<p>What are the top swimming boarding schools....rather which schools focus alot on swimming?
Who won the championship?</p>
<p>Take a close look at Mercersburg for swimming; it’s probably the best prep for swimming with a long record of success. I hear Peddie swimming is also good.</p>
<p>what about umm hotchkiss or deerfield? those are good swimming schools?</p>
<p>Deerfield is awesome at swimming. They also have the best eight-lane swimmig pool among the boarding schools,( just thought Id say that)</p>
<p>Deerfield boys and girls swimming & diving won the New Englands this year.</p>
<p>You will find that of the more than 100 boarding schools in the New England area alone, only about 20 of them even have swim teams.</p>
<p>Also, if you are good swimmer, but not yet top-notch, it can be hard to make even the JV team at some schools. If a team has won recent championships, more people try out, and it gets very popular. Unfortunately, cuts do have to be made sometimes.</p>
<p>Peddie is one of the best swim schools in the country. They are one of the to 50 USA swimming teams in the nation, and thats competing against club swim teams not even remotely school related. The Peddie swim team currently has one or two Olympic Time Trials qualifiers and in the past has had an Olympian. There is a full-year swim team, which is unusual for prep schools. They are also building a brand new pool, which looks like its going to be beautiful and will be finished next year.</p>
<p>By the way, Mercersburg is also a pretty good team. Admittedly, I know much mire about Peddie. At the MAPL championships (Peddie, Mercersburg, Lawrenceville, Hill, Hunn, maybe Pennington), Peddie won, but Mercersburg was the only team that held its own against them, especially in boys swimming.</p>
<p>The 6th MAPL school is Blair, not Pennington.</p>
<p>The current Peddie swim team is very impressive. </p>
<p>Mercersburg has had 23 Olympians come from its swimming teams.</p>
<p>I know loomis has a pool and a swimming&diving team. I don’t know how good they are, but they have teams.</p>
<p>[The</a> Lawrenceville School - Athletics: Team Pages: Boys Varsity Swimming 2008-2009: Event Detail](<a href=“http://www.lawrenceville.org/athletics/team/event_detail.asp?team=NT00004D02&event=22CDE]The”>http://www.lawrenceville.org/athletics/team/event_detail.asp?team=NT00004D02&event=22CDE)
When I went to L’ville the only competition was some school in Florida. I guess it’s stumbled a bit and is only 8th in the East this year.</p>
<p>When evaluating a school’s swim team consider the following factors:</p>
<p>How many of the team members are “bought and paid for” Olympic hopefuls who will be getting all the slots and the attention? Ususally you can find this out by asking the coach to brag about the top swimmers. Does the varsity team fit you? Will you get attention from coaches?</p>
<p>How many are PG or Senior-year imports are brought in for the swim season, who will be gone by spring break, with no expectation of getting a diploma.</p>
<p>What is the practice requirement for Varsity, and can one succeed in other areas (like academics) while doing practices, which at the varsity level will not just be in season, but out of season as well. If schools toss you a “well xxx superstar does academics and ECs and has a life” you had better check to see if xxx is the norm or way off at the third standard deviation. </p>
<p>Are competitions focused on Wednesday and Saturday, or are they scattered on other days as well? Check the schedule; it is probably on the school website. When coaches start scheduling competition on school days, your reading, homework and papers will take a major hit. And no, studying on the bus does not replace other study time. </p>
<p>What is the travel schedule like, on vacations? during the school year? Will the Athletic department require that you miss classes to travel? Missing Junior year or AP classes to travel may not be in your overall best interest.</p>
<p>Is the athletic department sensitive to standardized testing and academic requirements. (I know of one much honored athletic director who would not allow varsity athletes to take Saturday SAT subject tests during the school year.)</p>
<p>Will the Athletic department require that you miss classes to travel? Missing Junior year or AP classes to travel may not be in your overall best interest.</p>
<p>What is the plan for the off season - focus on academics or hours and hours of unofficial practice. </p>
<p>Is the “we travel to Europe for march break” for the whole team, or is it a private money-making gig for the swim coach?</p>
<p>Examples: DA varsity practices twice a day, for two hours each time. The new natorium of pretty, but the down lighting is blinding for swimmers and there is a weird lip at the racing block end that makes exiting the pool when you are tired very hard. Really look at the pool: air quality, locker room sanitation, starting block height. </p>
<p>Sorry for the jaded tone, but really go into highly competitive Prep School sports with your eyes open. I have seen kids really chewed up in a school’s quest for gold. Know what you are letting yourself in for; if it is a good fit, then by all means go for it. But know what you are getting into.</p>
<p>As other competitive “swimmers” know:
In swimming the best times of the weeks’ practices swims in the center lanes (less wake), the others (dethroned from the previous weeks) swim in the outer lanes. No one is dethroned unless someone beats them consistently in practice or at meets, and rightfully so. It is not like a lacrosse/football team where a PG comes in and you have to sit on the bench. The starters win their spots for the meets VERY fairly. In swimming it is not uncommon for a younger swimmer to come in and be better than everyone, PG’s included.
