After being around the game for 25 years, and coaching for the past 7…I think the lacrosse community is in need of a reality check. Nearly every parent I meet has no clue what the odds of their son playing at the next level are.
You Are “Here”
A Statistical Analysis of The Odds of Playing at The Next Level
By: Taylor Richard Cook
06/12/18
As of 2016, there were 292,695 male players at the youth level. Approximately 61% of those players (180,399) went on to play in high school. Of those 180,399 players, 7.5% (13,446) went on to play at the college level: 1.7% (3,139) went on to play Division 1, 1.3% (2,504) went on to play Division 2, and 4.3% (7,803) went on to play at the Division 3 level. Of those 13,446 college players, only 2% (270) went on to play at the professional level. Essentially if you played youth lacrosse in 2016, you had a 4.5% chance to play in college (1% Division 1), and a .0009% chance of playing at the professional level. Approximately 50,000 more youth players have joined the lacrosse ranks since 2016, with the game growing at the high school ranks at a tremendous clip as well. With so many parents with delusions of grandeur, the numbers need to be displayed more prominently in order for a more realistic approach to be taken by the lacrosse community.
| 2016 Males | Participation | % players to next level |
| Youth | 292,695 | 61% |
| High School | 180,399 | 7.50% |
| College | 19,089 | 2% |
| Division 1 | 3,139 | 1.7% H.S. players |
| Division 2 | 2,504 | 1.3% H.S. players |
| Division 3 | 7,803 | 4.3% H.S. players |
| Professional | 270 | .0009% chance from youth |
