Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 10/20/14
From Press Release
Players and Parents from the Black Bear Lacrosse Club’s newly formed 2017 and 2018 attended the Inaugural Black Bear LC Fall Recruiting Night at Perkiomen Valley Middle School East on Saturday.
Philly college St. Joseph’s, Arcadia and Swarthmore were represented.
The theme remained the same amongst all three college coaches speaking with an emphasis on Academics, a player’s Character, and a players Athletic Abilities. “We call this the Triangle for Recruiting,” St. Joseph’s University assistant coach Daniel Keating said. “These are the three most important areas that we look at for in every recruit.”
Each institution talked about the importance of academics and how they value players taking Honors and AP classes. Each also gave the average GPA and SAT scores they look for in a student-athlete indicating a student who is committed to his academic work is usually just as committed to his athletics.
Character was a BIG area of discussion from all three college coaches who said it is vitally important to their programs success. “We’ll take a decent player with excellent character qualities on and off the over a player who is rated better but lacks those qualities,” said Swarthmore Head Coach Patrick Gress. “We know a player who possesses great character will improve and be committed all 4 years.”
Coach Keating said that when players are at tournaments and events “someone is always watching you, don’t misbehave or exhibit a negative attitude because ultimately that does affect your recruiting process.”
Athletic abilities, specifically a player’s overall skill set and commitment level, was the third area all three coaches emphasized, especially Arcadia Head Coach Nick Taylor who was previously the Defensive Coordinator at Cabrini College.
“I coached 12 All-Americans while at Cabrini,” Coach Taylor said, “and the one thing that was similar among all of them was their commitment to their athletics and academics as well as their commitment to developing their skill sets outside of practice on their own.”
All three spoke how their best players were committed OUTSIDE of practice as well as during and in the classroom emphasizing the importance of committing yourself to become a better player, a better student, and turning your weaknesses into strengths as something they value at their respective institutions.
The players and parents in attendance found the information to be extremely valuable in helping them throughout the recruiting process. All Black Bear LC players got a hand out from each college coach to take home with them.
“This was such a great educational experience for our players and parents,” Coach Bryan Churchey, Black Bear’s Recruiting Coordinator said. “This is just the first page of many for our players and parents when it comes to helping them get recruited, but having these three coaches speak and connecting on similar points was excellent for our guys to hear. It’s really going to help them throughout the process and make better decisions as a result.”
The Black Bear Lacrosse Club 2017 and 2018 Teams will be competing this Fall in the Lehigh King of the Mountain Showcase November 9th and the MVP Fall Exposure 2 November 16th, recruiting events these colleges coaches said they plan on attending.
