Don’t remember how it was at each school, but most we looked at had a mandatory school activity. Some were in a fixed time frame. And that did not mean that if you are doing something they do on campus that it counts as a school activity, it doesn’t.
Most BS will allow kids to attend high level tournaments, special games and national/international activities. The caveat is, the kids need to make up their work. It’s tough. And often you can see all the kids with their books studying in the plane, or venue. The kids get tired.
I’d ask them a lot of questions. When kids are doing something great the schools will help them. But they don’t make it super easy. The kids need to be very organized to stay on top of things. We had a kid who flew in and out of an international event last year (stayed 1.5 days). Just could not afford to take too many days away from school.
No personal experience but we had 2 good friends who looked at BSs last year who were high level athletes who prioritized the sport, although both are also bright, smart kids.
Neither ended up at the NE BSs they looked at. One ended up not even applying after doing tours and interviews and the other applied and did revisits but chose not to attend.
Both families made the choice for the reasons mentioned above, primarily that they felt that what the BS required, including the other required sports commitments, would interfere with their primary sports goals and desires and that it would be too much to try to attend a rigorous academic school with all these other academic and non-academic requirements, and they prioritized the sport.
Both families considered traditional BS for largely the reasons you stated as well (a lot of traveling to get the kid to the sports) but ultimately felt that the traditional BS didn’t offer the flexibility to allow their kid to pursue their sports the way they wanted.
I know absolutely nothing about soccer, but I know a family that looked at Barca Academy in Arizona for soccer, in addition to Shattuck St. Mary and IMG. I know nothing about it other than that, though.
The traditional boarding schools you mostly see mentioned on this board will probably not be what you are looking for if your son wants to stay that committed to one sport. The schools aren’t structured that way. I know from experience with one of my own kids that it becomes near impossible to pursue rigorous academics, fulfill school commitments and try to continue to play the sport at a the most competitive level. We were doing crazy stuff like driving through 5 states in the one day of the week with no commitments. Something had to give. In my kid’s case it was the sport. It sounds like that isn’t an option for your son.
I’ve seen some top notch soccer “kids” do the BS thing than leave because of their commitment to the game . I personally know a few playing pro now, one a top draft pick.
I’ve also know a couple top notch hockey players leave boarding school after a couple years to play at higher levels.
It’s been my opinion for many, many years (not that anyone in the world of soccer is asking) that the entire development academy system should go residential. We’re not going to develop really world class soccer talent in this country (which we should be doing by now) until that happens.
I do think something like IMG or Shattuck-St. Mary’s will get you the closest to where it seems your son wants to be. I do know one young man who graduated from SSM a few years back. He wasn’t the top of the team there and wasn’t pro level talent but did play in college. The family seemed pleased with the experience. It’s a beautiful school.
Oh, and I just remembered one more but I don’t know much about it other than someone who went there 15 years ago. 
St. Stephen’s in Texas.
https://www.sstx.org/soccer-academy
You should definitely spend some time investigating IMG Academy. It is a sport first, academics second school. It began as Nick Bolleterri Tennis Academy many years ago and some of the top professional tennis players came through through there and many still train there. Its grown astronomically in the past 20 years since IMG (huge sport marketing company) purchased it. Many of the top high school football/baseball/basketball/lacrosse recruits and attend IMG. I know a couple of soccer players who have landed there. Not tippy top players, but very good. I think IMG often has many levels so they often accept players who are not top DI program level athletes as well. You would need to do your research as I think the experience could vary quite a bit based on the sport.
They are churning out athletes. They spend a lot of time on sport psychology, nutrition, every kind of weight and recovery training, recruiting, and marketing. It is really about the sport. It is probably not going to feed the academic challenge you may be looking for. School is worked around sport, not the other way around.
It makes sense for some athletes. and I think they do a good job getting a lot of their athletes placed in appropriate college and professional programs . I don’t know a lot about soccer specifically, so you would really need to investigate that. And its a business, so know what you are getting into. For the right athlete, it can be a great option, but it is definitely no for everyone.
