Schools that Should Be Better

[camosfan]

Exclusive prep schools have become great places to develop as a soccer player. These are the feeder schools to exclusive colleges. For fun I try to find a kid on a NESCAC roster who didn't go to a prep school, it isn't easy. I'm guessing 75% are from exclusive prep schools.

My wife went to a NESCAC school, she said for the first three weeks everyone asked each other, "Where did you go to school." A public high school wasn't the expected answer...

There are kids from public schools, but those towns have comparable schools to the Preps, specialized public schools are another big supplier of students.

You mean like maybe Greenwich, CT....where my wife grew up?

Yea! Westfield NJ, Scotch Plains NJ  are places that come to mind.

[Maine Soccer Fan]

Exclusive prep schools have become great places to develop as a soccer player. These are the feeder schools to exclusive colleges. For fun I try to find a kid on a NESCAC roster who didn't go to a prep school, it isn't easy. I'm guessing 75% are from exclusive prep schools.

My wife went to a NESCAC school, she said for the first three weeks everyone asked each other, "Where did you go to school." A public high school wasn't the expected answer...

I'm not sure there is any correlation here.  I haven't gone through the bios on any of the D3 NESCAC rosters but I picked Duke as an example because it also has a lot of recruited players from prep schools and the majority are listed as playing some form of MLS Academy or comparable in high school.  Likely you would see similar from top D3 programs.  Players aren't getting top tier soccer training from prep schools.  They're going to prep schools and are also competing on academy teams.

The Duke example isn't helpful, we're talking about D3.

And one of the reasons prep schools are good places to develop is because many of them cater to kids playing on elite clubs. And they actually do develop the players on campus as well, particularly the ones with PG programs. For many kids a 5th year at a prep school is a necessary next step for playing in college.

[PaulNewman]

Agree on that.  Also totally disagree with Greg's take on soccer not being a thinking man's sport.  Here is just one description of the game--"Soccer is 90 minutes of system-thinking in action. Success relies on dispersed decision-making, constant communication, and the commitment of an entire team to a single system to reach a common goal. It is also the most popular sport in the world."  American football has set plays, baseball has standard responses to pretty much every scenario, and basketball is far less fluid than soccer.  I would submit that the reason why the NESCAC and UAA are successful in most sports is because their academic prowess has caused them to attract top athletes.  That doesn't mean that among the various sports soccer doesn't require the most thinking.

This makes no sense, for several reasons. First of all, you're aware that soccer is a working-man's and poor man's sport around the world, right? Right? Where's the "academic prowess" on the Brazilian national team? How many English Premier League players graduated at the top of their high-school class? Do you think that Bundesliga locker rooms are rife with hearty debates over Kantian deontology or the importance of "transformation of consciousness" in the Expressionst plays of Ernst Toller?

You should've just stopped at "The reason why the NESCAC and UAA are successful in most sports is because their academic prowess has caused them to attract top athletes," which has the virtue of being true, rather than postulating some connection between soccer and high-end intellect, which is completely spurious.

Fencing, squash, and equestrian (dressage, show-jumping, etc.) are also activities traditionally dominated by the upper classes in the United States. I suppose that each of those activities shows a correspondence to high intelligence as well, right?

I guess that if I really want my kid to succeed in the classroom I should tell him to put down the book and go pick up a croquet mallet.

Greg, you crack me up.  Kantian deontology...well played.

[paclassic89]

I am friends with a coach at a prep school that feeds into NESCAC tier schools.  I am friends with coaches at academy teams.  I can tell you for a fact that the academy teams are where the soccer development comes from.   "They cater to kids playing at elite clubs"  Yes, that is where the soccer development is.   

[4231CenterBack]

ME Soccer fan is 100% correct.  The New England prep schools are a tremendous feeder for exclusive colleges and D1s for that matter.  My son played in the MLS NEXT system and many of his teammates played for preps in the fall and then joined his squad for the winter and spring.  His coaches would have preferred they had not, but they freely admitted that the training and competition at the Prep level was high quality.

[paclassic89]

Is the coaching and training better than MLS NEXT training?  No

[Another Mom]

Yes to those saying Club is what develops the players not most Prep schools. (There are some exceptions,  notably South Kent).

A couple of finer points: just like colleges,  some/most prep schools recruit,  and recruit from all over, including internationally. Also, Black Rock a club with teams at an mls next level, was started to cater to prep players.

Prep school to college soccer is its own pipeline.

