National Invitational Best of the Best Team Showcase

Posted on 3/25/13

The National Invitational Best of the Best team showcase was conceived on the premise that the strongest programs in the country want to compete against each other in order to establish which program really is the best team in each graduation year across the nation. Much as the efforts of rankings in high school or college lacrosse are not an exact science, neither is this but we are attempting to establish a team showcase tournament that includes what the National Invitational organizers believe are the strongest programs in the country .

Our team showcase is a team event whereby the limited teams invited and attending have been carefully selected. Each of these programs/teams has been recognized as a top program committed to the development of the student athlete and with players seeking to play lacrosse at the collegiate level .

Competition to be seen and recruited by college coaches today is very fierce and continues to grow more and more competitive each year. Interestingly, recruiting is occurring younger and earlier each year. Clearly, the sport of lacrosse is growing very rapidly across the nation. Indeed, places in the past that may not have had much lacrosse are springing up with very high quality youth and high school programs. Talent is now emerging from all over the country.

The "Best of the Best Team showcase seeks to bring together many of the best programs around the country to one location, on one weekend, in one showcase, whereby prominence in each graduation year can be sought.

DATE OF BEST OF THE BEST TEAM SHOWCASE: JULY 5-7TH, 2013

If you are a roster player for one of the club teams attending the National Invitational Best of the Best team showcase, we urge you to alert the college coaches and coaching staffs of the schools you are interested in and let them know that you are a member of a club team invited to compete and hope to see them there.

For your convenience, we have set up 2 room blocks for invited club teams in the vicinity of the showcase:

Hilton Garden Inn – Westbury

You may reserve via phone by calling 1-516-683-8200 with the group name, National Invitational Best of the Best or online here by using the code, NIBB.

Marriot – Long Island

You may reserve via phone by calling 1-516-794-3800 with the group name, National Invitational Best of the Best or online here by using the code, NIBNIBA.

Space is limited.

The founder of National Invitational Best of the Best was recently interviewed by Lacrosse Recuits.  You can view the interview by clicking here.

Click here to view an article by Philly Lacrosse about National Invitational Best of the Best.

Each team attending will play 6 full games each with 4 quarters.

Each team will play:

• 1 game on Friday evening
• 3 games on Saturday
• 2 games on Sunday

The best 2 teams in each graduation year will play a finals game on Sunday afternoon

All games will be played mostly at Mitchell fields in Long Island, NY and Cedar Creek fields nearby

The Best of the Best team showcase is a limited, invite only event that will have approx. 23-26 programs from around the US attending. Below is a list of the programs that are committed to attending . Each of these programs are expected to be sending their strongest teams in

• 2014 graduation year
• 2015 graduation year
• 2016 graduation year

Club programs expected to attend may be sending 1, 2 or 3 teams.

Total amount of teams in each graduation year is expected to be approx 20-24.

College coaches will be invited to recruit from this showcase and will all be given detailed coaches handbooks on every player from each team roster attending. As coaches begin to commit to attending, we will be providing a list of coaches/schools expected to attend. At this time, we believe that their will be a large number of college coaches in attendance. We would recommend you periodically check our college coaches section for updates .

Well known, highly accomplished college coaches will also be providing seminars and certain teaching clinics during team off times.

The organizers of this showcase realize the volume of choices college coaches have today to attend that they can recruit from. The belief of the Best of the Best showcase is that by assembling perhaps the strongest programs in the country at one venue, where many of the top recruits in the country have emerged from, we believe that the college coaches will find our showcase the most productive 3 days of the summer and seek to have the college program represented there.

Each player on each team directly or through their team manager will be able to input data on themselves so that the college coaches handbook is very detailed and so that each players profile is complete. This information will be provided to the college coaches.

There will be 20-24 teams in each graduation year. Teams will be seeded and placed into four divisions.  The top teams (win-loss record from six games) from each bracket will advance to the medal rounds where medals will be awarded to those teams finishing in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in each graduation year.

At this early stage, we are very pleased to announce that both UNDER ARMOUR and GATORADE have asked to be sponsors and both are likely to be amongst our sponsors for this very exciting showcase. More details on this to be coming out soon.