Serious / year round soccer player - boarding school option?

Prep School Admissions Prep School Parents
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Hello. My ds is an 8th grader who is an extremely serious, year ‘round soccer player — on the state team, club team placed 3rd at Nationals last Summer, has played and trained internationally serious. He’s also very bright - great grades and scores and other extras.

We’re currently looking at high schools - mostly local because of the soccer situation. He would consider boarding schools, but they would have to have a top soccer program and the ability for him to play year ‘round on a local strong club or academy team.

Any suggestions?

I graduated from Choate, so we will likely look there just because. We are west coast, but would look anywhere around the globe if it were the right fit of strong soccer and strong academics.

Thanks in advance.

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Take a look at the New England Soccer Journal website. They cover Prep, academy and club soccer.

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Ok, this is in my wheelhouse!

Most (but not all) of the New England boarding schools have strong school teams. And then many play for Black Rock in the winter and spring, which is by invitation and is the cream of the prep school players. They don’t play in a league but do go to tournaments and are all about college placement. I could write much more about this aspect. They have some of the best players in the country, and a few that have gone pro before college (or shortly thereafter) so even if your son is one of the best in California he would fit in with Black Rock (and would be a standout!).

Since the prep academy program at Black Rock only has prep players, they fit with the prep school schedule. They understand the 3 sport requirement of the schools, and schedule things when there is the least conflict with school. They also arrange a lot (tho not all) of the transportation to practices and tournaments.

The prep schools with the best soccer programs may not be the best fit otherwise. The strongest team right now is South Kent, which is a good school, but not near the academic rigor of a Choate. Another perennially strong team is Berkshire, but they lately have achieved their success by bringing in 9+ PG and seniors each year. So I’ve seen only a handful of players that made the team in 9th grade be starters by the time they are juniors or even seniors. This is very demoralizing for good players!

Other schools with really strong boys soccer are Loomis, NMH, Taft. But other schools, while not quite as strong still play good, competitive soccer. Hotchkiss has a new coach and is rebuilding, so has a focus on boys soccer that might be helpful.

Agree with @GKUnion that the NESJ covers prep school soccer, though take their rankings and opinions with a grain of salt.

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PS I sent you a PM so you can ask questions that way if you like.

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More random thoughts: actually, if you think your son is good enough to go pro, maybe Berkshire is a good fit. Within the past 5 or so years, they had Jack Harrison, who plays for Man City (he may be on loan) and Jacob Schaffelberg who went straight to the MLS last year and is getting first team minutes with Toronto.

Also, to speak to the level of prep school soccer – just like D1 colleges, they recruit internationally for great players. Check out the rosters. You will see kids from Africa on pretty much all teams, but also kids from European countries, Costa Rica, etc. etc.

(Can you tell I’m happy to have any excuse to talk about boys prep soccer??!!)

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This is all so helpful! As west coasters, this east coast info is great. Thank you!

Soccer is definitely his passion. He wants to go pro. He is strong academically, but it’s by no means his primary focus.

It’s the soccer component that we’re really trying to sort out.

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I would add that soccer at prep schools is somewhat variable with teams rising and falling, not year to year, but in some sort of 3-4 year cycle. @cinnamon1212 probably has a longer read on this but we opted for best school not best team and will rely on club team outside of school to keep up with soccer. My son will not go pro, that’s not what he wants at all, so we are making different decisions.

Also, super important to keep in mind is the sports/afternoon activity requirement at many boarding schools. At the schools we looked at you don’t get out of a school sport just because you play on a nationally ranked team (or 2) outside of school. You are expected to do the school sport, plus homework, plus the club sport. This has been close to impossible at our very rigorous school. To say it’s been a grind is an understatement and fall season is mild for the club sport. (My son plays basketball and soccer so fall is very limited club soccer, regular basketball but only 4 tournaments. Spring will be 3 nights of practice for each club and travel every weekend. Obviously we won’t be able to do all of that.) So just keep it in mind if you start looking at more traditional bs.

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Just to add - I don’t know if it’s the same with boys - the best girls players tend not to be coming from NE. I’m not sure moving to NE for highschool is the best choice for a kid who wants to focus on soccer, not academics. Why give up west coast better training weather for NE “soccer is cancelled AGAIN because there’s still snow on the field…and it’s april…or may.”

Just throwing it out there.

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Not in New England but take a look at Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in MN. They have their own Development Academy team.

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To build upon the excellent information provided by @cinnamon1212 , according to NESJ there were 186 players in New England from the class of 2019 that went on to “play” in college. Whether they actually saw the field this fall is an entirely different matter. You can see the commits on NESJ by club/school, which is helpful. I’m sure I would violate a number of rules were I to post that information here, but if you had specific schools or clubs of interest in New England I could provide general info about commitments. Very few players from New England go the pro route. Some actually relocate to residential MLS programs outside New England if they truly aspire to play professionally.

On the club side of the equation, talented players from the local prep school community may be granted a waiver to play for a Development Academy team. Boys ECNL in New England hasn’t necessarily separated itself from other more local leagues in terms of talent, development and college outcomes. There should be a club option that could fit the bill if your son moved to the area.

General info for the class of 2019:

Beachside DA: 8 graduating players headed to schools from Norwich to Princeton. It’s reasonable to assume the better the school academically the more likely the player attended a prep.

The Berkshire School: 9 graduating players headed to some excellent academic/soccer schools.

