There are countless options to play lacrosse at the collegiate level. The NCAA, NJCAA and NAIA all offer varsity programs and there are hundreds of club programs for both men and women through a variety of organizations, including the MCLA, WCLA and NCLL.

Next College Student Athlete (NCSA) is the "Official Responsible Recruiting Partner of USA Lacrosse." They offer this information on how colleges handle the recruiting process.

For many families, the most difficult part of the recruiting process is understanding how colleges recruit, evaluate, and show interest in student-athletes. To better explain the college recruiting process, it's helpful to look at it from a coach's perspective.

Many college coaches begin the recruiting process by contacting a large group of athletes that they think would be a good fit for their program. For bigger programs, this number can be in the hundreds or more. Through evaluations, reviewing highlight video, contact with recruits, etc., they slowly start to whittle that number down until they've filled their open roster spots. In other words, the college recruiting process resembles a funnel, starting out with a lot of recruits and narrowing down to a select few.

These are the typical steps coaches will take to get to their final recruits.

Gather a pool of athletes
Send letters to gauge interest
Conduct an in-depth evaluation
Extend scholarship offers
Sign athletes and ensure eligibility