<p>
[quote]
...most public schools do not offer lacrosse, crew, squash, skiing or golf teams, private school such as Andover does.
[/quote]
Bomgeedad, I don't think this is true at all. Most sports gain popularity by region: Skiing & hockey up north, swimming down south. I grew up in a blue collar town on the Passaic River. It is now about 35% black/hispanic. Close to 10% of the people fall below the poverty line. Yet it has a long established crew program & has sent kids to the Olympics. Being on the river is key. Soccer was the town's biggest sport because it had a huge Irish/Scottish immigrant population. Now hispanics dominate & soccer is as strong as ever. Again, kids from this modest town have reached the Olympics in that sport.</p>
<p>Most of the middle class towns around here (like mine) do offer lacrosse & golf & ice hockey. Mine offers crew.</p>