsity as a 9th grader and basically we hear people talking about kids reaching out to colleges as early as the end of their 9th grade year to me, seems nuts but what do I know?</p>
<p>We dont' want our own lack of experience or ignorance to the wide world of competitive sports to hinder his chances at playing for a good college one day. But at the same time we dont' want to become crazed parents doing things well before the normal protocol. </p>
<p>If anyone has any hard sound advice based upon their own experience, would you mind commenting on your thoughts as to what if anything a 9th grader should be doing with regard to future aspirations to play at a division 1 school? Thanks....</p>
<p>Hi, my D is a Junior and a track athlete. Last year I have followed the recruitment sagas of the seniors on the team. Some of the best were hampered by poor or inconsistent grades. A very good runner and strong student (top 5% of her class) had several D1 acceptances and is attending an Ivy this year. Moral --encourage your child to work as hard in the classroom as on the field. Recruitment in the Junior year is very critical…but for a 9th grader adjustment to HS is key.</p>
<p>Given that you are in Maryland, you probably have access to the best advice in your high school, probably through your lacrosse coach at the school and possibly his guidance counselor, also the coaches in his youth league organization or his club team. You could also reach out to parents of graduates from your high school that are currently playing in college.</p>
<p>He should concentrate on his GRADES as well as his LACROSSE so that he can be recruitable by the best schools. Remember that there are only 12.6 athletic scholarships for D1 lacrosse teams to be split among 40+ kids … and zero <em>athletic</em> scholarships in the Ivies … although there may be “preferential packaging of need based aid”.</p>
<p>If you have some specific questions, feel free to PM me. My son was a recruited lacrosse player … and has just graduated from college. He had a fantastic experience playing for one of the top D1 teams and got a great education while he was at it!</p>