- So what steps should you, your family, and the coaching staff be making to help you with your dreams of playing in college?
Step 2: Grades, Grades, Grades! This is possibly the most important step in the recruiting process. The vast majority of lacrosse playing college's and universities are VERY good academic institutions. It is extremely important that you do all of your homework, study hard, and do well in class in order to insure yourself admission to the college of your choosing (This includes studying and working hard towards the SAT). Having good grades in high school will allow you to have a much larger "pool of options" to pick from when choosing a college. It will also make it MUCH easier for a college coach to recruit and admit you! Your Class rank, SAT scores, GPA, and Extra Curricular activities have a much larger impact on this process than you could imagine. WORK HARDER IN THE CLASSROOM THAN YOU DO ON THE FIELD!
Step 3: Preliminary letter of interest/introduction! These letters should be sent out at some point during your Sophomore year, or the fall of your Junior year. If you have completed step 1, the coaching staff will be well on their way of helping you to decide what level of play and schools you should send these letters to. Remember, cast a "wide web". It will not hurt to send out letters to every school you may be interested in at this point. The more people who hear your name, the better. Again, if you have completed step 1, Coach Sliwa will be working on a portion of these letters for you (I.E. stats, accomplishments, his opinion of you as a student, athlete, lacrosse player, and person, as well as recommendations).
Step 4: Play well during your SOPHOMORE and JUNIOR years. The better you do during these years, the easier it is to get you recruited!
Step 5: Meet with your school counselors and make sure that you file with the NCAA Clearinghouse. This is your initial eligibility to the NCAA. Without filing, you cannot be recruited by college lacrosse programs. This site also contains the eligibility rules that you need to know!
Step 6: Letter #2 and video tape! Spring of your Junior Year. By now, you should have narrowed your list down to 8-15 schools that you are very interested in. Once again, you should meet with Coach Sliwa to begin writing letters to these coaches. This time, you will also include some game footage along with the letter, allowing the college coaches to actually see you playing, rather than relying on the word of others.
Step 7: Recruiting Camps. At this point, you should decide what recruiting camps you will be attending during the summer after your Junior year. The selection of these camps is very important, as some coaches only attend specific camps, some camps are only for DI hopefuls, while some are for DII and DII hopefulls only. PLEASE meet with Coach Sliwa PRIOR to making a decision on what recruiting camps you will attend! This is where you will make your biggest impact upon the recruiting process, as you will get a chance to play in front of the college coaches that you hope to play for.
Step 8: Contact period. A college coach may only contact you on or after July 1st folowing your Junior year.
Step 9: Unofficial Visits. These will allow you to go and visit the colleges you are interested in and take tours to get a feel for the campus and your likes and dislikes. You may even meet with the coaching staffs and admissions department. (Spring of Junior Year, Summer/Fall of Senior Year.)
Step 10: Official visits. You are permitted 5 official visits during the recruiting process. The college coaching staff will contact you concerning such visits. These visits allow the college coaches to view your interaction with the rest of the team, talk with you about the admissions process, and get a better feel for you as a person (usually an overnite stay). Go to the NCAA Site for more detailed info on these visits.
Step 11: Apply to the schools you are interested in. At this point, you should have narrowed your list down to 1-5 colleges or universities that you have interest in and the coaches have interest in you. You should meet with the school counselors, coaching staff, and college coaches to obtain applications to those schools.