<p>Hi,
My daughter has played lacrosse since 5th grade and is in her junior year and has decided she would like to play in college. She would like to try and make a DIII team. She attends a small private boarding school where the program is very strong...they won their regional championship in their league last year. She does not play for a club team and will not have that opportunity.<br>
What is the best approach for her? She will attend a couple of summer camps this year and will have film to send coaches.
Any thoughts? </p>
<p>She should register for the NCAA clearing house and look at the recruiting rules. She may contact coaches but they cannot contact her directly until July 1. If she has schools in mind, look on their websites to see if there is a form to fill out to show interest. She can tell the coaches which camps she’ll be at this summer.</p>
<p>Her high school coach can help and be her contact since she doesn’t have a club coach. There are several recruiting tournaments held over the summer and they often have ‘house’ teams or teams that are looking for a player or two. If she can go to one of those showcase tournaments, she’ll get exposure.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the information. I will have her sign up to be a “free agent” and hopefully, a team will need someone. I will have her register with the NCAA, as well.<br>
While going through camp and tournament options, also reading a few articles in Lacrosse Magazine, I have begun to wonder if it is too late for her.</p>
<p>Most D-3 recruiting doesn’t happen until the summer between junior and senior year. My daughter had decided not to play in college, and then junior year decided that she not only wanted to play but wanted to play D-1. That ship had really sailed for all but the lowest ranked or newest D-1 programs. She ended up committing to a D-2 that is perfect for her, but continued to be recruited to many D-3 schools (especially in Ohio!) through the fall, with texts and calls almost daily. My daughter did play in 3 of the showcase tournaments. She is a solid player but is 5’4" and small, and there comes a time when size does matter (much too small for Notre Dame; Northwestern; Syracuse). She wanted an engineering program, so most D-3s just weren’t the right schools for her academically.</p>
<p>For D-3, much will depend on her grades. If she has good grades, they will all want her. If there is a lot of interest by a school, it will want her to apply ED so you might work toward Nov 15-Dec 1 as your goal for completing your search and decision, but there was still a lot of interest after that date. If you have an area of the country you are interested in (west coast, new england, mid-west) just find a few schools you are interested in and start there.</p>
<p>NCAA registration is not necessary for D3. If you think she may change her mind, you can have her register, but my D was strictly looking D3 and did not bother. A lot of the coach contact rules also do not apply to D3. Top programs like NESCACs do fill up their teams early through ED, but if she has good grades and does not want to commit early it won’t mean she can’t find a school she likes that she can play at. It is NOT too late for her! We were told by a NESCAC coach that she liked to have her recruiting done by the end of the summer before senior year. (My D was not that highly recruited and didn’t go to a NESCAC)</p>
<p>Have her research schools she might like to attend and fill out school online recruiting questionnaires, then be sure to e-mail coaches to let them know she filled it out, ask if she can meet with them when she visits the schools. For us the school choice was first, then sports was a secondary consideration, but she ended up at a great place for her.</p>
<p>I agree she doesn’t need to register NCAA. My D is playing lax at a DIII but had considered DI for a while but realized that was too intense for what she wanted her college experience to be overall. My D did play at the major recruiting tournaments and got much of the coach attention from those but it doesn’t have to be from that.</p>
<p>I would also agree that non-NESCAC DIII coaches don’t fill their rosters before senior year so it is not too late. Your D needs a good highlights video no more than 10 minutes long - we uploaded to Youtube and then provided the link in the emails D sent out to the coaches for the schools she was interested in. She did fill out the lax questionnaires on the websites (including same video link) and did find most DIII coaches (or their assistants) very responsive. There are rules I don’t recall about timing and contacts by coaches - you will have to look that up.</p>
<p>Maybe you can have her join a travel club team as a solo for at least one tournament so the coaches she contacts now through the Fall will have a place to go watch her in person. - to join this is expensive but if your D is good, maybe worth it to you??? If you are in a traditional lax area, you may not need to do this if you can have coaches come to a state tourney for her regular team??? They will want to see her play in person - my experience anyway.</p>
<p>If you want more details, PM me - my D had OV’s with 3 different DIII teams and even though my information is three years old, some of the coaches on my spreadsheet may still be accurate (emails and such). I have a lot of info in my spreadsheet :)</p>
<p>Hi maidenMom, good to see you again! New members can’t send PM’s until they have a certain number of posts. (Or at least that’s how it used to be.)</p>
<p>I didn’t really look at her # of posts but I think you are right, mamabear! Maybe she will check back and leave a note (that I will hopefully check back and see) if she wants info… </p>