<p>My son is a freshman this year and signed on with a club lacrosse team last year. He was put onto a lower level team and assigned to some lower level tournaments for this summer which we thought was fine at the time.</p>
<p>This lacrosse season he started for his varsity lacrosse team this and his highlight films got initial interest from high level D-1 lacrosse programs accross the country.</p>
<p>Now a week before he is about to start his first club lacrosse tournament he is approached by another club lacrosse team that has inivited him to play in their highest level tournaments, with their best 2016 team, at no cost (they know we could not get our money back from the first team if we left).</p>
<p>My question is whether these D1 lacrosse schools would look at his jumping to another program as a sign of my sons lack of commitment and if this would scare them from giving him a verbal offer if they liked him.</p>
<p>The second club team has told me that the colleges wouldn't care about this at all, and it happens all the time, but I'm concerned that they are telling me what I want to hear.</p>
<p>We need to make this decision soon so any input would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>I think you could spin it positively that he is chasing better competition. If there really is a dramatic difference in levels, it will be easily understandable. Despite my username, I have a daughter playing club lacrosse and she outgrew her first program as well. Her situation is different in that she still practices and plays an occasional tournament with the local club (run by the varsity coach) and she was encouraged to move on by the coach himself.</p>
<p>I think it’s OK for the kids to act as free agents in their own best interest. I am not inclined to believe a college coach would look at your son switching to a better team as a character flaw.</p>
<p>In my kids’ sport student-athletes occasionally change clubs and/or coaches for a variety of reasons. I’ve never seen any backlash from college coaches.</p>
<p>I definitely agree with the others. I would have no concerns with this. Especially given the rationale to move to a higher level of competition and more development. Happens all the time.</p>
<p>My son (who will be gong to a NESCAC school in the fall to play lacrosse) played for a competitive club team winter of his sophomore year and summer before junior year… He also filled in that summer with another club team ( slightly more competitive) and then was recruited by them for the summer prior to senior year … After much soul searching he switched teams… primarily because his original club team played several fewer tournaments than the other and he had a conflict with one of those tournaments due to a lacrosse camp. Although the 1st coach was disappointed he understood the reason for switching… Ultimately he ended up getting recruited by a coach who saw him play at a college camp that same summer…</p>
<p>My son played for one club freshman year, and the team basically folded. The team he is on now was supposed to be competitive, but isn’t. He is looking at changing to a top program for junior year.</p>
<p>There are all sorts of reasons to change teams, and if the reason is that the old team is just not competitive enough, move on to more opportunities. The difference between my son’s old team and the new program is a ton more training, a ton more college coach exposure, and continual coverage of the league by various media sources.</p>
<p>The old coaches will always be disappointed. Just last week, I took my son out of a pro team scouting opportunity because of his commitment to his old club team. Looking back, it was stupid but honorable. It’s your kid, and you should set him up for the best opportunities possible. Changing teams sounds like the best thing for your son.</p>
<p>If he was invited to a national team camp, would you turn it down for a local team? No. So you need to decide how close the new team is to where he should be.</p>