Club Lax

[egrlax10]

Hey guys, so I'm a junior in high school right now and im starting to narrow colleges down and stuff. Now I've been recruited by a number of D3 schools, but all of them have been too far away, way too expensive, grades were too high for me, or I didn't like the campus. So I've pretty much decided that I'm gonna play club lax at whatever school I decide on. Now I know that at the D3 level, coaches would be able to influence the admissions office a little bit. But my question is if your grades are just shy of a schools requirements will a club coach have any pull at all? Thanks in advance.

[kevLAXpro]

It depends on what position you are what your grades are and how good you are. I'm a junior high goalie and I want to go to a D2 school because they generaly cost less and are less stringent with grades.

[somrandomguy]

As far as a club goes: 99.9% of the time it will be zip, zero, nada. Unless the coach works in the admissions department or something similar, a club team will not be able to help you at all.

[SweetLaxer14]

Somrandomguy.. That's a bit pessimistic. I'm sure it will help you in the admissions process for an active candidate for the schools extracurricular activates. Meanwhile, a lot of schools actually pride themselves on club athletics such as lacrosse. Most club teams are going to be entering divisional conferences in the not to distant future. Pretty soon most universities and private colleges around the nation will be in branches of Division three, two, and one. Might as well call the coach of the team and ask how your situation is.

[LAXMomx3]

Are you saying the schools where you might have an interest only have club teams or are you interested in the club team of a school that may also have a collegiate team... large schools or schools with an excellent lax program might have a club team and some even have intramural as well (especially east). In any event, while I don't see many schools posting "grade requirements," they do typically post standardized test score ranges. So while there is the idea that MOST students fall within this range, not all do and so saying you're just shy of this goal wouldn't necessarily discount you regardless of coach influence.

All of this said, while I don't think a club coach would have pull, you could use any meeting or interaction with this coach as selling yourself as a good candidate for admission. Whether or not the coach has the ear of the admissions office, at least you can rest assure you're always putting your best foot forward. And the truth there is, you never know who knows who.

[parockshowakms]

My club team didn't even have a coach. We had a sponsor who I saw one time, in the 3 years that I played. We needed him to sign off on us using a campus van to go to a tournament.

[egrlax10]

well im an attackman and regardless of which of these schools i go to i will be either the best or one of the best players on the team. and all of them are schools that do now have varsity lax, they just have club teams. i havent taken the act or sat yet so those could definitely help me as i have done extremely well on the practice tests for both of them. the problem with having really good test scores and a low gpa is that some schools could see that i dont apply myself and an admissions officer is probably going to want students who work their hardest and do their absolute best, not someone who is actually smart but just doesnt work at all.

[D3STRO]

Before you decide which school to go to I suggest you research their club team a little bit. If it is close enough, then go check out a game. I played club ice hockey in college and in alot of ways I feel like it was better than playing varsity. I played hockey at a school with a D-1 team and we had our own rink. We had all the benefits of a D-1 program without all the restrictions the Varsity team had. We had coaches, 4 practices a week, about 30 games a year and we often drew a crowd that rivaled the varsity team. That being said, you need to research the club program at the school you are going to and see how serious they are. There are a lot of teams that take it seriously (but still have a good time) but there are other teams where no one is committed and everyone just jerks around.

I would research it just like you would a varsity program at any other school.

[_SLY_]

Agreed, and I wouldn't say that the fact you're playing for the club has NO pull. As sweetlaxer said, being an active candidate for a growing extracurricular activity will most certainly have an influence.

I started the team at my high school (west coast), and I truly believe that my effort there, combined with the fact that I wanted to play, allowed me to gain entrance to Oregon State where I will play club. I do not have the grades, and have decent SAT scores, so it came as a surprise.

But I would certainly say (especially west coast) schools factor in the uniqueness of the sport and your interest. Best of luck.

[RottingMind13]

Sly, if you started the club, that would be a reason why OSU would be looking at you. It shows dedication, leadership and all that other good stuff colleges/jobs look for. A club team in essence has little say over anything. I'm gonna agree with the person that 99.9% chance that no, a club team has no pull whatsoever.

[malax31]

I was in the same situation as you last year...cept i was only being recruited as an athelete to a handfull of D-III schools and I'm going to school for academics not for lax. After recently going through the application process myself (I'm a senior this year) I can tell you that the fact that you want to play club lacrosse won't even show up on your transcript other than your varsity letters on your activity sheet. So i would say that it has absolutly no pull, and that you should look at a school for academics and not lacrosse, because you wont be playing lacrosse in 7-8 years from now anyway, but you will be working. Through all of this, I'll be playing club at Hofstra with RottingMind13 next year...it's gunna be a blast (EDIT: and yes, I did steal his avitar)

[SweetLaxer14]

Nice MALAX31 - Hofstra, sweet.

Moreover, lacrosse is a sport you can play unil you have arthritus in all your joints. I played in a mens summer league with 5 players above 50 and most were 25-45.. I don't mean to be a dick about it hahah just trying to bring closure.

[tomtom]

If youre worried about your grades being a little shy, an easier way to fix this is to retake(if you have already taken them) the SATs/ACT, and really work your butt off on it. Staying up with your grades now will also help, because the amount of pull a coach will/can have can easily be outweighed by an increase of, say, 60-100 points on the SAT or a semester of nearly straight A's.

[_SLY_]

RottingMind,

Can you honestly disagree, though, that the fact that you have an interest in a generally unknown (again, on the west coast) club sport is going to contribute to your admission?

I would say that the admissions board would take the guy with interest over a guy with the same grades, but no interest.

[RottingMind13]

RottingMind,

Can you honestly disagree, though, that the fact that you have an interest in a generally unknown (again, on the west coast) club sport is going to contribute to your admission?

I would say that the admissions board would take the guy with interest over a guy with the same grades, but no interest.


What you plan on doing exracurricular in college has no bearing whatsoever when it comes to non-varsity athletics. Many schools quite honestly could care less about the club teams that play representing the school. What you've done in high school, playing varsity/jv and whatever other clubs/sports you did, will show up and look good. Plans to play at the club level in college has no bearing. It really will not show up whatsoever unless you and the coach are buddy buddy and he works in admissions or very closely with the President of the school. OUtside of that it will have no bearing whatsoever. Club is not a major committment like a varsity in the sense of scholarships, and actual pull at the university.

They dont look at future curriculars, they only look at what you've done in HS when you apply.

[_SLY_]

I concede...you are the vinnar.