As others have said this will depend a great deal on the sport. It also depends upon the build of the student.
As an example, it is possible to take up crew relatively late and still make varsity in either high school or even university. However, this will depend upon the build of the student. A tall student with strong legs and arms from other activities can take up crew quite late and still be good at it. Whether they will want to stick with the schedule is another issue.
For hockey, it seems to help to pick it up very early. Both skating and stick handling are skills that take a lot of time to learn well.
I have only done a little lacrosse, and I think that the same is true for other family members. To me it always seemed like a tough one to pick up.
One daughter picked up basketball as a senior in high school and by the end of the season was actually not all that bad at it. She won a “most improved player” award at the end of the season. I have always wondered whether the award was given every year, or if they just made it up for her at the time. Again the build of the student is going to matter.
And yes, there is absolutely no need to play a sport to have success in high school, university, graduate school, life, or otherwise.