WI Blue Chip Recruit Combine

I'm looking into the possibility of setting up a recruiting combine sometime this next year in Wisconsin - probably the Madison or Milwaukee area. I wanted to hear thoughts or comments on the idea and see what everyone thought.

We just ran one up here in the Twin Cities and it was very successful. It was a 3 day event, with the first day being dedicated to doing skillwork drills and then things like 40 yard dash, push ups in 1 minute, shot speed, etc. and the 2nd and 3rd days for scrimmaging. Each participant gets a sheet where the coaches and recruiters evaluate them individually on their strengths and weaknesses and what they need to work on. At the end of the combine, player information is made public and recruiters can choose to recruit the player or not.

We would do our best to get the Carthage coach out for the combine, as well as college coaches from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and hopefully Illinois.

I'm mostly trying to get a gauge on whether or not people think we'd actually be able to get people signed up for this camp. We're looking to get a minimum of about 50 kids, with the cost being only about $100-$125 each and profits going back to the lacrosse community. Participants would get a reversible penney and individual evaluation as well as all the information needed to send to college coaches.

What does everyone think?

Check your PM's. I'm in.

I think it's a great idea. I wish I would've had the opportunity. I was on Milwaukee Select where we got looks, but this would be good for the kids who don't want to dish out the money for select as well.

i know they are doing something like this in chicago i think january the weekend of MLK holiday...my little brother is going...so i don't know if any other kids have heard or are taking part in this?

It's official; I'm going to get the combine set up for sometime this summer, probably early summer. I'm going through Lightning Lax camps to get all the dirty work done (www.lightninglax.com).

I'll get an update out with the date for the combine as soon as it's finalized. It sounds like we'll be getting coaches out from Carthage, Fontbonne, U of Minnesota, UW-EC, UW-SP, Iowa, and possibly from Adrian and Tri-State colleges. The combine will be 2 days, 4 hours each day, on a Saturday and Sunday, and will be held at the UW-Whitewater fields.

We have now nailed down the official dates and location for the combine. It will be held June 23-25 at UW-Whitewater.
We've had a great response from college coaches so far. We're expecting to get a good deal of coaches from D3 programs out to the combine to scout, so it will be a great chance for local guys to get some exposure. We're also going to be filming the scrimmages and sending the game film to a number of coaches who weren't able to make it to the combine.
I'll keep everyone posted on the combine, and will send out the website for sign up as soon as it's up and running.

Alright, another update. Hopefully this will be my last one.

The Wisconsin Showcase Recruit Combine will be held at UW-Whitewater from June 23-25. It will be an overnight camp, but with the option of being just a day camper as well.

I'm doing the camp in cooperation with Lightning Lax Camps (www.lightninglax.com). I've worked with them in the past, and they do a really good job of setting the camps up and getting a high-caliber staff on hand. The cost for a day camper is $265 and for overnight it is $325 (meals are provided for everyone). The cost also includes a free subscription to Inside Lacrosse Magazine, which is probably the best lacrosse magazine out there.

The combine will be about 50% instructional and 50% evaluation. Each camper gets an individual sheet where, throughout the combine, coaches will be evaluating fundamental skills (shooting, passing, dodging, footwork, etc). At the end of the combine, all of the data from players will be compiled and sent out to college coaches, and the sheets will then be returned to campers. These sheets will be the perfect template for sending out to coaches, as they will include almost all of the information coaches will be interested in knowing about prospective players.

There will be numerous scrimmage opportunities throughout the combine, which will be videotaped. DVDs of the scrimmages will then be sent out to various college coaches who weren't able to attend the combine, such as the University of Denver, Goucher College, Adrian College, Tri-State College, etc. A sheet will be included with every DVD that contains player information for the coaches to look over. This will provide extra opportunities for recruitment.

As of now, the following colleges have committed to sending representatives to the combine:
Carthage (DIII, Kenosha)
Fontbonne (DIII, St. Louis)
Minnesota (MCLA DI, Minneapolis)
Iowa (MCLA DI, Iowa City)
UW-Eau Claire (MCLA DI, Eau Claire)
Tom Darcy has also done a wonderful job so far contacting schools like the Merchant Marine Academy (DIII) and alerting them to the combine. We're expecting to get a few more significant commitments from coaches are are aiming to get a minimum of 15 schools represented at the combine.

There are numerous other colleges that we've contacted that are interested in attending but are still unsure if the dates will conflict for them. We're hoping to get at least another 2-3 DIII programs out for at least a day of the combine.

Even for those of you who are planning on attending the Badger State Camp, you will still benefit greatly by attending the combine. The format of the combine is significantly different than the camp, so there will be little overlap in what you're getting out of it. We don't want to draw players away from the Badger State Camp, and think that it would provide a good opportunity to get some work in before heading to the camp.

I would greatly appreciate feedback from anyone on here. Nothing like this has been done in the area before, and I'm doing everything I can to make it successful and give HS players a better opportunity to be recruited to play in college. Let me know what you think of what we've got set up thus far, and what you would change.

If you're interested in getting some materials about the camp (i.e. camp flyers) email me at bicex002@umn.edu.

Hmm... would it be worth to send a rep from a MCLA Div -2 team from Kansas City...? Lol...

let me know if you need any help, i'd love to pitch in.

IMPORTANT:

I apologize guys, but we jumped the gun a bit on our advertising. Urick (Georgetown) had told Sean (my camps guy) that he would probably be able to make it out for the combine. He just got back to us and told us it wasn't going to work anymore. Georgetown is almost certainly out at this point.

Lesson #1 of advertising: make sure you can back up your claims. We messed up on this one because we wanted to get some tangible material out sooner rather than later. We made assumptions that didn't come true.

The good news is that we WILL get a DI program represented at the combine. We're looking to get Bellarmine (a start-up D1 program in year 2 of its existence) to come out for it, since McGetrick (the coach) had looked into Wisconsin a couple years back. I think this would be a great fit for WI and for Bellarmine.

If anyone else has suggestions on who we should get out for the camp, please let me know. Other choices at this point were Denver and Ohio State.

Again, guys, I truly am sorry that things fell through with Georgetown and we had promised that they'd be there. It's still going to be a great combine with plenty of schools represented, but it would have been sweet to get G'town out for it.