Honestly, with the MLS minimum salary at $70,250, there’s no financial incentive for the top 1% of U.S. athletes to become a professional soccer player.
One further suggestion — check out Northwoods School in Lake Placid, NY, where Black Rock houses their residential academy. There is one at High Mowing School too, but I don’t even know where that is. Lake Placid is an incredible setting.
Re: IMG. Their director of college entrance exam prep was charged and I believe pleaded guilty in the Varsity Blues scandal last year, I believe for correcting students test answers. Hopefully they have cleaned things up.
High Mowing is a Waldorf high school in Wilton, NH.
The dream is obviously to play for one of the top European teams, not MLS. Plenty of money there, the skill to actually make it that far is another story. But the soccer kids here all have that ‘plan’. Typically they are immigrant kids so they already have ‘their’ team picked out.
I agree with others that if playing soccer is the main goal going to NE boarding school sounds like a really bad idea. It is not my kid’s sport but he has close friend who is a soccer recruit and has played club all his life. Now that the BS soccer season is winding down, his family is finding it very hard to find a viable place to play in off season. It turns out that while there are a number of kids at the school who play on a club soccer team, most of them are either day students or they have some other family nearby who does practice schlepping during the week. And the parents do all the weekend schlepping to tournaments etc.
Plus, our school does require for freshmen to play three sports. They don’t all have to be competitive, there are intramural options with lower commitment but it is at least 3 days a week. And any real sport is 6 days a week. Even thirds basketball, which this boy is hoping to play in winter. And the indoor bubble where the club team practices is more than a hour away. If you are a boarding student, you need exception to come back to campus late (study hours start by 8PM on weeknights) and honestly there is a ton of schoolwork so doing so regularly would be a massive grind even if the school was on board.
There are certainly serious athletes at the boarding schools but IMO boarding school is much better set up for the multi-sport athletes, there are a number of sports that are complementary and training for one will make you better in the other, but I don’t think that applies to soccer nearly as much as to other sports, if at all. In your shoes I would look at sports academy that is soccer focused and provides good academics.
Boarding school soccer is definitely not for everyone, but it does allow one to keep as many options open, academically and sports-wise as possible. Many (most) are academically head and shoulders above the residential academies, which is important to some players.
Those saying it is so hard to play club soccer have no experience with Black Rock, which, as I said earlier, is designed to fit with the boarding school schedule. Black Rock doesn’t serve every boarding school, so one would have a tougher time with the logistics at those schools, for sure.
And the three sport requirement is not such a big deal! They play soccer in the fall for the school, with no club. My son then does “strength and conditioning” in winter, no games or other conflicts, and a good thing for all varsity athletes, and club soccer. And then he plays Ultimate in Spring, a sport he never tried before boarding school (and club soccer). He has had to miss black rock practices when an ultimate match conflicts, and it is no big deal.
All this is directed at families with really serious soccer players-- I totally understand that for a kid who likes soccer but might not have the desire/drive to play in college this is too much. But my son, and many others, absolutely manage prep school, good grades, and club soccer. And – Prep/club players have college placement outcomes that are better than the residential academies, from a soccer perspective, as well as academic perspective.
Depending on your priorities, “professional children” school, which is generally tutoring and often offers online options, may be an alternative. (You may be considering it already.) The handful of kids I know who have used this have been those with children’s roles in professional theater, dancers, and athletes who have training and travel schedules that don’t meld well with traditional schools.
The high-achieving among them have loved not only the flexibility, but also that, because they are working at their own pace, it is highly efficient. No waiting for the class to catch up, ability to “work ahead” during downtime, etc. Clearly, they are giving up a lot in not having peers most of the time, but it can work.
This route would allow soccer to take priority while allowing your kid to pursue rigorous academics. (Off the top of my head, I can think of kids who did this and went to HYPS schools. ) Should something happen with soccer that derails the current plan, the academic path wouldn’t be compromised.
