Private School Lacrosse Thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

That’s why there are questions about why those GP guys I used to compete against are still giving me the cold shoulder.

Its usually the real estate brokers and mortgage brokers who continue to embrace this mentality. I've said this before but GP and Gonzaga guys are known for really never leaving the DC area, other than college, and generally come back to work for mommy and daddy or uncle Billy.

I worked up on WSJ for a number of years, met some Prep guys, and they seemed like wonderful people. I graduated from Landon a number of years ago and I would certainly consider some of the GP alums friends of mine and I'm sure they feel the same way. And from time to time.... yes we tease one another about the football and lacrosse games.

So you have cordial relationships with "some" of the GP grads.

[Anonymous]

Sure whatever you say

[Anonymous]

A little historical background for Bullis fans (and IAC newbies)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62133-2004Dec13.html?tid=a_inl

[Anonymous]

You people need a fucking life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:anti semitism plays a big part.

I can assure you there is no religious or cultural animosity towards Jews or any Semite at Prep.

It's simply not something they are aware of or that ever comes up. The GP folks are about as aware of the Jewish population as they are Eskimos or Samoans. It's just not something that is anywhere on their radar. (All of the ethnic humor on "Seinfeld" goes completely over their heads.)

These are, after all, a privileged lot within a relatively insular community. Their dentists, doctors, orthodontists, accountants, lawyers and real estate people all went to Gonzaga, Prep or St Johns as did their fathers, brothers and uncles

Now their parents do know their own history and the experience of the Irish and Italian Catholics in the US and in Europe. The people that gave their grandparents the hardest time were not the Jews.

So if you are standing on the Bullis or Landon sidelines looking across at the Prep team you can rest assured that there isn't a single thought in their heads about anyone's religion or ethnic background.

I can assure you from firsthand experience that you are incorrect.

[Anonymous]

A little chippiness in a lacrosse game isn't even in the same universe as the decades long antipathy between GP and Landon.


Bullis, in spite of its recent foray into having more competitive teams, is just another team. And the kids are almost assuredly not aware of religions of the boys on the other team. To them these are just opponents standing between them and a win and hopefully an IAC title.

But they do feel that it you push us, we are going to push you back.

Give it time, honey. As Bullis becomes dominant across the board, it will drive Prep crazy that it is not only a non catholic school, but a coed one at that. It doesn't take long for a rivalry to get heated. It's just that Landon and Prep have had staying power. Bullis doesn't look like it's going to slide back anytime soon in any sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Prep football is solid but I would say they are far from being an elite program in the DC area. At the end of the day, you play IAC football. While the IAC is a solid football conference with Bullis making serious strides and Episcopal with the Canadian imports, and Landon having decent team every 5 years, the IAC is far inferior to the WCAC any given year.

I doubt GP will go the Dematha route, the IMG or St. Johns route or even the Bullis route. The school has much higher academic standards than those in the WCAC and even in its own conference. GP will not bring in senior transfers nor will they bring in kids from Canada.

That's some serious delusion to think that Prep hasn't had questionable recruiting practices, in multiple sports at that. But then again, you do seem to overinflate its academic credentials as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

A little chippiness in a lacrosse game isn't even in the same universe as the decades long antipathy between GP and Landon.


Bullis, in spite of its recent foray into having more competitive teams, is just another team. And the kids are almost assuredly not aware of religions of the boys on the other team. To them these are just opponents standing between them and a win and hopefully an IAC title.

But they do feel that it you push us, we are going to push you back.

Give it time, honey. As Bullis becomes dominant across the board, it will drive Prep crazy that it is not only a non catholic school, but a coed one at that. It doesn't take long for a rivalry to get heated. It's just that Landon and Prep have had staying power. Bullis doesn't look like it's going to slide back anytime soon in any sport.

I doubt the rivalry between Bullis and any other IAC school will ever get as heated as Prep vs. Landon. These are schools that have very long histories playing one another in meaningful games. They also have similarities in terms of academic strength and the neighborhoods they draw students from although one is Catholic and one is not.

Bullis has always been seen as academically weaker than either Prep or Landon and way academically weaker than St Albans. If you think that these other schools have looked down their noses at Bullis for a long time, I think you might be more right than wrong.

