Ryan Waddell
In just a few years, First Class Lacrosse has established the nation’s top high school lacrosse recruiting event—Best In Class. Founded by Deemer Class and Matt Dunn, this event focuses on developing athletes both on and off the field.
Focused on showcasing the top high school players in the country, Deemer Class and Matt Dunn have set the bar for what matters most to athletes looking to play at the next level: development on AND off the field. Best In Class 2024 featured six events during the summer—three women’s and three men’s—with 700+ players, staffing from Goaliesmith and the Faceoff Academy, attending NCAA Coaches prowling the recruiting circuit, and big-name sponsors such as NextPro Video, Gatorade, TotalCoach, and Rezzy at the Chase Fieldhouse in Wilmington, Delaware.
Who started Best In Class?
The masterminds behind this event are Deemer Class (Duke) and Matt Dunn (Maryland). The former high school teammates and NCAA stars teamed up to create First Class Lacrosse a few years back. After years of hard work through cross-country training, private lessons, online video libraries, and playing professionally, they’ve leveraged their skills and knowledge to create a comprehensive event for the country’s best high school lacrosse players.
📸 @flat_tail_photography
Event Highlights:
- Two-Day Training and Development: Focuses on training and development with tournament play for recruiting.
- Professional Staff: Includes former NCAA stars and current pro players, along with premier training from Goaliesmith and the Faceoff Academy.
- Comprehensive Exposure: Players receive exposure through combine metrics and tournament play.
Focus Groups:
- Rising Juniors: Fine-tune skills while being showcased in front of college coaches.
- Rising Sophomores: Improve skills before entering the recruiting scene.
- Rising Freshmen: Develop on and off the field, preparing for varsity and future elite training experiences.
📸 @flat_tail_photography
Apply for Best In Class Summer 2025
Apply for Best In Class Winter Showcase 2025
How Do You Get Invited to Best In Class?
It’s no surprise that the popularity of Best In Class has spread like wildfire. Following the conclusion of its summer events in early July, the following year’s event applications open a few weeks later in August. With thousands of applications rolling in, coach nominations, returning players, and an increasing college coach attendee list, the final selection results process forces the staff at First Class Lacrosse to go through a thorough review period. Those invited will receive a personal email and text thereafter with registration instructions.
Deemer and Dunn emphasize an applicant’s educational standing and future goals as much as their on-field background and prior lacrosse training. The list of BIC alumni now includes schools like Duke, Virginia, Penn, Maryland, Penn State, Michigan, and Northwestern. As mentioned above, player development on AND off the field remains the top priority for attendees at First Class Lacrosse’s Best In Class.
"Best In Class and the First Class camps are always well organized with great competition. Communication from Deemer and his team is excellent. For rising Juniors, the college coach attendance at BIC is impressive. The venue (Chase Fieldhouse) is very accessible with hotels and restaurants nearby. BIC is the one summer event I would recommend over all the others for rising 9th, 10th, and 11th grade boys and girls." - Drew Pinkin, Summer of 2024
"If you can only pick one lacrosse event for the summer, Best in Class is the ONE!!! My son had fun playing lacrosse in a competitive environment. The coaches were great, encouraging real lacrosse, not showcase ball! The training was 5-star, and the games were well-organized, ensuring all boys had equal playing time. Well worth our time and money!! A must!" - Kimberly Ryan, Summer of 2024
"It was our first time at Best in Class. Deemer and his team are well organized. Days are divided between drills and games. Paent communication is well executed and clear. Coaches and playing staff are excellent. Player talent is top shelf. My son met many players in his age group, the environment is collegial and also FUN. The facility is very good with recommended accommodations close by. If you have the opportunity definitely make the trip." - Allison Drescher, Summer of 2024
With applications for 2025’s events now open, men's and women's players can apply at First Class Lacrosse here.
📸 @flat_tail_photography
Why It Thrives
After recently concluding its fourth year (and its most expansive), setting up and running operations for Best In Class is a 12-month process. From the moment its final event ends, the following year’s events are being coordinated the next day looking for further improvement. This takes a village. Deemer Class and his staff at First Class Lacrosse, including Matt Dunn, Adam Lamberti (Washington and Lee), and Stephen Rehfuss (Syracuse), put in hundreds of hours setting up the event.
Key Elements of Success:
- Video Partnership: Partnered with NextPro since 2021, the video production company provides high-end tape of each player’s time at Best In Class. This is extremely beneficial for showcasing a player's development and helping attain their goals of playing in college.
- Premier Sponsors: In 2024, Best In Class was supplied by Gatorade, player recovery therapy treatments by Rezzy, and attended by elite college coaches with the help of Total Coach.
- Combine Segment: A unique component of Best In Class is the combine segment offered to players on their first morning. These results are emailed to players after the event, providing a benchmark in their development and recruiting journey.
