Can a normal athletic kid play high school sports at most privates?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, this is part of the reason we chose private school. Both DH and I were D1 athletes. Our kids, not so much. We encouraged sports from a young age, and I have always believed the drive and competitiveness needs to come from the child. My kids tried DH's sport and mine, but ultimately they each chose a different ones. The kids are good at sports, not great. It was evident from a young-ish age that they were not D1. We're wealthy so, they don't need scholarships. Anyway, we still want them to play and enjoy the sports as they are part of a healthy lifestyle. Private school has fewer kids, so more can play and generally the level of play is a bit lower. Of course, there is always that awesome athlete, but there are also average ones too.

Now the claws will come out to convince you the level of play is higher or more competitive or whatever, but it's a numbers game - fewer kids to choose from - it comes from smaller class sizes.

The claws aren't coming out...but you have to be smart about the school you pick. Are you even from the DMV? I mean, you can't just show up for basketball practice at Sidwell and expect to make the team. However, you can probably play football at Sidwell if you are a decent athlete (no way SJC).

I hope you understand that private schools now dominate most sports across the country because they are actively recruiting athletes. It is rare for a public school to have a team in any sport that ranks high because they can't recruit for the sport.

I hope you understand that the vast majority of D1 athletes come from public school. Maybe not in the DMV (Caleb Williamms, Heisman winner from Bullis, Johnathan Ogden (hall of fame from St. Albans) and Odell Beckham Jr (St. Albans -transfered to STA after Hurricane Katrina displaced his family). I am sure there are other examples of D1 athletes from private schools, but the vast majority come from public schools.

Well, the pool of D1 athletes is quite large and the level of competitiveness between say a Davidson and UNC can be quite large (depending on the sport).

However, the fact that the vast majority of D1 athletes come from public school is really just because of the law of large numbers and doesn't in any way reflect upon the competitiveness of DMV private schools and how easy it may be to play on a team.

The WCAC schools send at least 2x - 3x the number of football players to D1 schools as the public DMV high schools combined. For basketball, the WCAC + Sidwell probably sends 3x+ more kids to D1 schools than the DMV public HSs combined. For baseball, the WCAC + STA, Landon, Georgetown Prep and Highland again send probably 2.0x the number of kids from all the public schools combined (yes, even including Madison). For lacrosse, STA, WCAC, GP, etc. probably send 5x the number of kids to D1 schools compared to the public schools combined (but in fairness, I am not sure how many public schools have varsity teams).

I assume the question is playing on a DMV private school and not playing on a private school team in middle America.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Currently the top two football teams are public schools and the majority of the top 20 are public in the DMV

Pretty sure Good Counsel is not a public school...unless you are looking at rankings other than WaPo's rankings.