None of these schools have completely clean hands when it comes to recruiting or admitting students based primarily on their athletic ability.

But Bullis appears to be taking it to a completely different level. There's a huge difference between having a few recruited athletes on a team and a team almost full of kids that would not be at the school if it were not for their athletic ability or their athletic goals.

Bullis might become "dominant across the board" as you suggest. But if they continue to do it they way they appear to doing it now, they aren't going to be thought of as a rival by any IAC school.

They'll just be a same old second-rate academic school they have always been but which has chosen to emphasize athletics at a much higher level than the other schools.

Using history as a guide, I don't think the other IAC schools are going to allow them to continue down this path.

Prep could easily move to the Catholic League (WCAC). I don't know where Bullis goes if the IAC decides they no longer want the school and its athletic department.

[Anonymous]

Your claim that "Bullis is taking it to a completely different level" is sour grapes. After all, wasn't Prep the one who built a 30 million dollar field house a decade ago? Calling Bullis a "second-rate academic school they have always been but which has chosen to emphasize athletics at a much higher level than the other schools"? Really? I guess you've never heard the same label applied to Prep.

Prep could easily move into the WCAC, but they wouldn't be competitive.

Bullis won't leave the IAC anytime soon. Now that Sidwell has moved to the MAC, the remaining IAC schools have solid programs and too much pride to back down from the challenge of playing them in any sport.

[Anonymous]

There is a much better chance that Bullis gets kicked out of the IAC for several sports than GP ever going to the WCAC. Due the sheer tuition difference between GP and the WCAC schools, I don't think the Hoyas would ever make the jump as they really would be at huge disadvantage.

Remember it was the former Bullis headmaster who lead the charge to ban the Lil Hoyas from IAC football back in the early 2000's.

The GP administration remembers the story very well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your claim that "Bullis is taking it to a completely different level" is sour grapes. After all, wasn't Prep the one who built a 30 million dollar field house a decade ago? Calling Bullis a "second-rate academic school they have always been but which has chosen to emphasize athletics at a much higher level than the other schools"? Really? I guess you've never heard the same label applied to Prep.

Prep could easily move into the WCAC, but they wouldn't be competitive.

Bullis won't leave the IAC anytime soon. Now that Sidwell has moved to the MAC, the remaining IAC schools have solid programs and too much pride to back down from the challenge of playing them in any sport.

If they keep up their current approach, they won't leave the IAC voluntarily. They will just be thrown out using the same logic that Bullis used when it led the charge for Prep football to be expelled. So much for your strange idea that the other IAC schools won't back down from an athletic challenge.

The other schools just aren't going to start chasing athletic glory using the same techniques (e.g. Mass transfers of football players in).

And Bullis will never be a Prep or Landon or STA "Rival". The school just isn't viewed as an equal. As has been said many, many times, Bullis is the public school you pay for)

[Anonymous]

Question for private school lax parents with older kids, if you had to do it over with a kid just getting to club level lax (e.g. 3rd grade) what club would you choose for the younger grades and why?

[Anonymous]

Oh God, this thread...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question for private school lax parents with older kids, if you had to do it over with a kid just getting to club level lax (e.g. 3rd grade) what club would you choose for the younger grades and why?

Annapolis Hawks hands down, followed by Bethesda, Crabs, Team 91, FCA then Madlax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question for private school lax parents with older kids, if you had to do it over with a kid just getting to club level lax (e.g. 3rd grade) what club would you choose for the younger grades and why?

Consider opting out of this madness. It's probably a huge waste of time and money for most people.

Good athletes with good hand-eye coordination can pick up a lacrosse stick for the first time in seventh grade and become excellent high school and college players. I've seen it countless times. The techniques of the game aren't that hard to master.

Success in high school and college level will be determined more by genetics than by hours of practice and games in Grades 3 through 6.

Bigger, faster, stronger, tougher kids with highly-competitive natures will be the high school starters and stars. Frequently these characteristics are inherited, not learned.

The big star on my son's 8th grade team rarely got into a game in high school. The other kids had just physically passed him by.