Notes from a Lax Father
Helping your student-Athlete find the right college
By Howard Landman

I took some notes on what we did, left out all of the mistakes, and offer them to you as you begin your college search. But first, let's take a moment to make a few assumptions. If these apply to you, read on!

1. Your child is a lacrosse player and wants to continue to play lacrosse in college.
2. You want your child to get the best of both - education and a chance to continue his/her athletic career.
3. Your child hasn't been offered full scholarships from the top 5 programs in America.

Well, if you've gotten this far, I know how you feel about the three points I've made. So, now the question is, where do we go from here? Since you're not #1 on every coach's wish list of recruits, you will have to find out for yourself who's interested in you. Now, that will require some degree of marketing on your family's part. But trust me, it's not that hard a job. Just follow these steps with your child and I'm sure he or she will have a great future as a college lacrosse player.

Step 1: Go to the Division I, Division II and Division III links on E-Lacrosse and print out the complete list of schools on each page. Now you have a list of every school playing DI, DII, and DIII lacrosse. Step 2: If you want to include non-NCAA teams at the college level, go to the listings for schools who have club teams. The USLIA and the NCLL offer many great lacrosse experiences at top schools around the country!

Step 3: Go to your guidance counselor or local library and borrow a copy of Barons or Peterson's Guide to Colleges. Check out EVERY school on all lists to see which ones offer the major(s) you're interested in.

Step 4: Get a realistic impression of your child's ability to play lacrosse. This is the hardest part. Eliminate the schools where you know he or she can't play. Third string middies on their high school team should not be applying to play for the Division I national champs! It's ok for a kid to ask his coach what level he should shoot for in college team selection.

Step 5: Pare down your list to a workable number of schools. 15-25 is not unreasonable at this stage.

Step 6: Contact each coach by mail or by e-mail and tell them of your interest in the school and the lacrosse program. College lacrosse coaches are generally very honest and will be up front with you about your chances to play and about your chances of getting admitted and receiving financial aid.

A Word Of Caution Before We Go On: If a coach shows an interest in your child as a player, that's great, but remember, that same coach has shown that same interest in a number of other players who play that position. Your son or daughter may be a coach's "top recruit" but that will only last until someone else gets in before you. Don't let the recruiting process go to their head!

A Question for the kids: How badly do you want to play? This is a good time to ask your child this question. "Can you sit on the bench for a year or two until your chance comes to play?" "Do you want to go to a school where you may not win a championship, but you'll play for all four years?" Be honest here. You may want to go to the colleges' websites and look at their current lacrosse rosters. You may find out that your child would be the 4th goalie and the other three are all freshmen. He or she may have to wait 3 years to get playing time. Checking rosters is not a bad idea to see how loaded a team is at your son or daughter's position.

Step 7: Keep communicating with the coaches as you gather all of the information from the admissions offices of the schools you're interested in. As this information comes in, you will find the list shrinking for various reasons.

Step 8: Your child should make school visits wherever possible. While on a visit, make sure they make an appointment to meet the coach and, if possible, talk to a few players to see how they feel about the program, the facilities, and the balancing of athletics and academics. If they can't visit, ask for the names of a few players. A $2.00 phone call can turn out to be your best investment in this process.

Step 9: For the kids: DON'T GIVE UP! If you think that you are a good player, sell yourself and keep at it. Remember, there are always teams in need of good players. In fact, there are always teams in need of players of all ability levels. Not everyone can go to Virginia or Princeton, but there are some exceptional schools that can appreciate your talent. Just because you haven't heard of a school doesn't mean that it isn't the school for you.

Well, Good Luck! And if I can be of any further assistance to you, just e-mail me. Now that my kids are off at school, I have plenty of time to personally answer your questions. - Howie Landman



Howie is the father of three boys. His oldest son is a senior at Colgate and was a baseball player in high school. He has been an educator for 31 years and is now an administrator for the Baldwin Public Schools. He is currently the Chairman of the Section VIII Sportsmanship Committee for High School and Middle School Athletics and the Administrative Representative to the Section VIII modified Athletic Council, the governing body for Middle School Athletics.

