College play: the goal of every young player who loves the sport they play. Everyone who plays one day wishes they could play on the big stage, college play, and represent their school on a national scale, it is never easier, but for some it is easier than others. Last week my mind got moving on this topic when my mom sent me an email with the contact of an athletic director from a well known division 1 lacrosse school. Afterwards I realized how complex recruitment could be, especially for someone who is not from the lacrosse hotbeds in the northeast. This summer I went to a showcase, a recruitment technique where multiple coaches from multiple colleges and university come and see players go at it in several games and a combine. This showcase had coaches from many prominent D1 and D3 schools, later there was educational presentation that went over all aspects of recruitment. This presentation showed me a lot; to be recruited one must be college material that means in both grades and your level of play. Also that you have to the most outgoing player out there, to be seen the presentation said to make a highlight tape and send that to as many coaches as possible, then to go to as many other showcases as possible to get exposure to as many coaches as possible. Then from the athletic director I was told to go to camps that were ran by prominent colleges because many colleges hold camps were there coaching staff instruct us youngsters on how to improve our game, but also to see some talent from rising stars. I decided to go on travel teams that go to lacrosse tournaments off season, specifically Team Florida who will be trying out for this year. Recruitment can become a monetary drain on some as going to all these camps and showcase can suck money from somehow may not have the money to finance it all, and worst of all is the fact that doing all this still won’t guarantee a scholarship or being recruited from a school big or small. The showcase also told us that being recruited by a Division 3 school was not a bad thing, D3 play is seen as little league to some not televised and almost never reported on, but even D3 can give scholarship and you would still get to play against some great players. One big problem in the recruitment game for players like me is location; if you look at Inside Lacrosse’s annual issue on high school recruitment you see a pattern develop. Almost all if not all are from the Northeast, now I’m not saying that IL is biased but that they are right. Lacrosse has been a tradition for generations in the Northeast, also because the big D1 schools are mostly located in the Northeast coaches have an easy time finding players in their backyard  then going far and wide for a similar player. Furthermore, a scholarship for an in state play is much less for that of an out of state player so one can see why there are few Florida players in these prominent universities and colleges teams. So for a player from florida you have to be better than the best to play with them.