Sidwell football article in post....what are the parents saying?

[Anonymous]

Please-the only sport that people at Landon aspire to for D1 is Lacrosse.

[Anonymous]

15:03

Actually it was last year when St. Albans and Landon tied for the IAC Championship in Baseball.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/15/AR2010051503247.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:STA should be a model for Sidwell and a few of the IAC schools. STA has strong academics, if not the best academics in the area. They also have a strong sports program. They are certainly not DeMatha or Gonzaga (they dont have an enrollment close to 1,000 boys) but STA is always solid in football, soccer, lacrosse and of course baseball every year. I applaud the administration for maintaing academic excellence and fielding great athletic teams across all sports!

Landon and Prep do a great job with finding a balance between academics and athletics as well.

STA's academic standards really don't stack up to Sidwell's. St. Albans lags behind NCS significantly in academics, though few seem to want to admit it. My daughter, who is at NCS, talks a lot about how the St. Albans boys dread being placed into classes taught at NCS because of their significantly higher levels of academic rigor. She also told me something that shocks me; St. Albans boys cheat on tests on a regular basis. I didn't really believe me but she and her friends assured me. I, like most of you, have trouble accepting this, but my daughter wouldn't fabricate something like that. My graduated from Sidwell in '06, and he'll be the first to tell you that at Sidwell this just didn't happen. So before you hastily qualify St. Albans as the frontrunner in DC metro area academics, get the inside scoop.

[Anonymous]

*believe her

[Anonymous]

And I love how everyone is coming out against Sidwell athletics less than 10 months after the soccer team finished NUMBER ONE in the entire DC metro area.

Wrong. Sidwell had a great soccer team last year. But Episcopal was ranked #1 in Region IV (19-0-3). Sidwell? #13 (13-1-4).

www.nscaa.com/hsRes.php?it=2054

Also, STA was the best private school in the area last year in baseball and cross-country running. Finally, to claim that STA is inferior academically to Sidwell shows that you are grasping at straws.

[Anonymous]

Good god, people, you are debating the merits of high school sports.

Also, I think a PP was referring to the Washington Post rankings, in which Sidwell was ranked first last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really, it is a relative non-issue.

Not to the Sidwell children/parents affiliated with the football program who want to compete every week on the field. They know now (if they didn't previously) that sports at Sidwell is an afterthought.

This is harsh--but those kids are obviously not good athletes. That's why they lose by humongous margins. Not one current player would get playing time at, say, Landon or STA, and the IAC is no great shakes in the wider football universe. If the school brought in better players, they'd ride the pine. The whining is mind-boggling.

That's a mean post and obviously made by some one who is not very familiar with MAC or IAC football.

It was accurate about both the MAC and the IAC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:STA should be a model for Sidwell and a few of the IAC schools. STA has strong academics, if not the best academics in the area. They also have a strong sports program. They are certainly not DeMatha or Gonzaga (they dont have an enrollment close to 1,000 boys) but STA is always solid in football, soccer, lacrosse and of course baseball every year. I applaud the administration for maintaing academic excellence and fielding great athletic teams across all sports!

Landon and Prep do a great job with finding a balance between academics and athletics as well.

STA's academic standards really don't stack up to Sidwell's. St. Albans lags behind NCS significantly in academics, though few seem to want to admit it. My daughter, who is at NCS, talks a lot about how the St. Albans boys dread being placed into classes taught at NCS because of their significantly higher levels of academic rigor. She also told me something that shocks me; St. Albans boys cheat on tests on a regular basis. I didn't really believe me but she and her friends assured me. I, like most of you, have trouble accepting this, but my daughter wouldn't fabricate something like that. My graduated from Sidwell in '06, and he'll be the first to tell you that at Sidwell this just didn't happen. So before you hastily qualify St. Albans as the frontrunner in DC metro area academics, get the inside scoop.

Take this stuff with a grain of salt. STA boys say they are much smarter than NCS girls. Guess what? Scores, National Merit Semifinalists, college admissions--they are totally comparable at NCS/STA. I do think Sidwell is a bit ahead of STA academically but not by much and not every year.

[Anonymous]

Whoever mentioned anything about Landon Lacrosse not being the top program last year is has no idea what they are talking about. Landon beat Prep in the last game of the season in the IAC championship when it mattered most. I wouldn't use the laxpower rankings as the official rankings for HS lacrosse either. If you knew anything about their rankings, you would know Kevin Giblin is on Laxpowers National Ranking committee of coaches. He is the only coach represented from the DC on this panel - this is a fact and you can look it up on the laxpower website. If you want accurate ratings for lacrosse, check inside lacrosse. Landon was ranked higher than Prep last year in the final poll.