[camosfan]

Yes to those saying Club is what develops the players not most Prep schools. (There are some exceptions,  notably South Kent).

A couple of finer points: just like colleges,  some/most prep schools recruit,  and recruit from all over, including internationally. Also, Black Rock a club with teams at an mls next level, was started to cater to prep players.

Prep school to college soccer is its own pipeline.

Clubs like schools put more into recruiting than training!

[4231CenterBack]

Is the coaching and training better than MLS NEXT training?  No

Probably in most cases...so ergo little or no development happens at prep schools.  Got it.

[paclassic89]

Did I say that?

[4231CenterBack]

"I can tell you for a fact that the academy teams are where the soccer development comes from. "

[Hopkins92]

Yes to those saying Club is what develops the players not most Prep schools. (There are some exceptions,  notably South Kent).

A couple of finer points: just like colleges,  some/most prep schools recruit,  and recruit from all over, including internationally. Also, Black Rock a club with teams at an mls next level, was started to cater to prep players.

Prep school to college soccer is its own pipeline.

Very helpful, insightful post. Thanks A_M..

[paclassic89]

https://camelathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/roster

Wonder why they list all of the ECNL and MLS NEXT clubs on the roster.  Surely just putting the school would suffice to let prospective recruits know the quality of the program

[PaulNewman]

Exclusive prep schools have become great places to develop as a soccer player. These are the feeder schools to exclusive colleges. For fun I try to find a kid on a NESCAC roster who didn't go to a prep school, it isn't easy. I'm guessing 75% are from exclusive prep schools.

My wife went to a NESCAC school, she said for the first three weeks everyone asked each other, "Where did you go to school." A public high school wasn't the expected answer...

This is a great example of how embedded this stuff is in our consciousness, especially IF we have been part of the demographic or aspire to become part of it.

The "where did you go to school" question is like the question.  I've asked that question my whole life, and it's always one of the first questions at any nice cocktail party...either where you went to school, where your kids went or are going, or both.  To be clear, there's no malice in it.  It's that world, and I only learned about about it from friends who meet other people I know and they later tell me how strange they thought it was that that was the starter question...or a question at all.  My girlfriend's family in high school had a father who went to West Point and all the kids went to Davidson.  Years later when I took my wife-to-be to meet them, they immediately out of the gate (nicely) grilled her about her background and of course colleges....where she went, where her brothers went, and where her parents went.  Totally innocent, totally ingrained, and sometimes totally infuriating.  It's like meeting someone from Atlanta who tells you he went to Oglethorpe, and the response is "oh yeah, I've heard of Oglethorpe...how far is it from Emory?"  Or the same with Rhodes..."oh, yeah, Rhodes, nice little LAC...is it close to Vanderbilt?"  The tell is in the pivot.  The person 98% of the time will have no clue that they pivoted so quickly and why.  You rarely hear a parent front with "my older kid went to Savannah State and my younger one is at Winthrop."

And yes, some of these prep schools folks are talking about are as nice or nicer than the elite colleges they populate, and with similar price tags as well.  It is a very narrow demographic that views PG years as strategic rather than remedial, as a feature and not an unfortunate necessity (like for some less affluent D1 recruits).

I am as bad as anyone on this board regarding the above.  I know that.  And for the most part I probably will continue to be...but I'm trying to be a just little more mindful.

The NESCACs and their peers are wonderful schools.  Same with UAAs and their peers.  They do have a tremendous recruiting advantage for a very prominent but minority demographic...and they also have the advantage of saying that they're also disadvantaged (nearly handicapped) by their exclusivity.  One last thing before a few respond.  Many of these colleges have worked extremely hard to become more "diverse," driving up the numbers of persons of color, 1st generation college students, internationals, etc.  That's great...but guess who that is marketed for and to?  That stuff is largely marketed to the elite consumer who is savvy and demanding enough to know that at least on paper their child from Harvard Westlake, The Haverford School, Loomis Chaffee, The Westminster Schools, Milton Academy, The Pingry School, New Trier (might be a high end public), etc, etc will, again, at least on paper, benefit from having such a rich multicultural experience.

SC, already 5 pages in!

[4231CenterBack]

Now your just being silly.....I'll see your Conn College and raise with Williams, Amherst, and Tufts 

https://ephsports.williams.edu/sports/mens-soccer/roster?path=msoc

https://athletics.amherst.edu/sports/mens-soccer/roster

https://gotuftsjumbos.com/sports/msoc/roster

I can now officially say I forget what we are arguing about.....