<p>For basketball, there are a few prep schools that have special basketball programs, where they recruit top inner city kids and kids from Africa. New Hampton has this, they call it Varsity A, and then regular kids can play Varsity B. Winchendon too, also Worcester Academy. They have sent at least a couple of kids to the NBA, and several to top basketball college programs.</p>
<p>In the better quality school category, Blair, Lawrenceville, and NMH are toward the top. Blair has at least 2 NBA guys----Charlie Villanueva and Luol Deng, and they actively recruit kids from AAU programs. The coach told me they consider over 100 top ranked basketball players per year and accept only a few. The team is set at most of these schools 6 months before “try outs” so it is hard for regular guys who weren’t part of the recruiting process.</p>
<p>hco it was sad…
i almost got a sack on montana no joke,… then a 300 lb gaurd smashed me.that team is invincible. im so glad they lost in the cif</p>
<p>no i will be a full time player and if you look at the bolts U16 roster they have two full time players who board at NMH and to follow up seacoast U16 USSDA got beat 6-0 i wont say by which team but it was in august of last year. just to clear that up keylyme. look it up its there</p>
<p>and the reality is that high school soccer or even college soccer is not how you get to the pros im not looking to play pro soccer or else i would be in europe or at IMG in florida. the reality is High school soccer is terrible for a players development. and that was the goal of the USSDA which unforunately failed miserably, to elimate high level youth players playing in HS, but because american youth players love playing in high school however terrible the level of play is. they nixed the idea because of all of this.
but boarding school soccer is the best for preps and a route to the ivies which is what i want not to play in the pros, for soccer players who want to play in a good college enviroment at a good college then prep school is the right place for you. also what makes prep school soccer appealing is how the coaches have a lot of connections.</p>
<p>I know NMH has two players on the U16 bolts. The coach has a connection. One of the players belongs there; one does not. I am just saying it will be incredibly difficult to maintain your schoolwork. Our situation was different because it involved so much more travel. Had my son taken the coach up on the Bolts offer, I guess he could have gone full time. He wanted to remain loyal to a club and coaches that have been so good to him. Also, if these players are not making the three (at least two) practices per week fairly regularly (and I doubt they are…I will have to ask) and US Soccer catches wind of it, they (the Bolts) will not longer be allowed to be a part of Academy. </p>
<p>NMH’s Ivy track record and connection is with basketball, not soccer, but it is a possibility and they have sent two players to the Ivies in the past seven years…Brown and Columbia, I believe. Seacoast has two public school kids going to Dartmouth this year alone. NMH’s connection for soccer is more with the DIII NESCAC schools.</p>
<p>The goal of academy was not to prevent kids from playing high school; it was to have less emphasis on games and more emphasis on development in a closed environment. Seacoast was one of the academy’s ten charter clubs and we attended a meeting given by the US national staff. They stated at that time that they were not against kids playing high school at all, however some clubs do not allow their players to play high school because of the bad habits it might promote. My son enjoys his high school team; I don’t think it necessarily promotes bad habits, but it is hard to maintain a technical style when so many on the team, and maybe even the coaches, don’t understand or promote that style. I’m sure you know what I mean.</p>
<p>The 6-0 game score…you are correct. It was vs BW Gottschee. I thought you were saying it was vs the Bolts. Out of 9 teams, Bolts finished 7th and Seacoast finished 8th. Gottschee was 2nd; a very strong team.</p>
<p>yes the korean kid is very poor, and out of shape to say the least. they are desperate for players for the U16 academy which i thought was quite poor, lacked fitness, ball movement, positional discipline, and most of all defensive tactical awareness. i trained with them once and i was quite disappointed with the level of play of the U16 academy players. I am from new york where you have to be top notch to even be considered for an academy team. I played academy last year and i have to say the level of play was rather high in comparison to NERP/Super Y games. this year however, i wanted to focus on my academics in preparing for boarding school, so i elected to play for the local premier team and ODP, which mind you is rather good none-the-less. my current club team would smoke the bolts 16s 5 or 6 nothing, granted it is mostly comprised of MLK jr. high school players, and is good. ranked 15th in the region, and in the 50s nationally.
I’m not saying that any school like NMH are feeders to the ivies but the best players on each competitive team can if they play club outside of school play in the ivies, MAAC, or patriot conferences in the NCAA</p>
<p>^^Absolutely. My son lives and breathes soccer and I asked him if he felt like he had and regrets about choosing to go to boarding school instead of staying home and playing full time with Academy. He said absolutely not and it was just as important to him to get a world class education. He would not have wanted to miss the boarding school opportunity for anything. BUT…playing in college is still a top priority for him. It is exciting that NMH has the Bolt’s connection and can hopefully begin to attract more strong club players. There is a very strong core team left and I do hope you come to NMH.</p>
<p>Of course NY teams are stronger…so many more people to choose from.</p>