Recruiting Tips for MN Players

This page is dedicated to assisting Minnesota High School players get recruited to play lacrosse in college. Lax Loons, Inc has several programs and services we like to think will aid a student athlete and his family in the search for the right college lacrosse program with the best fit academically and athletically.
The links below highlighted in blue are live.

A Minnesota father's perspective on the college recruiting process... If you are being recruited or would like to be recruited to play lacrosse in college this insightful article is a must read. It is written by Mike Forsyth, father of Dan Forsyth a 2005 freshman lacrosse player attending Stonybrook University in Long Island NY on an athletic scholarship. Click here for the article in MS Word Document format

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Scholarship Calendar....What you should be doing now to prepare for college

Here is a snapshot of what you should be doing now to play lacrosse in college, and if you are an exceptional student/athlete, earn a scholarship.

Freshmen: Establish a good academic base; get a strong start in your first year. It is important to demonstrate that you are serious. Make a 3.0 (B average) your minimum goal. By Freshman year in high school, when every grade is permanently recorded on your transcript, A's and B's will have become a habit. Beginning early works because practice really does make perfect. Studies confirm that, for all but a gifted few, practice is the most dependable way to gain skills in the classroom and on the field. Tryout for a select team that travels to tournaments. Play in summer, fall and winter leagues. Target 25 colleges you would like to play for.

Sophomores: Sign up for your PSAT's to gain the experience you will need when SAT/ACT scores really count. You should be going to skill development and recruiting camps and participation on any select teams that travel to tournaments. Skill Development & Recruit Camps are valued by coaches nationwide, as they provide competition and a standard way of evaluating you with structured evaluation and training for players. Prepare a profile of yourself for coaches and send it to your 25 target colleges. College coaches follow Sophomores and Juniors and invite them to summer camp. Use your participation at tournaments and camps as an early opportunity to get noticed. Plan ahead ... college coaches do!

Juniors: Keep taking the SAT and ACT, your scores will improve every time. Submit the NCAA Clearinghouse form. Focus on 25 schools that meet your athletic, academic, financial and other tests. Set up your college recruiting filing system, collect information and send your personalized letter with your contact info and updated grades, stats, etc, and a video to colleges. Rank your first choice colleges and attend camps run by the coaches you want most to play for. If your favorite college operates or staffs a camp, use it to "try on" the coach, campus, dorm, and food ... for nearly four days ... it will help your college selection process, too.

By the end of camp, both you and the coach will know if his college should be in your future. If its just not a good fit, ask him to suggest other colleges and to act as your reference. Camps are important to college coaches. Competitive players make the camp a success, elevate the level of play, and challenge other players. They stimulate the coaching staff, too. Everyone learns more and has more fun. Many college coaches prefer to recruit players they have had the opportunity to observe and "try on" their campus under game-like conditions at summer camp.

Seniors: In the fall of your senior year apply to the colleges you are intereted in. College admission offices are sending letters of acceptance. You submitted your Financial Aid Form on January 1 and now know the portion of costs your family is expected to pay. You are working closely with coaches at your top three choices to help them finalize their financial packages. Your recent successes (Select team All-State, All-Conf., All Amer., State Champ/runner up and SAT) have been added to your updated resume. Just before you decide, call each coach and honestly discuss the offers you have. If they can improve their offers, this is the time when it will happen.

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Lax Loons Boys H.S. Player Tryouts & Evaluation Service...This player evaluation service is for high school players going into their Soph., Jr., and Sr. year of high school looking to be recruited to play competitive NCAA division I, II, III varsity or MCLA club lacrosse in college. Our Spring (April & May) Player Evaluations also double as tryouts for the Under 17 MN Select Team that travels to recruit showcase tournaments throughout the summer. The MN 100 Recruit Showcase evaluations in the Fall Sept/Oct will be for players that missed the Spring Loons tryout, but want to be considered for the U17 team next summer or just want the evalauation and benefits of the service.

