💭 FCL Weekly Thought: 03/07/25

Happy Friday, and welcome to all new subscribers! If you were forwarded this email, you can subscribe here to get on our list moving forward.

In today’s note, Deemer writes a dive deep into a hot topic in the lacrosse world: player rankings. Whether we like it or not, these rankings do have impact. We try to shed some light on our views here and how we can frame our perspective around these rankings.

We have some exciting events coming up in our online community these next few weeks as well as tons of free content. Check it out below! We appreciate you being here—enjoy ☕️.

Matt & Deemer

🚨 NEW EVENT: If you are a men’s 2026 or 2027 looking to play college lacrosse, we have our D3 showcase launching this June. Check it out here.

This Week at a Glance:

🎙️ FCL Podcast:

• Episode 6 of FCL’s In-Season Podcast

🔐 Online Community Highlights:

• (3/14 RSVP) Adam Sear: Sixes Scheme & Film Analysis

• (3/18 RSVP) Paul Richards: Richmond Defensive Coordinator (topic TBD)

• (3/24 RSVP) Deemer Class: Shooting Mechanics, Drills and Film

📧 Newsletters & Blogs:

• “On the Run”: NCAA Lacrosse Recap - Week 4

• “Coaches Corner”: Lombardi. Slappin’ Glass. What is CLA? Zone Offense.

WEEKLY THOUGHT

💭 Do Rankings Matter? Here’s Why the Answer is Yes!

Hey all, Deemer here. Excited to be back for another edition of the Weekly Thought. This is one of my favorite topics to discuss: rankings. The cliché advice is that rankings don’t matter: put your head down, and keep working. Today, I might surprise you by saying, “rankings do matter.” I’ll tell you why below.

When most people wonder how much rankings matter, they are often really asking: “how much will rankings affect my son or daughter’s recruitment?”

Rankings do matter for main the reason that players, parents, and people in the sport put stock in them. As much as we say not to care, people do care. It’s a status symbol. It strokes the ego. Honestly, as a player, it feels good to be recognized, seen and affirmed that your hard work is paying off.

However, rankings do not impact your recruiting. Based on our conversations on podcasts and webinars, many coaches have shared that they do not make recruiting decisions based off rankings.

How Do Rankings Work?

Rankings aggregate feedback and evaluations from the following groups:

• College coaches

• High school coaches

• Club coaches

• Event operators

• Influential people in the sport

Those running ranking services or lists attend several events each season and are constantly evaluating themselves, in addition to the feedback they receive. They assess accolades, performance to date, and do their best to project future impact, culminating in their ranking. Their differentiating factor is how they put all the information they have gathered together, and then ultimately rank and order the players.

One key to remember is that this captures a moment in time. They will evolve, and update, depending on the publications frequency, and how the class develops.

Where Rankings Fall Short?

Often in our conversations, we hear how many struggle with the idea of rankings for a few reasons, such as mental impact on their players, the perceived accuracy of the rankings, or better understanding how the process works. Here is where rankings fall short:

• They don’t predict future success

• Limited insight into how a player will gel in a system

• Limited insight into a player’s future development track

Consider this article regarding the NFL. It discusses the “hit rate” of NFL 1st round draft picks re-signing for their second contract. The % of players that don’t resign is extremely high. If NFL scouts and billion dollar organizations struggle with predicting success, imagine how difficult recruiting, and ranking, high school athletes might be!

The Questions You Should Be Asking

Now that we have established that rankings do matter for the reasons I mentioned, and how they generally work, here are some questions we think you should be asking.

Where am I falling short as a player? It’s easy to point the finger at the ranking process or the politics. It’s hard to look inward and drive development through being critical of your game. The first will stunt your growth, the second will drive you to new heights.

Will I let my ranking define me? Your growth, your impact, and your development are not defined by your ranking. Dig deep and keep working.

As a parent, will I obsess over my son or daughter’s ranking? Or will I work to support my athlete in this journey and reenforce the things that need to keep them on track? I had countless conversations with my mom and dad over the years in high school and college where I would get off track in my focus and priorities. Instead of joining in on the finger pointing, they would pull me back on track. I am grateful to them both!

We aren’t here to tell you rankings don’t matter. They do, and they do have a place in our sport. How you frame them and work through them, as a player and parent, will be important. I remember not being ranked going into my junior year of high school. It annoyed me and it drove me. After my junior spring, I got to #10 in the class. After graduating, I stayed at #10. It was affirmation of hard work paying off. But that wasn’t the carrot. My sights were always set on being the best possible version of myself I could be. The chase to be great ran deeper than a ranking.

We are launching a recruiting course. It will cover everything you need to know about the recruiting process. This course will be available for $20 for the first 100 families to sign up. Learn more here.

– Coach Class and Coach Dunn

IN THE COMMUNITY

In addition to our coaches communities, we are making a big push in content for players & parents including our recruiting resources space in Circle. If you are looking for guidance in the recruiting process check out our community.

Check out our new course on recruiting.

High Schools on Our Circle Community

We are pumped to have McDonogh, Taft and Somers on our Circle community!

Coaches, we still have all the great content for you as well with over 100 drills from top college coaches, full webinar recordings, a film breakdown library and more.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Want to train with us? Check out all options here. See a selected few highlights below.

Best In Class Fall Showcase

SOCIAL & CONTENT

Our free content on social media is core to who we are as a business. We love sharing content that you love seeing. Check out our two new YouTube videos , one on an awesome 1v1 matchup between Chris Kavanagh & Will Schaller and Matt Dunn giving tips on Butt-End holds vs V-Holds.