Such a wealth of information!
Glad to know my previous research re: soccer / sport forward boarding options garnered similar results:
Shattuck St Mary (academics also seem very high)
IMG
Barca in AZ
I had not heard of Black Rock in NE - incredibly helpful!! Both the prep / bs option and also the boarding options at Northwoods or High Mowing.
There’s a good (but NOT 100%!) chance we will end up in the EU for 1 to 2 years, starting next Fall. Already have 2 trials set up for teams there. Fingers crossed on all accounts!
So this would be either plan B, or after we return in 1 / 2 years when he would be a 10th or 11th grader.
Of course, his plan is for us to go to EU and “just” stay and play / educate there… In the meantime, back in reality here, this kid is smart and so musically talented it hurts. I just want to make sure we know what his / our ongoing, realistic options are.
Last but not least, he and my dd (current 10th grader, all the grades and stats) are looking at Choate (where I’m an alum) in a couple of weeks.
Any Black Rock players from Choate?
DS is now taking seriously my suggestions and watching all these IMG videos. Very impressive, what they show in the vids…
Anyone with direct (soccer) experience?
Choate has one or two, I believe. Brothers.
Sounds like a good plan!
Unfortunately online is not an option for ds. He is an in-person kid. DD goes to Stanford online hs. DS won’t even look at it because, well, he needs and likes people, in person, every day.
It’s a good option for other sports / significant pursuit heavy kids, though. Wish it would work here, but it won’t.
Yes @calimamaz, unless you are in a place where there is a large enough group to support an in-person school (i.e., NYC professional children’s school), finding individualized (or very accommodating, like PCS) instruction that is accredited and isn’t online can be hard to find. But depending on where you end up, you could consider this option. And they might know who does this wherever you land. Definitely an “out there” alternative but the kids do get to know each other because they have classes as much as possible rather than 1 on 1.
Re:IMG – I do not have experience with them, but for the same price you could get a world class education at a boarding school as well as top notch soccer.* I tried to see what their college placements were for last year, or the last two years, and couldn’t see them (they list statistics over the last 10 years). I would be cautious.
If it works out, training in Europe sounds like the best path (obviously not knowing all the details).
*top notch soccer at club level, to be clear
If your kids are interested in Choate, you may also want to check out Oakwood Academy — a US development academy program based in Central CT. I don’t know how it would work logistically (they aren’t exactly down the street from Choate), but there are likely Oakwood players at Choate (large day student population), and Oakwood is an excellent club. Two sisters we know played for Oakwood while attending Loomis, and then D1.
You might want to check out Kimball Union Academy, in Vermont. It has a decent soccer team of its own (the school dropped football a few years ago and decided to really focus heavily on the soccer program). But the draw for you would be that there is a local club team, the Lightning, that uses KUA’s facilities as its home base. KUA is one of the few NE boarding schools to have a full size indoor turf field, and the Lightning uses that in the winter. My recollection is that kids at KUA play on the school teams in the fall, and then some of them also play for the Lightning and that counts for their school sport commitment (or maybe they have to do something extra like a conditioning program, but they don’t actually have to play a whole extra sport). Because the Lightning practice right at KUA, you’d have no logistical problems and local families will give rides to KUA kids to away games. Also KUA is very close to Dartmouth, and the KUA soccer players sometimes are able to get involved with programs run by the Dartmouth soccer coaches.
My son considered KUA and we really liked it, but he ended up going to Proctor Academy instead. Now he’s just starting to think about whether to try to play club soccer on the side too, which is a path I don’t relish but I know there are kids who do it.
Dream is the operative word above. European players over the age of 14 are developmentally advantaged, comparatively speaking. Getting to Europe isn’t difficult for top American players, but staying there and creating a meaningful career is so unlikely that it’s barely worth considering. I’m all for people following their dreams, but they need to enter a process like this with their eyes wide open. Journeyman soccer player is not what players envision when they’re passport is being stamped…