Our staff of evaluators have all played lacrosse at a competitive level and been through the recruiting process. The unbiased opinion we provide on the evaluation report is intended to give the player an honest assessment of his lacrosse skills, and help him take a realistic approach towards selecting the college lacrosse programs that works best for him. College coaches rely on our evaluations because we save them time in identifying potential recruits and our evaluators are a source they can trust.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST AND WHAT DO I GET: This $65 service includes your academic profile, lacrosse honors & stats, on field skill accessments, list of colleges and major(s) you are interested in. We walk each player throught the research process of selecting colleges based on the level of academics and athletics you are looking for. We also include a template for you to put together a one page lacrosse resume and provide the college coach's addresses to mail or email it to.

Each player's data (MN Recruit List), once complete will be emailed directly to all the NCAA varsity & MDIA club programs coaches in the United States. We will also make corrections and suggestions on your lacrosse resumes and encourage you to send a brief introduction paragraph and follow up phone call. Be proactive!

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE: The evaluation consists of the evaluator watching a player participate in one of our Sunday morning "Player Combines" where we spend 2 hours playing games and running players through some endurance, speed and lacrosse skill tests in April, May and August, Sept. A copy of the data is then emailed to the player along with suggestions on what colleges might fit best (offer the best opportunity to play). Our staff is always available to discuss colleges and finding the perfect fit.

Call to find out when our next EVALUATION SESSION will be: Questions: contact Mark Hellenack at 952-938-2723 or email .

LAX Loons U17 Select Team...Here is your opportunity to be recognized as one of the State's best players, play against superior competition over the summer at camps and tournaments, learn from great coaches, have fun and work towards being recruited to play in college, The Lax Loons U17 Select team will be holding tryouts in late March of every year. Click here for more info. about the Lax Loons U17 Select Team

Minnesota 100 Recruiting Combine...The Minnesota 100 recruiting combine is being planed for the fall of 2008. If you are interested please email and we will put you on the database to be contacted with more details when they are available. Be sure to include you name, school, 08 grade, position, email and phone #.

IAS Recruit Showcase....Do you want to attend one of the best recruiting showcases on the East coast? TEvery fall (second weekend in Nov) the Lax loons take a team of H.S. Juniors to the Indoor Action Sports "IAS" Recruiting Showcase (7 on 7 tournament) in Milford New Hampshire on the weekend of Nov 11-12. Estimated cost $600-$650 per player for tourney fee, airfare, hotel and van transportation. We may take two teams of 10-13 players each if there is enough interest. If you are interested let coach Hellenack know (952) 938-2723 or . Many of last years team credit this Showcase for helping them get recruited. It is primarily for juniors and seniors and each team consists of 3-4 midfielders, 3-4 attack, 3-4 defense and 2 goalies. For more details about the IAS Recruit Showcase visit http://www.indooractionsports.com/boyslaxshowcases.htm

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The following articles and links web sites should be of help to any student athlete in his search for colleges and a better understanding of the recruiting process.

The web site has a free option - for the first 10 matched scholarship opportunities and access to the searchable college database. Premium subscriptions range from $14.95 for one month to $49.95 for one year of unlimited access, unlimted searches of the database.

This is a great new free web site for college bound lacrosse players. It offers a list of all the colleges and feedback on camps and school recruit trips. You imput your infomation for free; lax stats, academic info, school preferemces, etc and college coaches can search the site and find you. It differs form the Lax Loon Recruit List database in that it is not sent out to college coaches and it does not offer an evaluation of your lacrosse ability.

www.JumpForward.com is a FREEonline tool that empowers parents and athletes to navigate and streamline the entire athletic recruiting and communications process with college coaches

For free you can:
SEARCH College Databases and have immediate access to 2500 + college and the email and phoen number for college coaches.
BECOME KNOWLEDGABLE about the recruiting process with access to videos about NCAA recruiting rules.
TRACKING WORKSHEET Track acadmeic elibibility requirements for the colleges you re interested in.
STREAMLINE THE PROCESS All your recruit phone and email communicatios are tracked, managed, monitored and organized

"I think that it's very easy for the top 10 percent of kids to get recruited, but 60-70 percent get overlooked," Kryger said. "I think programs like Jumpforward.com help the kids contact colleges. It's a wonderful opportunity for them to get seen and I think it's a great program that's really going to develop."

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