Has anyone had any experiences with Phillips Andover soccer?
My son is pretty intense and currently is on a club team as well as the top town team and loves soccer.
I’m a little concerned about whether such kids are usually able to play at the varsity level eventually. I know that at some schools particularly larger schools, there is recruiting for soccer to such an extent that the excellent local kid doesn’t have a chance against the excellent Recruited regional kids.
I’m just not really sure how good the team is and how much they recruit for soccer Especially at the Pg level.
Andover is a little out of my range – I know a little bit but not a lot about its boys soccer program. Andover is not known as a soccer powerhouse, so a good player is more likely to be able to play varsity there, I would think, than at some schools that recruit heavily.
Wouldn’t the size of the school affect your son’s chances as well? If a soccer team can only have approx. 24 rostered players, competing against 500 other boys is very different than being one of 24 at a school with 150 boys.
A soccer PG is going to be a very good player, almost certainly heading to play college soccer after the PG year; I wouldn’t focus on PG’s many schools bring in one or maybe two a year. Some schools, Berkshire particularly, bring in more, and bring in seniors as well. But those schools are uncommon.
If a school is recruiting heavily for soccer, they are recruiting internationally not just regionally 
Non-recruited players definitely have the ability to make Varsity soccer at Andover. Not likely early on, as there typically might only be one grade 9 player on Varsity. But by later grades, totally possible and happens. There are 4 boys’ soccer teams: varsity, JV1, JV2, JV3. So plenty of opportunity for players at all levels. You can get a feel for the program by scanning old articles/interviews during fall season in the weekly school newspaper, at Phillipian.net.
While I do not have experience with the varsity team, I did see the JV1 team play. In general, the team was not as strong as the top club team of a single age group (say 2004s) that I have witnessed. It was probably like the second team in a particular age group at a good club. Knowing that the JV1 group will have future varsity players on it, my guess is if your player is strong, he will likely make the varsity team at some point in his career. I cannot speculate regarding playing time. I did not sense that soccer is PA’s strength. I have heard the training is not as intense as soccer at a decent club.
My perspective comes from watching club soccer in one region of the country. As you know, club quality varies. Your best bet is to ask the coach.