Some coaches aren’t honorable and pressure athletes to quit because of injuries so it does happen. The coach can make the student’s life miserable and do a de facto loss of scholarship.
I think that was one area we didn’t look into enough when my daughter was being recruited, the coach and the methods the coach uses. Is she a ‘yeller’, is she caring, does she baby the players or expect too much of a 17 year old? A coach can change and the decision can’t only be made based on the coach at the program, but the coach is really a big factor. The one my daughter went with promised not to reduce the scholarship and she never did. Daughter ended up not liking the coach very much (really liked an asst who left after 2 years) and I don’t know if we would have made a different choice if I’d looked into the coach more, but it was a lesson learned.
Right after my daughter committed, there was a big scandal with the Louisville coach mistreating her players. I felt we’d dodged a bullet but learned we should have been asking a lot more questions about the coaching methods and treatment of players.
Agree with the above posts that tell the hard facts regarding how challenging it is to get an athletic scholarship or even walk on in college. Also agree that being at BS for some sports makes it very difficult to play on the elite club or travel teams where recruiters like to hunt. When you look at showcase forms, for example, many (if not most) have the space for you to write the club/travel team name and coach first - above the name of your school and school’s coach. Just interesting. There is a lot involved and kids are being packaged for recruitment. Not judging, just stating a fact. Coaches want to see highlight films, stats, transcripts. I know a couple of soccer players who are spending this summer at showcases or high profile training events.
I do think that being in the NE for some sports gives you an edge for that sport because of the high level of play. By contrast, I do think that golfing in the South, Southwest, and West Coast gives you an advantage for those same reasons and the chance for year-round practice.
We notice that many of the collegiate squash players did attend BS or private schools - this also may be due to the fact that the represented boarding schools have squash courts…or the students attend private day schools in proximity to facilities for training. Yes, there are some great local public schools near squash courts also - even in Southern Georgia!
More For golf: If you look at the college rosters you will see that most of golfers attended public schools. This may be due to a variety of reasons. Yes, there is some amazing talent on the NE rosters and I give the students, as well as their parents, credit for the commitment in training for such a short season up there. Plus, many schools in NE have co-ed teams. There are some academic boarding schools and strong local private schools in the SE, South, SW, NV and CA regions that provide good play/coaching.
Is anyone or has anyone worked with a collegiate sports recruiting consultant or company? Just wondering if that was a help or if this is common for some sports?
We know many kids who are excellent athletes across multiple sports. While many chose to focus on a single one, some kids are the best at their school in two or more sports. Seems normal to me in that the kid has natural athletic ability. We also noticed that some schools have more kids doing a single sport. So X BS is known for track or Y school has great soccer or lacrosse. It changes from year to year.
Most parents of athletes KNOW that the coaches personality is critical to the players success. Get a coach who yells and a kid who hates it and you won’t have a kid who excels. My own kid hates the yellers and negative enforcers. Likes to be driven from a place of mutual respect. Will work hard but don’t even try to get that kid going with insults or jeers. Then again talk nicely and the results will be fine.
Yes @Happytimes2001 - we took similar advice last year from a parent on CC and decided to not accept an offer at XYZ BS. A couple of moms on CC warned us that if XYZ’s coach didn’t like your kid or if your kid didn’t play up to par that day, said coach would humiliate kid in front of others. This coach reportedly (by the moms on CC) made kids who didn’t do well during a travel tournament do push ups in an airport and yelled at them. A mom on here told me that if the coach was mad at your kid, the kid’s life would be HE - double hockey sticks for the entire tenure at that school.?
In fact, I would argue that going to boarding school probably lowers the chances for an athletic hook. Reason being is that most boarding schools have a 3 sport rule – meaning that they must play a different sport each term (fall, winter, spring). Second reason is that some boarding schools have Saturday classes. This makes competing on the weekends difficult, if not impossible.
Despite this, however, many boarding school graduates go on to compete in Division 1/2/3 colleges. But if you’re looking for a pure athletic boost, then boarding school is not the best option IMHO.
@CateCAParent - We’re still in the process of navigating the BS/baseball situation. Our LPS wasn’t an option, but no one gets recruited from there anyway. In our area, showcase teams play all summer. The problem is they do tryouts and practices through the winter. We’ve already been told by at least one coach that my son will get a spot even though he will miss the winter practices. I’m thinking he’s not going to be recruited (D3), but if he is, our LPS college counselors are useless anyway. His BS counselors and athletic director are so much more invested that for him BS will be a plus on the slim chance he goes that way.
@sgopal2 raises a great point. Many schools have a mandatory participation rule for some if not all of the grades…and have varying degrees flexibility in terms of getting waivers for this, sometimes handled on a season by season basis. This can make it very challenging for an elite athlete to focus on the sport s/he is the most likely to be recruited in.
However, where there’s a 3-sport requirement, elite athletes will often play a 3rds sport or do a recreational level sport that can accommodate off-season training demands. At DS’s school the 3-sport/3-activity requirement is not an impediment to D1 recruiting.
For small schools, the three- sport rule can also mean that the level of play isn’t high enough for an elite athlete to develop skills - because the team has novices. That is an issue for elite musicians in small schools with performance arts requirements, too.
@CTMom21: I think this is going to vary on a school-by-school, sport-by-sport, and individual basis. I know that in my daughter’s experience at one BS, they were surprisingly inflexible and she had to petition every season to get an exemption…though she did play on a frosh team outside of her sport her first semester.
We looked into this pretty extensively since the kid would like to have this as an option and my conclusion is that depending on the sport some boarding schools have great teams and excellent coaching that will help your child to develop but you still need to have a club team for the off season practices and showcase attendance. So you as a parent still have to do most of the work, though depending on the boarding school and sport your kid may get some visibility there. And some of the coaches do help connect you to a local club team for the split season play while at other schools this is decidedly not supported and often actively discouraged. And yes you want to pick a school without Saturday classes to make this work, and one that gives the option of doing weight training/conditioning as an athletic activity for at least one of the three seasons.
@CTmom21@SevenDad: Same here. Son went to Lawrenceville. They do give out exemptions, but it was like pulling teeth from the athletic director. Even so, son had to play another competitive sport (beginner level or house sports) in the remaining 2 seasons. I can think of another nearby boarding school (Hun) where getting exemptions is almost guaranteed.
If your child’s sport is soccer and you are considering certain New England prep schools, Black Rock FC has a prep academy arm that is made up of the best prep school players. They provide a lot (tho not all) of transportation to practices/games so parents don’t have to live nearby.
Most top prep school players play for Black Rock. Joining Black Rock is by invitation. Their coaches scout the regular season games and invites go out shortly after season end.
I realize this doesn’t apply to most readers of this thread, but if you have a soccer player it is relevant!
I second @cinnamon1212 on Black Rock. BRFC provides an extremely high level of training and competition, and a ton of players go on to play D1 and D3 soccer. Definitely worth taking into consideration.
It dies indeed depend on the sport. In girl’s lacrosse, for example, the club teams are much more competitive than most any HS teams, and the recruiting effort is centered there.
By contrast, Football has a big roster and the Ivies and similar leagues have academic standards to maintain. So a strong BS student will get more attention.
There are still “Swing and a Miss.” A few years ago the leading scorer in D1 Lacrosse was Colgate’s Peter Baum. He was unrecruited by anyone. He went to Colgate because his father went there.