Obviously, I have a swimming kid. The kid is good but not great at swimming, AAA AG cuts on the verge of AAAA, and I don’t think kid is Peddie material for swimming. The fact that St. Paul’s is such a good school with a fab pool and no team is clearly a policy meant to annoy the living daylights out of me. How competitive is the club team? And is there a USA team that uses the St. Paul’s pool giving access to year-round training and USA swimming competition for enthusiastic St. Paul’s swimming-type students? (The athletic requirements for any prep school are swimming and crew. Kid is a decent athlete but not a superstar and gets success through hard work, a bigger and stronger than average physique, and preternatural durability. Never done crew but really wants to try it; I see a return to spring swimming after the first time really rowing on the water…) I understand that St. Paul’s is as difficult an admission in the known universe, but I don’t want to have tons of time wasted and whatnot for a school that will be the end of a serviceable swimming career. (Beyond the swimming thing, the other tippy-top dream school for kid is…wait for it…of course, Groton…)
Why so limited in options? Check out this site and find a school that appreciates a competitive swimmer. Sounds like your kid is good enough to compete. My kid is pretty good but not headed to Nationals or the Olympics anytime soon (like never…)
http://www.nepssa.org/
We haven’t limited SPS. Kid does compete now. If it’s swimming AND crew, we leave out Hotchkiss, St. George’s, Taft, Middlesex, St. Mark’s, Pomfret. Those are some remarkable exclusions in this world, stipulating there are a boatload of good schools for school stuff in this world beyond any particular sport.
What I would love to get is an inside scoop as to whether that SPS club team is at all serious and whether there’s a USA team on campus for more serious swimmers at St. Paul’s. Or they could go ahead and start a varsity team as a favor to me. I know the prep league has a decent level of competition and some great pools/facilities to go along with some really long bus rides.
I question eliminating schools from contention on the basis of not offering a sport that your kid has never even tried. It’s great that he has ideas about other sports that he’d like to try, and certainly there’s some good synergy between swimming and crew (excellent conditioning, same body type). But given the relatively limited number of schools that offer crew, I’d encourage him to focus more on which schools will be a good match for swimming and otherwise. If a school that he likes also has crew, so much the better, but I’d start by casting the broader net. Have you encouraged him to think about other sports that he’d be interested in trying too? How about water polo? At Hotchkiss, a lot of the swimmers play on the water polo team too. Boys water polo is a fall sport, so it’s a good way to get in shape for the swim team season in the winter.
(I have to say that I find it somewhat bizarre that SPS has a pool and no swim team!)
It’s my understanding that club sports at SPS compete within the school. Every incoming student is assigned to a club, and clubs compete against each other. I don’t know how swimming fits in, but I would just call the school and ask. Typically, at boarding school, it’s difficult to pursue any sport year-round, although I know students who have played club field hockey, lacrosse, soccer and ice hockey while at boarding school. There seems to be a range of schools that have strong rowing and swimming programs - Andover, Deerfield, Kent, Choate and plenty of choices that offer both, if that’s your criteria - big schools like Exeter and NMH and small schools like St. Andrews. Unfortunately, SPS and Groton don’t seem to be two of them, but if you love them as schools, maybe it’s worth it.
Not really. When you have a student body that is limited in size, there are only so many varsity teams that can be fielded. That’s one of the reasons NMH eliminated football. If you add swimming, what sport would you cut that would not get the parents and alumni all riled up?
St. Paul’s has a pool but no swim team because when they put in the pool (maybe 15 or so years ago) they didn’t want to take athletes out of the other winter sports. This concern is why they didn’t have a pool for a long time. There is no opportunity to swim competitively for SPS students. While there are students who do compete in sports outside the school, it means that they are doing it on their own time, which is not abundant at a school with 6 days/week of classes. If your child wants to swim (not if you want him to swim, but if HE wants to swim) then I wouldn’t suggest St. Paul’s.
The clubs are an intramural system. There are 3 clubs - Delphian, Isthmian, and Old Hundred - and they compete in all sorts of ways throughout the year. There are also 2 crew clubs - Shattuck and Halcyon - and they compete against each other on the alumni reunion day before graduation (there are boats of current students and alumni).
Then why bother to put a pool in if you’re not going to have any teams that make use of it? I guess you’ve got to spend the capital gifts somehow!
I agree with friendlymom: very little free time when at BS. Like next to none. Really. So, if he really wants to swim and can contribute to a team, I would have him look at those schools that have swimming and something else water- related. My DD is have a great time in crew at Choate( at least three hours M-F, some Saturdays). She will be swimming on Sat/Sun with the local club team (housed AT Choate) when schedule and homework allows. Let your son and his wishes be the force behind his application. Best of luck.
You don’t need teams to make good use of a pool, only swimmers.
A lot of teams use the pool as part of their training and fitness, they have classes for kids who aren’t on teams, they have recreational swim, etc. People like to swim even if they’re not competitive, and everyone at SPS lives on campus so it’s serving a community need as well as an athletic/fitness one.
I know most of the clubs in New England but I’m not aware of a team that practices there. Also, there are no swim meets on the schedule there and since most larger clubs host them, I assume if there is a team that uses that facility they are small.
We haven’t limited ourselves to SPS (or Groton), but what would be/should be top choice/other top choice might not even get into the mix without a swimming team. Kid does compete now and wants to continue in high school. If we continue to select schools for swimming AND crew, stipulating that a bunch of good schools would be really good for school stuff beyond swimming, crew, or any sport, we exclude some remarkable institutions in this world: no pool at Taft, Middlesex, St. Mark’s, and Pomfret; no crew at Hotchkiss or St. George’s. Lotsa good schools out there, but still.
Does his other sport have to be crew? What about water polo? There are a lot of good schools out there with decent swimming, crew, and stellar academics. Has he checked out Choate? It is good for all three (and water polo, too) and hosts a USA swim team on campus. I know it is hard to find a school with everything, but Choate does check all of your boxes. My kid is a good/serious/competitive/year round swimmer, and I would not even consider a school that does not have a Varsity (not intramural) team. Good luck.
@mexusa do you know how it works at schools with club teams on site? Would the school prefer that the committed varsity swimmer join a club team in off seasons or do they still want a fall and spring sport? My research shows that Exeter swim team practices at PEA, Central Connecticut Aquarics Team at Choate, and Aquabears at Loomis Chaffee. Shawmut RI is at St. George’s on Saturdays and URI the rest of the time.
For most schools, their programs take precedence over any outside programs. Some schools sometimes make exceptions for the super tippy-top athlete, but that is generally on a case by case basis, and is a conversation which would need to be had with the school’s athletic director (not the coach).
GnarWhail: sorry, I’m unclear about your last post. Are you saying there is no crew at Hotchkiss? They certainly do have a strong crew program… Maybe I misunderstood what you were trying to say?
Hotchkiss has rowing? Crew team? Since when? Is it an intramural/club thing? The last I knew, Hotchkiss, like St. George’s, had a sailing team but not crew? Is crew brand new?
Pools get used. Maybe NH is a wee bit too far north, but just a few miles south, iit seems like teams are lined up to utilize whatever pools are around. And there’s (a small amount of) money to be made; USA programs owned by the coaches at the boarding and day schools with pools are the new trend. At some schools they have taken the place of off-season swimming at the schools, with a sign-off (and extra fee) required to take the place of some low-effort intramural offering if you are a serious swimmer and don’th ave another varsity sport. I’m surprised that St. Paul’s doesn’t have a USA program using that pool; a successful USA team would be a viable sub for prep league swimming–not perfect, perhaps, but certainly more than enough swimming if you are chasing a college swimming career.