- Media Coverage: Inside Lacrosse attends each year to watch the nation’s best high school players. Post-event, they publish articles featuring standout players, which is particularly helpful for those looking to make a mark on the recruiting circuit.
- Creative Component: In past years, online lacrosse content creators such as Mitchell Pehlke, have produced event promo videos featuring player interviews, highlights, and notable moments. With hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube, these creative additions boost exposure for all attending players.
The combination of a tireless staff who care about their players’ futures and development, a top-notch facility at the Chase Fieldhouse (a multi-purpose arena which is home to the Delaware Blue Coats), priority focus on player and parent communication leading up to the event, and a premier coaching staff on the field for two days straight has effectively created the most coveted event in high school lacrosse. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more well-rounded, all-inclusive, and player-centered event than this. In fact, many BIC alumni have become star college athletes.
In fact, Best In Class 2024 set the record for its highest event exposure ever.
That’s why Best In Class thrives.
📸 @Shirin Raiszadeh
Our Role
We’re fortunate enough to have been part of the brain trust behind Best In Class. Since we started working with First Class Lacrosse in January of 2021, we’ve helped catapult it into the behemoth that it is today without losing an ounce of quality.
TLMC helps the FCL staff throughout the entire year of preparation, focusing on the backend features which make every event run smoothly. Our contributions include:
- Event Landing Pages: TLMC puts a huge focus on mobile-friendly pages, easy-to-use forms, and sleek content sections featuring prior years’ Inside Lacrosse articles, combine scores, coach interviews, and more. These pages are updated nearly daily to ensure speed, accuracy, and usability standards are met for players, parents, and attending coaches. Because of this, the Best In Class page has become a tool for applying, answering questions, showcasing, and promotion. Every detail matters.
- Application Process: The application process is rolling for roughly 11 months, with the only downtime being the few weeks span of the actual events. Our application for Best In Class also creates a Player Profile for each player in our system. So if a player wants to update their application or their player info with First Class Lacrosse for other training events and camps, they can do so easily with one click. No more waiting around to hear back via email from coaches, program directors, or camp organizers.
- Invite Process: The invite process only happens after an application is received and a player’s profile is fully complete. If selected, the FCL team sends out a personalized event invitation email and text to the player to register for their event. TLMC ensures these communications are successfully delivered and opened by the player prior to their registry through LeagueApps.
- Player & Parent Communications: After the above step is completed, we ensure that we have the player and parent’s correct contact info to receive all pre-event communications about hotels, check-in, and more. These are monitored daily by TLMC to make sure no one slips through the cracks. Because of this smoothly run process, the systems we built for FCL now allow their staff to maximize efficiency with incoming support questions and event logistics.
- Player Promotion & Follow-Up: TLMC created a process for featured players to be highlighted on FCL’s blog immediately after the events. Additionally, combine scores are sent to each player, and event feedback is requested from each attendee. The post-event follow-up flow is extremely important to us at FCL, as it helps make next year’s Best In Class even better.
- Next Year’s Event Prep: Within days of our events concluding, we turn to opening up next year’s application form, adding featured content to the Best In Class page, and beginning to send out invites to players across the country. Best In Class has become a model for efficiency, effective communication, and the prioritization of our players getting to the next level.
The Benefits of Working With Us
When you work with The Lacrosse Marketing Co., you receive top-to-bottom service with immense focus on every single detail. We invest in your company as if it were our own. Our value lies in creating personal, loyal relationships with those we work with, which is why many of our clients have worked with us for multiple years.
"Working with Ryan and Wild Rover has been such a great and energizing experience. His professionalism and initiative have helped us to make great progress in a short time in all of our marketing and CRM systems. He has been a difference maker for our business and overall just a pleasure to work with!" - Matt Dunn, First Class Lacrosse
We certainly do not take credit for the immense success of First Class Lacrosse and Best In Class, but we are proud to promote our work that has contributed to it. If you’re interested in working with us like First Class Lacrosse, contact us below. We’d love to talk!
FAQs
Who do you work with?
We work with emerging small business owners and established businesses and brands in the lacrosse world. Whether it’s just you or a 100-person company, TLMC has packages and offerings for all sizes. We establish a deeper relationship with each client and invest in their business. We do not operate like a traditional marketing agency.
What’s your pricing like?
Our pricing ranges between our 6-month and 12-month retainer offerings. The work we do isn’t quick and fast; it’s methodical and detail-oriented. We approach each project and the systems we put into place like a craftsman, thus the longer-end retainers.
Helpful Links
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow First Class Lacrosse on Instagram
- Apply for Best In Class Summer 2025
- See our First Class Lacrosse Case Study
- See more Best In Class related questions
Behind The Lacrosse Marketing Co.
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