Back to the debate between Sidwell and STA. I would much rather send my son to STA over Sidwell - at least I know my son will have positive athletic experience. I really just don't see how Sidwell can attract the best student athletes now a days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And I love how everyone is coming out against Sidwell athletics less than 10 months after the soccer team finished NUMBER ONE in the entire DC metro area.

Wrong. Sidwell had a great soccer team last year. But Episcopal was ranked #1 in Region IV (19-0-3). Sidwell? #13 (13-1-4).

www.nscaa.com/hsRes.php?it=2054

Also, STA was the best private school in the area last year in baseball and cross-country running. Finally, to claim that STA is inferior academically to Sidwell shows that you are grasping at straws.

Sorry, but YOU are wrong. Sidwell, at the end of the 2009 season, was ranked #1 by the Washington Post. That is, they WERE INDEED the NUMBER ONE team in the "entire DC metro area." Episcopal was #2 in this ranking. Sidwell got the nod over Episcopal because of transitive property: Sidwell beat St. Albans 5-1, while Episcopal tied St. Albans.
The NSCAA ranking you're referring to is indeed legit, but NSCAA favors teams that play more games. Episcopal undefeated? Yes. Sidwell undefeated? No. Well guess what; Sidwell played McDonogh, ranked #2 NATIONALLY at the time, and lost 1-0.
If you're just looking for raw facts at this point, Sidwell scrimmaged Episcopal before the 2008 season and beat them 2-1, and again before the 2009 season, winning 1-0 before playing the underclassmen in the second half.
Hope this clears up the soccer debate.

As for the academic debate, Sidwell still edges St. Albans in SAT scores and national merit semi-finalists. But that is not an indicator; in fact, I believe, there is no concrete indicator of what's a "superior academic" school. But I think if you look someone who has any knowledge of the overall academia at these two institutions and ask them which they think is "superior", the majority will say Sidwell.

This is coming from someone with direct familial connections to BOTH schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And I love how everyone is coming out against Sidwell athletics less than 10 months after the soccer team finished NUMBER ONE in the entire DC metro area.

Wrong. Sidwell had a great soccer team last year. But Episcopal was ranked #1 in Region IV (19-0-3). Sidwell? #13 (13-1-4).

www.nscaa.com/hsRes.php?it=2054

Also, STA was the best private school in the area last year in baseball and cross-country running. Finally, to claim that STA is inferior academically to Sidwell shows that you are grasping at straws.

HAHA what?? Yes, St. Albans had a good baseball team last year, but they didn't even win their league tournament. How can you say they were better than some of the WCAC schools??

And Cross Country: were they ranked #1 in the Washington Post? No. So you have no reason to say they were the "best private school in the area".

[Anonymous]

These Sidwell apologists are laughable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:STA should be a model for Sidwell and a few of the IAC schools. STA has strong academics, if not the best academics in the area. They also have a strong sports program. They are certainly not DeMatha or Gonzaga (they dont have an enrollment close to 1,000 boys) but STA is always solid in football, soccer, lacrosse and of course baseball every year. I applaud the administration for maintaing academic excellence and fielding great athletic teams across all sports!

Landon and Prep do a great job with finding a balance between academics and athletics as well.

STA's academic standards really don't stack up to Sidwell's. St. Albans lags behind NCS significantly in academics, though few seem to want to admit it. My daughter, who is at NCS, talks a lot about how the St. Albans boys dread being placed into classes taught at NCS because of their significantly higher levels of academic rigor. She also told me something that shocks me; St. Albans boys cheat on tests on a regular basis. I didn't really believe me but she and her friends assured me. I, like most of you, have trouble accepting this, but my daughter wouldn't fabricate something like that. My graduated from Sidwell in '06, and he'll be the first to tell you that at Sidwell this just didn't happen. So before you hastily qualify St. Albans as the frontrunner in DC metro area academics, get the inside scoop.

NCS does not lag behind STA. Most NCS girls also prefer the STA teachers. STA also offers the popular Expo class plus Creative writing with the writer in residence. FYI. There are some girls at NCS and some boys at STA with dubious character. You get these creeps everywhere.

I also have a DD at NCS and know of the Sidwell social scene.

[Anonymous]

Yo, people - you are arguing about HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS. Is it really worth the time, effort of exasperation?

[Anonymous]

If the sports are that important, give up and send the boys to Landon.