Boston Bolts DA/ECNL: 12 players headed to schools from Amherst to UMass.

Global Premier Soccer: Large New England club that sent 11 players on to college like Bates, Colgate and Northeastern.

Loomis Chaffee: 5 graduating players attending schools from Boston College to Skidmore. Disclaimer - some player college commitments only list their club, but they also attend prep schools, so keep that in mind.

Milton Academy: 3 commits listed but they were to Bates, Harvard and UVA.

New England Revolution MLS DA: 5 commits, all D1 and the strongest academic school was Lehigh.

Oakwood DA: 10 commits from Albany to UConn.

Phillips Exeter: 3 commits to top D3 schools.

South Kent: 4 commits from Denison to West Point.

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I would echo what @cinnamon1212 says about Black Rock and NE prep soccer. As recently as 5-6 years ago prep soccer didn’t have a reputation for being so strong, due to kids not being able to play club soccer year-round. Then BRFC got started around that time (I may be a little off in years) and has taken off, and allows the best of the best across NE to play in the winter and spring with truly a top-notch club (including tournaments and showcases). They train at indoor facilities in the winter and generally play on turf, which can be cleared if there’s snow in March/April. (Fall can be wet but not typically snowy before Thanksgiving.). BRFC does a pretty good job with transportation and accommodating working with the BS schedules, and school obligations always take precedence.

What we’ve seen in our limited (3 years) BS soccer experience is that there’s a core group of schools that generally excel, which includes South Kent, Berkshire, Loomis, Taft, Worcester, Hotchkiss (I am probably missing a few). However if you choose a different school for other reasons, the level of soccer will likely be high and depending on geography, you’re likely to be competing against these top schools. And many of the BRFC coaches also coach at prep schools, which is something to look into.

Good luck to your son!

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Here are the standings for the Independent School League:

https://www.islsports.org/page/2901

I had a hard time finding other NEPSAC league standings online.

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It’s really hard to do any sport at that level while in BS. Has the student spoken to their soccer coach on the club/commit side?
I can second @one1ofeach It’s a grind. Especially if the kid is an excellent student and wants to have a life. There is only so much time in the day. My kid decided that playing a sport hours per day in BS or college wasn’t going to be the path to take. That’s fine. Both our kids are serious athletes in two separate sports. I can tell you that the coaches don’t let up for school. They want/ and need you to carry your weight and they don’t care if you have a math test. And if you get injured it can be hard not to get bogged down. Kids need breaks. Just something to think about.

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@Happytimes2001 I don’t disagree with your overall characterization of the grind inherent to this process. My only counter argument is that some special athletes thrive in that type of situation. If @calimamaz son truly wants to go the pro route he may be wired for this, and the need for an outside life could be the least of his concern.

My son knows National Team players headed to extended team camps, and even the U17 World Cup that live a soccer schedule in a way most people can’t comprehend. Some attend prep schools while others study online. If they can manage that then a prep school player should be able to handle the typical high level club soccer calendar.

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@GKUnion I agree. There are many kids who do things on a super high level at BS relative to their peers. There are kids at my kiddos BS who do professional theater, highly specialized sports ( up to Olympic level) and other major time commits. I’m sure the family is well aware of the time commits and time management.
My comment was really more to add depth to the conversation around how difficult it is to arrange once at BS. As a family, we didn’t think the demands would all be so much. Academics are tough at these schools. Kids are all different and some will step up. But I don’t underestimate a typical club level sport because one of my kids did it and ended up with no days off. I’m not saying it can’t be done or shouldn’t be done. Just saying it’s no walk in the park. ( Also depends on the club some are U level clubs and some are just club sports in name only). So, yes agreed will depend on the kid, school and club team.

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@calimamaz I know Phillips Exeter has several current players who also play Seacoast United DA. Seacoast had one current high schooler scooped up by the Seattle Sounders, and at least three current NE Revolution youth players came from SUSC. So they are very high level as a club. Exeter also plays D1 in the NE prep league. And they are 15 minutes from the SUSC DA facilities.

My son is not one of them, but I have no idea how his former team members handle it. So much off campus travel plus incredible school workload. 4 evenings or afternoons off campus for soccer on a light week. A heavy week might include a full weekend in a bus to Montreal and back, and two weekends later to NJ. Be cautious.

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@PrepDad2018 The Sounders actually have 2 Seacoast players in residence out in Seattle.

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To the OP - you may also want to check out IMG in Florida @ their soccer program

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This is all ridiculously helpful, thank you.

Shattuck- St. Mary and IMG are the two I had heard of. Curious if anyone has experience with either of these.

I think the break it with traditional bs is having to do another sport. That’s not happening. This kid hasn’t played a single day of another sport. It’s the all soccer all the time channel, and with what he wants to do it has to be.

He’s used to the travel. We commute quite a way to his 2 teams (think 80 min each way), and that’s not counting state commitments. Lots of car time - hence boarding could be a better use of time.

But again, ds definitely will not play another sport. I guess I assumed the school would “count” soccer as his sport each season. Also not sure how he would navigate a commute without moi if it isn’t team provided.

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Unfortunately it’s a “school activity” each season but I do not know if every school has this requirement and doesn’t let kids off the hook for an outside sport. I just know that the schools we looked at are like that. There may be schools more appropriate for him that would be looser on the activity requirement.