Abbie Dymond, Sports Editor
@abbiedcourant
As in most extracurriculars, the pandemic has caused a significant bump in the road with the recruitment process. The summer going into junior year is usually essential for students who wish to be recruited. But with Covid halting practices and games last spring, students had to find other ways to connect with schools.
Varsity Girls Lacrosse Coach Kristin Woods noted that one of the main differences in the recruitment process this year was the summer. “The summer going into their junior year for lacrosse is a big summer where you would usually go to tournaments and see live games,” Ms. Woods said. “Instead, they put together video highlights of their scrimmages that we would attend locally in our club teams.”
Without being able to play live in front of college coaches, students sent videos or highlight reels to the coaches. Junior Caitlin Tully was recruited to Cornell for lacrosse after sending videos of her skills to college coaches. “I would go to the backyard, and I would make skill videos, shooting videos, agility videos, and footwork videos to send to coaches,” Caitlin said. “Ultimately the best thing for the coaches is that they want to see you play in a game, they want to see you make mistakes, they want to see how you recover from those mistakes, and they want to see the entirety of your game. Not just one highlight.”
Submitting highlight reels to college coaches can be very stressful because there is only so much of your skill that the video can capture. “It wasn’t only our club and our town who was putting out these videos; All over the country people were doing this, and people were having video competitions and showcases based on videos that you submit,” Caitlin said. “It was comforting to know that I was not the only one who was in this situation. Everyone else was.”
The summer going into junior year is usually critical for students to get recognized, however many of the camps that students would attend to get recognized were canceled. With it came a moment of panic. Kaleigh Harden, a junior recruited to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for lacrosse, found the pandemic’s halts especially nerve-wracking because of the uncertainty. “I think everyone had this moment of panic because there was so much that was unknown. We didn’t know if we would have summer lacrosse which is really important for getting recognized,” Kaleigh said.
Caitlin had her moment of panic come early when she tore her ACL. “For me, the moment of panic came a little earlier because I knew in advance that I wouldn’t be able to play because of my knee,” Caitlin said. “I knew I wasn’t going to be able to go to the games, so I had to come up with other ways to get noticed.”
Because Caitlin tore her ACL, it made the decision to play in college much more straightforward. “I love the game so much and I only get to play so many times. If I have the opportunity to play in college that’s something that I would want to take up, especially after having some of my seasons cut short due to my injury. It’s something that I’m really grateful to have the opportunity to do,” Caitlin said.
While the pandemic definitely made everything more challenging, Kaleigh and Cailtin started their recruiting process early, which gave them an added benefit to help the arduous process. “The beginning of my sophomore year, I started to make a list of 10 to 15 schools that I would be interested in,” Caitlin said. “From there, I started emailing coaches to let them know where I would be playing and show them my tournament schedules if I was going to one of their camps.”
Kaleigh, like Caitlin, also started her process early, which helped her get recruited during the pandemic. “During the end of middle school, around eighth grade and going into freshman year, I started to become really focused on getting my name out there.”
Ms. Woods said the best thing for students hoping to be recruited to college is to focus on the small things. “Focus on your fitness level. Focus on your skills. I don’t think you should be too worried about the recruiting process. You need to be focused on your goals with your high school team before you can start thinking about playing in college,” Ms. Woods said. “It’s not only important for the students to work on their individual skills and do wall ball and stick work, but they must stay physically fit in order to compete at a college level.”
Students also need to lead their recruitment process, as Ms. Woods said. If you’re looking to be recruited, you need to be proactive about your process. She said the simplest things you can do to start your recruitment process are emailing coaches and making a list of schools that you’re interested in. “Send emails to schools you’re interested in. Not the most popular school among your friends, but the school you would be the best fit for,” Ms. Woods said.
Applications like Lacrosse Masters and ConnectLax are helpful in aiding the recruiting process. Lacrosse Masters, which Caitlin used during her freshman and sophomore year, helped her get comfortable with the recruiting process, which would come in handy when the pandemic struck. ConnectLax is a convenient recruiting program that helps students find their best match for college and get their name out to colleges
Students should also look for schools where they are not only a good fit athletically, but academically and socially as well. “With the recruiting process, it is really not just about where you want to play lacrosse. It’s where you see yourself being happy if you were to get a concussion and never be able to play again,” Ms. Woods said.
The college recruiting process is not simple and can be incredibly stressful for those who are in the process during the pandemic. “Don’t worry, everything will work out in the end,” Caitlin said. “This is super easy to get stressed out about, but in the end there will be a place for you wherever you end up.”
