College Recruiting
The NCAA Lacrosse Recruiting Rules say college lacrosse coaches must wait to contact student-athletes until after September 1 of the athlete's junior year.
Lacrosse Recruiting - A quick overview:
NCAA Division I: College coaches want athletes who will maintain success both on the field and in the classroom and can use their influence over admission to secure top talent on their roster.
NCAA Division II: D-II Women's lacrosse programs offer a smaller school atmosphere, but the competition matches that at the Division I level.
NCAA Division III: D-III college coaches are known to recruit the same level of talent as D-I and D-II programs; the main difference is they don't offer athletic scholarships.
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The Recruiting Process
Research lacrosse programs: Start the recruiting process by creating your list of prospective schools from the nearly 550 NCAA and NAIA women's college lacrosse programs.
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Things to do:
Build a recruiting profile: College coaches use recruiting video to evaluate athletes when they are unable;e to watch the compete in person. Create a highlight video that showcases your versatility, lacrosse IQ, and athleticism.
Attend lacrosse camps: Lacrosse recruiting camps give you an opportunity to sharpen your lacrosse skills while increasing your visibility and access to college coaches. Find if the school you are interested in has a lacrosse camp.
Contact college coaches: College coaches can't contact you until after September 1 of junior year, but that doesn't mean you can't reach out to introduce yourself and express interest in their lacrosse program. Write an introductory email.
Before a tournament: Email each coach individually and give them your schedule for the tournament. Make it as easy as possible for each coach. Give them the field, time, opponent for each game and most important your jersey number. Do this as soon as you know the schedule, coaches are busy and make their weekend plans on Mondays to see the recruits they are interested in. Bottom line make their job easy for them.
After the tournament: Email to thank them if they showed up to watch and if they didn't give them a very brief summary of how the team and how you did. One to two sentences.
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On September 1:
Coaches begin sending out messages to a large group of athletes to get an idea of how many might be interested in their program. Athletes who pass the initial evaluation will likely receive one or more of the following:
1) Requests to complete a recruiting questionnaire
2) Invitations to a camp or JR day
3) General interest letters from the school
After coaches send these communications, they will see who responds -- and how -- and narrow their list of prospects down to between 100-3,000 athletes, depending on the size of their program.
What this means for you: Recruiting questionnaires, camp invites, and general interest letters from a school may seem impersonal and not worthy of a follow up. However, they do serve an important purpose. Respond to each coach with a personalized message, thanking them for the letter, and letting them know you are interested in their program.
At this point, many athletes want to know if a college coach is really interested, and the answer is actually quite simple: If you've received mail from the coach, they are most likely evaluating you as a recruit. It's in your best interest to quickly follow up to ensure you get to the next step in the recruiting process.
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Lots of information: https://www.ncsasports.org/womens-lacrosse
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Women's Lacrosse Recruiting Rules
NCAA Division I
College coaches and student-athletes are held to the most restrictive rules at the NCAA Division I level.
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Any time: Student-athletes can receive non-recruiting materials. College coaches can send questionnaires, nonathletic institutional publications, camp brochures, and official NCAA educational materials.
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September 1 of junior year:
A) Athletes can begin to receive emails, text messages, and direct messages from college coaches. College coaches can also begin sending recruiting materials and verbally offer scholarships.
B) Student athletes can begin scheduling unofficial visits after this date.
C) College coaches can conduct off-campus evaluations. Evaluations must take place at the recruit's school or home during their junior year.
NCAA Division II
These rules are far more flexible than those in place for NCAA Division I schools.
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Non-recruiting materials: College coaches can send non-recruiting materials to student-athletes at any time. This includes camp NCAA materials, non-athletic recruiting publications, brochures, and questionnaires.
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Printing recruiting materials: Beginning July 15 after an athlete's sophomore year, college coaches can begin sending printed recruiting materials.
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Telephone calls: Coaches are permitted to start calling athletes, beginning June 13 after an athlete's sophomore year.
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Off-campus contract: Starting June 15 after an athlete's sophomore year, off-campus communication is permitted between coaches and athletes and/or their parents.
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Unofficial visits: Student-athletes can make unofficial visits at any time.
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Official visits: Student-athletes may schedule official visits after June 15 of their sophomore year.
NCAA Division III
NCAA Division III schools have the most lenient recruiting rules of all NCAA divisions.
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Recruiting materials: Student-athletes may receive recruiting materials at any time.
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Telephone calls: College coaches may call student-athletes at any time.
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Digital communications: Digital communication between college coaches and student-athletes is permitted at any time.
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Off-campus contract: After an athlete's sophomore year, athletes and coaches can begin communicating off-campus.
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Official visits: Athletes can schedule official visits starting January 1 of their junior year.
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Unofficial visits: Student-athletes can make as many unofficial visits as they would like.
NAIA
NAIA recruiting generally starts later because coaches typically recruit student-athletes who did not receive an offer from an NCAA Division I program.
Compared to the NCAA, the NAIA has fewer rules around the recruiting process and allows college coaches and athletes to communicate throughout high school without restriction.
During the recruiting process, NAIA coaches work to make sure that athletes are a goof fit for the program athletically, socially, and academically.