When choosing a future Swim team as “swimmers” know, the most important factors are coach’s reputation and how his practices fit with the incoming students idea of what he should be doing daily to become the best he can be.
I wouldn’t think a champion 8th grade swimmer would want to go to a school that doesn’t compete against the best swimmers on the eastern seaboard. Just make sure you are on the same page with the coach on how far and how fast they want to bring you along.
Good luck with your choice.</p>
<p>I am reviving this thread to make corrections that I see as necessary.</p>
<p>Toadstool writes, “When evaluating a school’s swim team consider the following factors.” I am writing to tell you not to listen to everything this poster has to say! S/he has some typical advice that is good for any sport, but consider the following if you are thinking about swimming at the collegiate level after BS.</p>
<p>Here is my advice (from one swim mom in a million)</p>
<p>If you are a kid who swims competitively and wants to continue to do so at the collegiate level after BS, consider the following before applying as a boarding student to a BS:
-Am I a multi-sport athlete who loves swimming but wants to participate in a variety of sports throughout the school year?
-Am I a swimmer who wants to attend a BS that will allow me to pursue a sport I love year-round?</p>
<p>After you know what you want concerning your swim program, think about the two types of BSs with competitive swim programs:
-BS whose swim team functions as a as a high school swim team, only.
-BS whose swim team functions as a high school team as well as a USA-Swimming program </p>
<p>If you are looking for a traditional high school swim program, then programs found at Deerfield, Lawrenceville, Hotchkiss, etc. may be perfect.</p>
<p>However, if you are applying to a BS and you want to swim year-round, you will usually fall into one of these two categories:
-You swim 3 seasons at your BS and then return to a home team for the Long Course Season and over school breaks from your BS (unless you live close enough to your BS). Schools like Mercersburg, Baylor and Peddie function like this,or
-You are a day student at a BS and you will swim with a club team as well as your high school team to continue swimming year-round.</p>
<p>Other Issues…</p>
<p>Toadstool states, </p>
<p>How many of the team members are bought and paid for Olympic hopefuls who will be getting all the slots and the attention? </p>
<p>-This may be true at a Division 1 College Swim Program, but I disagree that this is true at the BS level. Since my child currently swims for and will attend such a school in September, I found this advice silly. Swimming tends to be a sport for kids who work hard. My daughter swims in lanes with kids who have made it to the Olympic Time Trials and with kids who will never go beyond the state level. My daughter has received tons of attention and at 53 I dont see the Olympics in her future; however, she wants to do well in school and swim competitively! Her coach seems to think she is worth it, despite Toadstools advice!<br>
-This question posed by toadstool should really be about the coach and the team philosophy. I have seen very poor performing teams focus all of their effort on one swimmer and I am familiar with nationally ranked teams who focus on the whole team. Toadstool talks about his experiences, but I am familiar with the coaching at a BS school that is far superior to Deerfield in swimming, and this just isnt the case!</p>
<p>'How many are PG or Senior-year imports are brought in for the swim season, who will be gone by spring break, with no expectation of getting a diploma."</p>
<p>What is he talking about?<br>
-Swimmers who make it to this level are unbelievably motivated athletes that work with a coach and a program 6 to 7 days a week for years to get to the level referred to by Toadstool.<br>
-No one who is a serious year-round swimmer would be able to suddenly appear on a BS swim team for ONE SEASON and disappear. This would happen in the middle of the Short Course Season and cause a disruption to his or her training program. Many kids who swim for high school and club teams simultaneously find this time period to be challenging as the need to taper for the big meets right when they are asked to swim in high school championship meetscreating training problems. I know of no one who would do what you are saying. I am familiar with PG swimmers at Peddie or Mercersburgyes. They will swim for a BS for an entire PG year (and there are probably no more than 1 or 2 such swimmers on these teams). At a one-season HADES type school, I think not. At Peddie or Mercersburg, the swimmer benefits from a well connected coach who can help a swimmer for the entire year. At a one season high school prep programwhat could be gained for this kind of swimmer?</p>
<p>“No expectation of getting a diploma.”<br>
Are you kidding me?
