How do private HSs cultivate stellar athletes?

[Anonymous]

I'm in Baltimore. I have experience with 3 private lower schools - each has PE at least 3x/week; 2 have it 4x/week. The publics around here consistently have PE just 1x/week. That, to me, is a huge difference. That said, my little ones focus on square dancing, ball skills, swimming, and at one school horseback riding - there is nary a lax stick in evidence (though even the Kindergartener can stay late once a week to learn wrestling or lax).

[Anonymous]

Depends on the school for K-8. Most of the private co-ed schools in the area don't have a strong sports emphasis; everyone is encouraged to play and there usually aren't cuts (which in my opinion is a good thing). Some kids at these schools are elite athletes through club participation and that may influence where they go to high school. In high school, it's a bit different. The all-boys' schools, as you would expect, have much stronger programs in certain sports (St. Albans for baseball, for example, and Landon for lacrosse). The Catholic schools, especially the big ones in the burbs, all have strong sports programs, but I don't know much about them beyond what I see in the Post All Met supplement (Catholic schools are not on my radar). I know at Landon and St. Albans, ALL boys are encouraged to play a sport, even if they're not elite athletes, and at Landon for example, there are a lot of sports to choose from, like cross-country, street hockey, etc. I personally think it's a great idea to have kids to something active every day, so I'm all in favor of it.

[Anonymous]

In grades 6-8 the PE requirement can be interscholastic sports daily at places like landon and STA. There are 3 seasons -fall, winter,spring. That is quite different than 2-3x week coed public school PE. ie coed flag football or basketball with no ability or size grouping, square dancing, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In grades 6-8 the PE requirement can be interscholastic sports daily at places like landon and STA. There are 3 seasons -fall, winter,spring. That is quite different than 2-3x week coed public school PE. ie coed flag football or basketball with no ability or size grouping, square dancing, etc.

The STA grade 6 sports are "interscholastic" but practices are short and games are few -- it's really not terribly intense (which is a good thing, I would argue). Sports at St. Albans really gets "serious" in Upper School in terms of time commitment, length and rigor of practices, better coaching, number of games, etc. Most of the super-duper younger athletes pursue some sort of club option outside of school.

[Anonymous]

OP, with a 4 year old, I would focus on schools with a good PE program and lots of opportunities for outdoor play/recess.