<p>I would have used “oddball” or other pejorative terms if I was injecting a negative value judgment into this. I also would have used “oddball” to describe shooting clays – but I only used it to describe other activities – which I later, very clearly, characterized as “these sorts of activities that don’t enjoy wide popularity.” The word “odd” was not attached to shooting clays. Also, just to be clear, we’re talking about “odd” in the universe of boarding schools where squash and ice hockey and mathletes are not “odd” and things that the schools don’t currently offer or accommodate do qualify as “odd.”</p>
<p>The main thrust of my point was to a far broader audience than just you, Weatherby. But even if it was directed to you alone, I was suggesting that your child would have a better chance of continuing shooting clays if s/he did not attend BS versus attending one that does not come pre-wired to accommodate that particular outside activity. In other words, I was pointing you in the direction of maximizing your child’s options to continue this activity. How can you twist that around to think I’ve got a negative opinion of it? And even if I did have a negative opinion of it, do you really care? Does it even matter?</p>
<p>This isn’t about you, though. It’s a general point that I’m making. It pertains every bit as much to opera singing and painting Civil War miniatures as it does to shooting clays. I’m making the point because I assume that people would want to know that sort of thing so that they (or their child) may continue to pursue those activities and not be overly hopeful that the absence of that activity at a boarding school means that their child could continue that pursuit while being the founder or leader for that currently non-existent club or sport. That would be terrific if it did happen that way. And sometimes I’m sure that it works out that way. But if the activity is extremely important (and I’m catching a not-so-subtle vibe that it’s very important to you, Weatherby), I want people here to understand that their child’s best chance for continuing such activities is probably not the scenario in which further participation depends on your child successfully pioneering that activity at a new school.</p>
Is this true? Given that so much of the U.S. population lives in urban settings, I find it hard to imagine.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t it be interesting, though, if the schools that already offer cross-country skiing simply expanded the sport to include biathlon? (They could work their way up to wild game s-l-o-w-l-y.)</p>
<p>I was just being defensive, Weatherby, there are a lot of people who absolutely despise the idea of shooting, so I am used to snark on the subject. Your comment was nice…but if you put emphasis on certain words (and I would hear it more often THIS way around HERE), then it could have been considered a set down. Hence Columbine. Sorry for my freakout. Moving on…</p>
<p>Dyer is ABSOLUTELY right about the outside sport. Schools want kids interested in their own offerings. This has been one of the biggest issues we have personally faced in the boarding school process, and the subject of much conversation throughout the past year. Some schools have our sport, but most do not. I suspect that for the next three years it will only happen during school breaks. Still, I hold a tiny glimmer of hope that in a large student body, there might be two other kids, and some Sunday(s) there might be a way to make it happen with a nod by the school and a cab ride off campus. Four out of five schools have been really supportive, but one has been adamantly opposed. So it is what it is. We may be looking at a school-break-only thing going forward.</p>
<p>Two of our children were serious rugby players and their (separate) BS did not have teams. Our D dropped playing altogether, while our son–with nominal “agreement” from his school–played for his old club team on breaks and during the summer. A third child was a decent and serious volleyball player; her BS did not have a team, but it did have another sport she enjoyed equally. Our S transferred from his initial BS to another, in significant part because of his sport. Turns out it was the right decision, and for a myriad of reasons.</p>
<p>Klements, I agree that giving up a passion for BS can be a net positive exchange. It’s certainly not the only consideration driving a decision about whether to attend boarding school, but it can also be a deal breaker for some people or maybe it just tilts the balance – and these people need to go into a boarding school with their eyes wide open, not hopeful that the absence of their favorite activity equates to their chance to be the club/sport founder.</p>
<p>The adjusted expectations that you set and that Forever58 articulated above make perfect sense.</p>
<p>Related to this point is the need to underscore the reality for parents who enjoy sharing these activities with their child. Some parents (I have been told) enjoy those insanely early drives to distant ice hockey rinks for practice before school as a bonding experience. Others like to travel on weekends with their child to USTA events in other states. So, even for activities that the child can definitely pursue at boarding school, parents have to weigh what they are giving up in terms of their own engagement with their child’s activities.</p>
<p>For some it may be an intolerable loss, for others it may be a sacrifice they’re willing to make, and for still others, it may be liberating or – because their schedules don’t permit them to make those early wake-ups or weekend trips – it’s a win-win because their commitments at home won’t stand in their child’s way while the child is at boarding school. I’m probably of the type that’s inclined to touch base with my child’s activities only every now and then: going to the awards dinner, attending the homecoming game, watching the play, eating the wild game feast, etc. which creates a certain geographical limit in my case of “not too far away…but not necessarily close by either.”</p>
<p>These are all very personal decisions, dependent on each family’s specific facts, and there are many correct paths possible, as long as the decisions are made with everyone’s expectations set to “realistic.”</p>
<p>Avon Old Farms offers riflery as a sport, but not sure that is what you are looking for. </p>
<p>Salisbury School, where my son goes, has shooting, but this is an entirely student driven extra-curricular. Our first year there, while reading the student handbook, I came across the following:</p>
<p>Paintball guns and accessories, as well as firearms and ammunition for target and trap shooting, must be left with a form dean.</p>
<p>Apparently, quite a few of the boys take advantage of this. There is a local gun club as well as the one in Millbrook which is also an Orvis center. I don’t think they provide anything for the school kitchens, but nontheless work up a healthy appetite with clay shooting.</p>
<p>I’m sure there was no ill intent, but comments relating Columbine to the highly-disciplined sport of riflery are offensive and inappropriate and show a complete ignorance of the sport. </p>
<p>Some boarding schools that offer riflery are Avon Old Farms, Suffield Academy (CT), and Wilbraham & Monson. Riflery does not involve shooting at clays. They shoot with German 22 rifles that are designed solely for competition. They are the same rifles used in the Olympics, I believe.</p>
<p>The comment was making it clear that she was NOT relating Columbine to sport shooting and trying to offer useful advice.</p>
<p>That’s pretty hard to miss because the sentence was “I wasn’t thinking of Columbine.”</p>
<p>In the previous comment, she noted how her husband and daughter go to shooting clubs and then she indicated which boarding schools are near them and how the NRA could be a good resource for identifying other clubs near boarding schools. That’s not ignorance. And it doesn’t call for a dressing down or a correction considering the poster demonstrated she is well-informed about the sport. There’s no need for hair triggers when people are offering useful information.</p>
<p>Because she thought the reply she got was (possibly) sarcastic and she wanted to assure the other person that she was NOT making that kind of connection:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>And it’s a thread about a yummy feast sponsored by Woodberry Forest School’s Rod & Gun Club.</p>
<p>The thread started with the feast, but my comments were in response to the posts when the topic changed to a question of boarding schools that offer shooting sports, and since it appears that I am the only poster on this thread who has first-hand knowledge about riflery, I weighed in. You weighed in, as usual, but you don’t know anything about shooting sports at boarding schools. I do.</p>
<p>I don’t login in much on CC anymore because there is so much off the cuff advice provided. I only weigh in when I have something to share or useful to add.</p>
Moving on…</p>
when people are offering useful information.</p>