LRNews 101: Club Lacrosse

index For this week’s LRNews 101, we asked former Indiana University head coach Pete Tumbas to write about the club lacrosse experience.

In this space, we constantly discuss how creating a target list of schools and being proactive are of paramount importance in the recruiting process. Along those lines, this piece discusses the experience of club lacrosse, which is another option that high school players may not know much about.

Thanks so much to Pete for his time, and keep reading for his informative take on club lacrosse.

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As the growth at the NCAA DI level continues to be outpaced by the growth at the high school level, great players are finding homes at NCAA DII, NCAA DIII, and at the club level.

With each passing season, the awareness of college club lacrosse grows, thanks to blogs posting photos of outlandish gear, Halloween scrimmage videos, and other promotional items.

What is club lacrosse? For the purposes of this article, we’re only going to focus on the MCLA, or Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association. The MCLA consists of over 200 schools all over the country. If a large school doesn’t have an NCAA program, chances are great they have an MCLA program. If the school has an MCLA program, they won’t have an NCAA program.

Why focus strictly on the MCLA? Of the three college club leagues, the MCLA is the largest, the most like NCAA lacrosse from an organizational standpoint, and features the best teams. Whittier’s head coach Brian Kelly has said the top MCLA teams would fall between the top 30-60 NCAA DIII programs. If you used the 2013 LaxPower power ratings, the MCLA DI champion Colorado State Rams finished with an 89.90. In NCAA Division III last season, this number would tie them at 23rd in the country with St. Lawrence above such programs as Ohio Wesleyan, Hampden-Sydney, and Amherst.

Regardless if you trust LaxPower ratings, there is talent in the MCLA, thanks in large part to the logjam of talent at the DI level previously mentioned. Thanks to this influx of talent, the top MCLA teams try to mimic a NCAA programs. They practice year round. They lift year round. Coaches prepare multiple schemes for game day. And finally, the top MCLA teams recruit.

How can a club team recruit? Recruiting means different things to different MCLA programs. I will be discussing how we recruited during my three years at Indiana University.

First, we did not have admissions help. Players needed to have the grades to get into the school on their own. While this may be viewed as a hindrance in the recruiting process, we believed that if a player was smart enough to get in, he was smart enough to stay in school. Players that would have required admissions assistance were more likely to struggle with the academic rigors of IU.

Second, we had no help with financial aid nor could we offer scholarships since we were not a varsity sport. This meant we needed to speak with players who could afford Indiana tuition, room and board, and club lacrosse fees. The pay to play aspect of club lacrosse concerned some people. Whether you play lacrosse for an MCLA program or NCAA program, you’re paying to go to that school, therefore, you’re paying to play lacrosse. We would compare the cost of attending IU to the cost of attending an NCAA DIII school, which often times were similar (or even less).

Our typical target was someone who was a low-level NCAA DI athlete. These were players who might not be getting the “DI interest” they wanted and weren’t completely sold on attending a small DIII school. W e focused on sharing the benefits of attending a big university. There are distinct differences between attending a rural DIII College and Big Ten University.

Indiana sold itself thanks to their academics, athletics, and social life. The challenge for us was convincing student athletes that they could also play a good brand of lacrosse for four years. One of our biggest pitches was, “If you get hurt and can never play lacrosse again, you’re probably not going to transfer from IU.”

The point of this article wasn’t to argue the merits of playing MCLA lacrosse versus NCAA lacrosse. I believe there is a great home for every lacrosse player at the next level. I would simply like to encourage more high school seniors to consider the possibility of attending an MCLA school.

More MCLA Notes

• Priority number one was getting kids to campus. Players that visited Bloomington rarely turned us down.

• We looked for prospective players at tournaments, camps, and online.

• Occasionally, when we contacted a student athlete, he assumed it was because we were going DI.

• I cannot stress enough that every team is different. We were able to devote time to recruiting, because we had coaches who were very dedicated to creating a winning program. Not every MCLA program will have a head coach available to give a campus tour at 11am.

• Some teams have tryouts while others don’t. Colorado routinely gets 100 plus players at their tryouts. You’ll want to make sure they know who you are before showing up to campus. At Indiana, the school did not permit us to have tryouts. However, players who realized they were in over their heads ended up cutting themselves.

• Returning players who felt like they weren’t going to play because of the arrival of more talented players often left the program. We did not put a cap on our incoming recruiting class because we wanted to be able to cover potential roster losses.

• Treat the MCLA recruiting process like you would the NCAA process. Be proactive. Share your video. Be honest with the coaches and they’ll be honest with you.

Thanks again to Pete for his insights!

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How SportsRecruits.com Can Help

Expanding Pete’s final point, there are a number of ways SportsRecruits.com can assist its members in being proactive. Aside from the quick access to college coaches – every coach is a registered user – our staff can look at a member’s profile, transcripts and highlight reel to help guide the player in the recruiting process. Staffers are former collegiate lacrosse players who can help give a member an idea of the 20-30 schools to focus on.

SportsRecruits.com members have had amazing success getting into their target schools. Click here to see a list of some recently committed members.

SportsRecruits.com was started by two former Wesleyan lacrosse players and is staffed by former lacrosse players who played at every level – from Virginia to Monmouth to Wesleyan. Members deal with former college players when issues arise – players who have dealt with many of those same issues themselves.

The Fall is a great time to connect with your target list of programs after a crazy Summer. Call 212-414-8417 or email Ryan@SportsRecruits.com if you have questions about how to become a member.

MORE LRNEWS 101

The NESCAC
Official v. Unofficial Visits

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