From 1996-1999 Howie was the webmaster for the Wantagh High School Warriors Lacrosse Homepage. His son, Matthew, was the E-Lacrosse correspondent reporting the game results to our readers for those years. Howie is also the Nassau County Score Coordinator and Reporter for LAXPOWER. For the next four years, Howie will be a full time lacrosse fan following Denison and Goucher, where his sons chose to attend.

Matt Landman

Matthew, also pictured above in a contemplative state, is currently a freshman at Goucher College in Baltimore where, unfortunately, he is out for the season with a knee injury. While at Wantagh High School on Long Island, Matt was an all-Conference goalie and one of the goalies selected to play in the exceptional senior game.

Jason is a freshman midfielder at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. While at Wantagh he was an Academic All-American, all-county, and the winner of Nassau County's Doc Doherty Award (given to the all-county player with the highest academic average). He also played in the exceptional senior game.

Jason Landman

Lacrosse will never make you "dumb down" your school choices. While there are schools at every academic level that play lacrosse, most of these US News and World Report Top 50 schools play lacrosse! The lax at these schools ranges from intramural to major NCAA powerhouse, so yo canget the very best education and still play lacrosse at your appropriate level!

1	California Institute of Technology
2	Harvard University Men's Varsity Women's Varsity (MA)
3	Massachusetts Inst. of Technology
4	Princeton University Men's Varsity Women's Varsity (NJ)
4	Yale University Men's Varsity Women's Varsity (CT)
6	Stanford University Women's Varsity (CA)
7	Duke University Women's Varsity (NC)
7	Johns Hopkins University Men's Varsity Women's Varsity (MD)
7	University of Pennsylvania Men's Varsity Women's Varsity
10	Columbia University (NY)
11	Cornell University Men's Varsity Women's Varsity (NY)
11	Dartmouth College Men's Varsity Women's Varsity (NH)
13	University of Chicago
14	Brown University Men's Varsity Women's Varsity (RI)
14	Northwestern University Men's Club (IL)
14	Rice University (TX)
17	Washington University Men's Club (MO)
18	Emory University Men's Club (GA)
19	University of Notre Dame Men's Varsity Women's Varsity (IN)
20	University of California–Berkeley Men's Club Women's Varsity
20	Vanderbilt University Men's Club Women's Varsity (TN)
22	University of Virginia Men's Varsity Women's Varsity
23	Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
23	Georgetown University Men's Lacrosse Women's Lacrosse (DC)
25	University of California–Los Angeles Men's Club
25	University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Men's Club
27	Univ. of North Carolina–Chapel Hill Men's Varsity Women's Varsity
28	Wake Forest University (NC) Intramural Men and Women
29	College of William and Mary Women's Varsity(VA)
29	Tufts University Men's Varsity Women's Varsity (MA)
31	Brandeis University Women's Club (MA)
32	University of California–San Diego Men's Club
32	University of Rochester Women's Varsity (NY)
34	Case Western Reserve Univ. (OH)
34	Lehigh University Men's Varsity Women's Varsity (PA)
34	New York University Men's Club Women's Club
34	Univ. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign Men's Club
34	University of Wisconsin–Madison Men's and Women's Clubs
39	Boston College Men's Varsity Women's Varsity
40	Georgia Institute of Technology
40	Pennsylvania State University Men's Varsity Women's Varsity
42	University of California–Davis Women's Varsity Men's Club
42	University of Southern California Men's Club (no site)
44	Tulane University Local Men's Club (LA)
44	Univ. of California–Santa Barbara Men's Club
44	University of Texas–Austin Men's Club
44	University of Washington
44	Yeshiva University (NY)
49	University of California–Irvine
49	University of Florida Men's Club