<p>One more school to check out which isn’t in the Founders or ISL league is Kimball Union Academy (KUA) in New Hampshire. Very strong program.</p>
<p>If you are playing AAA in a top league, you need to ask yourself if you want to leave that situation. If you are happy with your current HS you could stay where you are and do a PG year at a prep school.
If you feel the level of play in the founders league is higher than where you are now than you have to ask yourself what is the level of prep school academics you’re interested in. Schools like Exeter have demanding academics. Juggling that with the rigorous schedule of hockey is tough so know what you’re getting into.
If your objective is to compete in the founders league in hopes for a better chance in the college recruiting game, make sure you pick a school where you can maintain good grades.
My son is a hockey player. You can PM me if you have questions.</p>
<p>Cody1771,</p>
<p>I’m not a hockey parent. But as someone who has coached top athletic prospects, I know a bit about recruiting. Here’s my advice:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Don’t develop unrealistic expectations if a prep school coach contacts you. Coaches initially cast a wide net. And, they can’t work miracles with the admission officers at their top prep schools even if you have good academic credentials. So, don’t start packing your bags for prep school just because a coach expresses interest. </p></li>
<li><p>Don’t expect complete honesty from your coach. Like any good salesmen, a coach trying to recruit you will have a sales pitch. He may say that he expects you to be an “impact player.” But I’d be a rich man if I had a nickel for every “impact player” during the recruitment process who rode the bench during the season.</p></li>
<li><p>From what friends tell me, elite junior hockey is a much better feeder system to college hockey than prep school hockey. Where most of the kids on a USHL roster have D1 college commitments, less than a handful typically do on even a good prep school team. And those that do often have to play a year of elite junior hockey after prep school before they are eligible to play on their D1 team.</p></li>
<li><p>If you are a good student and education is more important than hockey in your life, hockey may be a good hook to help you get a great education at a top prep school. But if your sport is more important than school for you (as it is for most young athletes), the academic stress of attending a top prep school and the short hockey season there may not be your best bet. </p></li>
<li><p>At this point, it doesn’t hurt to see how things develop after you send out your cover letter and video to the prep school school programs that interest you.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>@cameo23 my cousin went to berkshire, and I have been to their rink a few times, beautiful place, but I’ve not been recruited by them, or no one I know has, but it’s always an option</p>
<p>@jmilton , I’ve heard that many times before but I’ve seen the coach at all of my showcases I’ve been to this year, and when he was talking to me he showed me the list of players he recruited over the summer and I was one of only 6. So maybe it’ll work out, maybe it won’t. What sports have you been coaching? Because I’ve also been recruited by Salisbury for lacrosse too. But hockey is my love and my #1 sport</p>
<p>Cody1771,</p>
<p>If prep school is good option for you, send out your video and cover letter to a wide range of prep schools and then make judgments based on the responses you receive. The fact that a coach is repeatedly scouting you at showcases is a good sign.</p>
<p>You are already ahead of the game by recognizing that nothing is guaranteed in prep school admission. Just focus on the things you can control such as maintaining good grades, preparing for the SSAT, having a good season, submitting a compelling admission application, etc. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>@jmilton , thank you! Prep school recruiting it always sketchy, although now I know</p>
<p>Cody, don’t worry about you going to them vs. them coming to you. If you get actively recruited by a school, that’s wonderful, but the fact is that many of the coaches at New England prep schools are also teachers and dorm parents with lots of other responsibilities and recruiting isn’t something they’re going to be spending a ton of time on. The odds of them “discovering” you are much better if you introduce yourself and show them what you can do. That video is a great idea. Personally, I wouldn’t wait for them. </p>
<p>I would be proactive. This isn’t just about hockey, this is about hockey potentially being your ticket to a world-class education. You don’t just want to go to a school with a nice hockey rink; you want to go to a school with a great hockey experience AND a great academic and social experience where you really fit in and feel challenged and invigorated. Scholar-athletes (great grades / test scores + great athletic ability) are prized in boarding school. You sound like you could be a real catch for any school, so use that to your advantage. Obviously cast a wide net, as they say, with your applications (don’t just apply to schools with a single-digit acceptance rate - have some targets and safeties, too) but don’t be afraid to reach for the school(s) of your dreams. Keep your grades high and add in some community service. </p>
<p>As you’re researching schools, first narrow them down by choosing the ones with excellent hockey programs and then ask yourself, “Which of these schools would I want to go to the most if playing hockey was suddenly not an option?” Where those two questions intersect is where you’ll find your top choices.</p>
<p>Excellent advice from coconutcake. Excellent.</p>
<ul>
<li>1 coconutcake!</li>
</ul>
<p>Wow @coconutcake , thank you. You changed a big viewpoint of mine, and i was thinking that too, because the guy who recruited me was also there baseball coach, and he taught trig. thank you</p>
<p>No problem! I am a former boarding school teacher (I won’t say where for privacy reasons, but it was a boarding school in the northeast that is not a “big acronym” name), so I know how it goes from that end. I never coached a varsity team myself, but none of the varsity coaches I knew did any recruiting whatsoever. There just wasn’t time. Literally. Especially if we had dorm duty (which was often) - between that and teaching classes, all-school events, office hours, meals, coaching our own teams, meeting with our advisees, attending faculty meetings and committee meetings, communicating with parents, grading, preparing for the next day’s classes, and proctoring study halls, we had to be on campus from the minute we woke up until the minute we woke up the following day. After that, lather, rinse, repeat. </p>
<p>If you’d asked me or most of my colleagues when we were planning to go out and recruit some varsity athletes for the school, we would have just laughed! It’s not that we didn’t want them. We were just pulled in too many directions at once. Recruiting for anything would almost have felt like a luxury to a teacher/coach. It was mostly up to the admissions office to travel around to various boarding school fairs, but as far as I know, they didn’t attend any athletic events specifically to seek out athletes, either. </p>
<p>Maybe other, larger schools have more resources and a more specialized athletic staff that don’t have to teach a full schedule of classes and manage the dorms in addition to coaching. However, in my experience, many boarding schools tend to look for “triple threats” (adults who can be teachers, coaches, and residential counselors / dorm parents simultaneously) - 3 jobs done for 1 salary, or 4 if you count academic advising. If you’re being actively scouted, that’s a big deal. But don’t jump on the first offer you receive. Take your time and shop around. You’ll be able to gauge from the reactions of those who receive your email and video how interested different schools are in you. I hope you will come back and update us on your admission decision when the time comes! I think you’re going to have many good options to choose from.</p>
<p>@coconutcake thank you lots. I looked on their website and saw that the coach lived I campus and was like I said a math teacher and a baseball coach. I have a tournament coming up soon, so I’ll see if they’re any there, but most likely not, because they’re probably teaching or preparing for the season. I will definitely update you and everybody!</p>
<p>I don’t want to discourage anyone by saying this, but you have to think realistically why no coaches except Trinity Pawling have talked to you. Even playing AAA isn’t enough in some cases, primarily because you will be competing for a spot against many older kids. I know that the Founders league has PGs, so you might even be competing with some 20 year olds for a spot! (Yes, there are kids that old at BS, occasionally) The ISL doesn’t have any PG’s, so that’s somewhere where you might want to start looking.</p>
<p>I agree, but also, you dont have to limit yourself to just New England Prep Schools. There are many other schools in the midwest and canada like: Gilmour Academy, Lake Forest Academy, Culver, Shattuck, Stanstead in Quebec, St. Andrews in Canada, the list goes on and on. Also another healthy option would be Selects Academy. It is a high quality AAA team coming out of South Kent School.</p>
<p>Why are people bringing back threads from like six months ago?</p>