Florida Lacrosse

by **TampaLAX** on Fri Jun 03, 2005 10:44 am

Alright, Florida is the fastest growing area for lacrosse in the nation right now (thanks SI). Anyhow, how long do you guys think its going to take for FL boys to start popping up on D1 rosters on a regular basis?

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by **hoyaslax18** on Fri Jun 03, 2005 12:40 pm

Really no one can say I think. As with places like California, Colorado, Ohio/Michigan, and Texas....only a handful of kids decide to go D1. Problem being, there just aren't enough D1 teams to accomodate all the players that are developing. And with some exceptions, most D1 coaches do not recruit outside of their tradiational pools.

Only the best players from these hotbeds who really really have their hearts set on D1 will go. The rest will most likely filter into their local MDIA schools. The MDIA is growing both in size and distribution of talent as of the past 2 years and this trend should continue until more D1 teams move to accomodate the growth of the sport.

As a side note, many good players from Ohio/Michigan, Florida, etc. choose to go D2 or D3 where there are tons of teams to play for. This has its ups where you get to play varsity lacrosse with all its perqs (as opposed to club lacrosse which can be a bit more off the field work) and you are usually at a small liberal arts college. And it has its downs as I think, aside from the elite teams in D2/D3, where the MDIA boasts better overall talent in its top 25.

So I guess its kind of a crappy answer, but until the current system changes, I see more Florida lacrosse players flocking to FSU and UF, as more Colorado players will go to CU/CSU, and more Cali players hit up Sonoma/SB/SD/etc. Which is most likely good news for the MDIA.

by **Catlax** on Fri Jun 03, 2005 1:40 pm

It's really a matter of competition and feel for the game that will answer that question. The athletes in Fla, Calif, Tex,etc... are as good as any in NY or Md. The difference is that the kids in the Northeast have been playing since the third grade and they have been put in many tough game situations year after year after year. They have an apptitude for the game that you can't make up for with talent.

Laxers from Florida (or any of the other states mentioned) will make it to D1 programs after they have the same "seasoning" as the Northeastern kids. That will come with mature youth programs in their areas.

by **WCLLPREZ** on Fri Jun 03, 2005 2:09 pm

In one of my more boring days at work, I looked at the rosters of all NCAA teams to count how many California kids actually showed up on the rosters. I excluded Whittier, Notre Dame de Namur and Dominican College of CA as their rosters still contain significant Ca. presence and would skew the reults.

Div. I: 57 teams, 15 have CA kids, 19 total kids on roster
Div. 2: 33 teams, 4 with CA kids, 4 kids
Div 3: 135 teams, 20 with CA kids, 28 total players

Totals: 265, 39, 51

A good bunch of these players listed are graduating seniors and will be gone next season.

Overall, you can see that there is still a huge way to go before CA can be considered a feeding ground for varsity lacrosse programs.

by **Pinball** on Fri Jun 03, 2005 3:34 pm

Don't forget about Minnesota in your little discussion. I know for a fact there are 3 kids going D1 (air force, quinnapac, stonybrook) and some others headed of to D3 and what not.

by **PigPen** on Fri Jun 03, 2005 9:18 pm

It's really a matter of competition and feel for the game that will answer that question. The athletes in Fla, Calif, Tex,etc... are as good as any in NY or Md. The difference is that the kids in the Northeast have been playing since the third grade and they have been put in many tough game situations year after year after year. They have an apptitude for the game that you can't make up for with talent.

That comment has been repeated, almost word for word, with my conversations with top USLIA and NCAA DI coaches. That will come with time.

by EB on Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:17 pm

sculaxcoach wrote:In one of my more boring days at work, I looked at the rosters of all NCAA teams to count how many California kids actually showed up on the rosters. I excluded Whittier, Notre Dame de Namur and Dominican College of CA as their rosters still contain significant Ca. presence and would skew the reults.

Div. I: 57 teams, 15 have CA kids, 19 total kids on roster
Div. 2: 33 teams, 4 with CA kids, 4 kids
Div 3: 135 teams, 20 with CA kids, 28 total players

Totals: 265, 39, 51

A good bunch of these players listed are graduating seniors and will be gone next season.

Overall, you can see that there is still a huge way to go before CA can be considered a feeding ground for varsity lacrosse programs.

I know at the high school I coach JV at in San Diego, there were 3 players off of this year's Varsity squad that could have all played D-III very easily. Problems were a.) no scholarships, b.) all of the schools were REAL far away (east coast) and c.) expensive.

The year before, we had one of our long poles go to Syracuse. But his scholarship was academic. He was the best long pole I've ever seen at the high school level and I grew up watching the MIAA play.

So yes, the raw talent, athletic ability and stick skills are definitely there. But the fact that players back in NY and MD are playing since 6 or 7 years old, and against competitive teams every game. Also, our team maybe plays 6 or 7 tough games a year, to go along with 15 or so games against teams that even my JV squad could probably beat. Compare that to 15-20 game schedules where every single team could potentially beat you.

The players back there have a lot more experience and game knowledge. But down here in SoCal, kids are starting as low as 5th grade at the moment. Every two years or so, it goes a grade or two lower. In the next 6-7 years, we will see a large leap in overall talent, county-wide. As it stands right now, only a few teams from north county San Diego and Coronado play at a high level. Add that to an equal number of teams from NoCal, and you can see why CA is not that great a recruiting hotbed... yet. Give it 6-7 years.

Also, I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir when I say this, but hopefully we can see the Title IX loosen up a little and we can see schools like Sonoma, CO State, Cal, UCSB, and BYU go Varsity in the next few years.

by **Danny Hogan** on Mon Jun 13, 2005 1:31 pm

we are getting to a very exciting point in the secondary hotbeds where you have kids coming in (to hs) now that not only played in middleschool, but elementary school as well. as a hs coach it really opens up what you can do with them now that you don' t have to focus so much on teaching everyone to throw and catch.

by **Npaulseth** on Mon Jun 13, 2005 4:08 pm

Pinball wrote:Don't forget about Minnesota in your little discussion. I know for a fact there are 3 kids going D1 (air force, quinnapac, stonybrook) and some others headed of to D3 and what not.

Who? Gnazzo (Air Force, I think), and whom else?

by **Pinball** on Tue Jun 14, 2005 1:13 am

Npaulseth wrote:
Pinball wrote:Don't forget about Minnesota in your little discussion. I know for a fact there are 3 kids going D1 (air force, quinnapac, stonybrook) and some others headed of to D3 and what not.

Who? Gnazzo (Air Force, I think), and whom else?

Gnazzo- Air Force
Dan Forsyth (armstrong)- Stonybrook
Some benidle attackman- quinnipec