-There is no future for almost all young swimmers without a college program.<br>
-Swimmers want to be seen by college coachesthese coaches are at the big meets such as sectionals and the national meets. And, if a BS import swimmer attends a PG yearsuch a swimmer would never attend a BS with a one-season swim team (Deerfield, Hotchkiss, Lawrenceville, etc.) if he or she is an Olympic hopeful. These kids can be found at schools like Baylor, Bolles, Peddie, Mercersburg and Germantown (on the East Coast) because these schools swim year round and compete as USA Swimming Teams. Most BSs do not.<br>
-if you are swimming a PG year and swimming one season, onlyyou are not doing this to get the Olympic time trails or even to get into a D1 swim schoolthis would be swim suicide. You may be doing it for other reasons, but this does not fit the negative profile for such a swimmer created by Toadstool. </p>
<p>Sarums comments seem pretty good except for the following one:
-In swimming the best times of the weeks’ practices swims in the center lanes (less wake), the others (dethroned from the previous weeks) swim in the outer lanes. No one is dethroned unless someone beats them consistently in practice or at meets, and rightfully so.</p>
<p>This is not true. It is true at meets when one reaches a certain level, but not in practice.</p>
<p>Swimming World Magazine has named the Swimming World High School Teams of the Year since 1971 when it honored Santa Clara as the top boys public school in the United States. Since then, the program has expanded.</p>
<p>Year Boys HS Boys Prep Girls HS Girls Prep
1971 St Xavier N/A N/A N/A
1972 Santa Clara N/A N/A N/A
1973 St. Xavier N/A N/A N/A
1974 Santa Clara N/A N/A N/A
1975 Santa Clara N/A N/A N/A
1976 Jacksonville Episcopal N/A Upper Dublin N/A
1977 Mission Viejo The Peddie School Mission Viejo N/A
1978 Mission Viejo Jesuit Mission Viejo N/A
1979 Mission Viejo The Hill School Mission Viejo N/A
1980 Mission Viejo Loyola-Blakefield Mission Viejo N/A
1981 Mission Viejo Mercersburg Mission Viejo N/A
1982 Mission Viejo Mercersburg Mission Viejo The Peddie School
1983 Mission Viejo Mercersburg Mission Viejo Mercersburg
1984 Campolindo Mercersburg Mission Viejo The Bolles School
1985 Mission Viejo Germantown Academy Mission Viejo The Bolles School
1986 Mission Viejo Germantown Academy Mission Viejo Germantown Academy
19871 Mission Viejo Mercersburg Spanish River Germantown Academy
1988 Hinsdale South Mercersburg Edina St. Andrews
1989 Churchill Bellarmine Prep Mission Viejo The Peddie School
1990 Churchill The Peddie School North Penn The Peddie School
1991 San Marino The Peddie School Conroe McCullough The Peddie School
1992 Plano St. Xavier Americus Germantown Academy
1993 Humble Kingwood Jesuit Davis Pine Crest
1994 Humble Kingwood St. Xavier Davis Germantown Academy
1995 Humble Kingwood The Peddie School Carmel The Bolles School
1996 Cypress Creek The Peddie School Carmel The Bolles School
1997 Cypress Creek Brother Rice Shadow Mountain The Bolles School
1998 The Woodlands The Bolles School Carmel The Bolles School
1999 The Woodlands The Bolles School St. Charles Trinity Prep
20002 Firestone The Bolles School St. Charles The Bolles School
2001 Evanston Township St. Xavier Irvine Ursuline Academy
2002 Firestone St. Xavier Irvine Ursuline Academy
2003 Lake Forest St. Xavier Ann Arbor Pioneer Ursuline Academy
2004 Carmel St. Xavier Lake Forest The Bolles School
20053 Upper Arlington Brophy Prep Ann Arbor Pioneer Germantown Academy
2006 Humble Kingwood The Bolles School Ann Arbor Pioneer Germantown Academy
2007 New Trier Bellarmine Prep Austin Westlake Germantown Academy
2008 Yucaipa The Baylor School Austin Westlake Germantown Academy</p>