STA Scholar-Athlete

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Feel free to recognize others. I think DCUM is an appropriate place to acknowledge recent graduates. He's not my kid but I am happy for his accomplishment. Lighten up DC.

+1. Maybe I should start a 'Brag On Your DC' thread!

[Anonymous]

^ It's done everyday on DCUM. Someone is always bragging about about their DC or school or children in their school community within these posts.

"Rookie of the Year" is an exceptional start to the college experience.

[Anonymous]

When will this crazed society cease to over recognize and over praise jocks and athletes and simply start to praise brains and intellectual accomplishments. Only in America and PISA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When will this crazed society cease to over recognize and over praise jocks and athletes and simply start to praise brains and intellectual accomplishments. Only in America and PISA.

Oh, please. Lighten up with the us versus them.

[Anonymous]

I get it. It's all about punting, lacrosse, ribbons, and tin trophies!

[Anonymous]

Oh, please. Lighten up with the us versus them.

... a true Landon mama.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Oh, please. Lighten up with the us versus them.

... a true Landon mama.

Far from it, buddy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You clearly know zero about athletics. Punters today are much better athletes than they were a few years ago. It's not some skinny dude who happens to have a strong leg. These guys are often very good athletes as well.

Stick to talking about violin lessons.

You're quite right. I did not play professional sports but as a high school varsity letterman (12 in toral) in 3 sports (captain of one) and a collegiate athlete I know a little something about sports and the numerous punters I have encountered then and now. As a rule, punters do not define what we mean by athleticism.

I can not comment on the violin but I can comment on the piano.

Nobody cares about your experience playing college squash in the 80s. Don't try to opine about sports when you know nothing about the current state of sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You clearly know zero about athletics. Punters today are much better athletes than they were a few years ago. It's not some skinny dude who happens to have a strong leg. These guys are often very good athletes as well.

Stick to talking about violin lessons.

You're quite right. I did not play professional sports but as a high school varsity letterman (12 in toral) in 3 sports (captain of one) and a collegiate athlete I know a little something about sports and the numerous punters I have encountered then and now. As a rule, punters do not define what we mean by athleticism.

I can not comment on the violin but I can comment on the piano.

Nobody cares about your experience playing college squash in the 80s. Don't try to opine about sports when you know nothing about the current state of sports.

What are you? 12? What a juvenile comment!

[Anonymous]

Nobody cares about your experience playing college squash in the 80s. Don't try to opine about sports when you know nothing about the current state of sports.

A betrayal of ignorance. Even squash players are far more athletic than punters. Squash players are ahtletes. I'll spot you 10 and see if you can even get one point after an hour much less have the energy to survive 10 min of play!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is great news for STA and especially those in the STA community that still support the scholar-athlete model and are fighting to keep STA in the IAC.

Bravo on this point. The sad truth is that people in the STA community have to "fight" to keep the scholar-athlete relevant at the school. The admissions head has not done his job in terms of finding the scholar-athletes to populate the contact sports teams. This type of job performance would result in a pink slip at most of the schools against which STA competes. For those families whose sons play on the contact sports teams, there is a certain "The Few, The Proud" attitude that exists, but it is an attitude borne out of making the best of a bad situation. At some point, STA will need to address the lack of numbers in terms of players and size of the players themselves on the football, basketball and lacrosse teams. I expect a drop in the amount of contributions will be the needed "kick in the pants" to reverse the obvious trend at STA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is great news for STA and especially those in the STA community that still support the scholar-athlete model and are fighting to keep STA in the IAC.

Bravo on this point. The sad truth is that people in the STA community have to "fight" to keep the scholar-athlete relevant at the school. The admissions head has not done his job in terms of finding the scholar-athletes to populate the contact sports teams. This type of job performance would result in a pink slip at most of the schools against which STA competes. For those families whose sons play on the contact sports teams, there is a certain "The Few, The Proud" attitude that exists, but it is an attitude borne out of making the best of a bad situation. At some point, STA will need to address the lack of numbers in terms of players and size of the players themselves on the football, basketball and lacrosse teams. I expect a drop in the amount of contributions will be the needed "kick in the pants" to reverse the obvious trend at STA.

In my work, I've seen development/advancement numbers from most of the major day schools in this area. St. Albans does very well on all of the big metrics: amount of annual giving per student; % annual giving among parents; % annual giving from alumni; aggregate giving by alumni; and success on major capital campaigns (they had a very successful capital campaign in this decade for an academic building and have announced a campaign to restructure their athletic fields). It is possible that in the future there could be a sharp drop in giving but it has not manifested itself yet from the figures I've seen -- to the contrary.

It's not all about the money, of course, but in other areas as well St. Albans seems to be thriving. Every year they seem to be fighting it out with Sidwell or GDS for the highest % of National Merit Semifinalists -- I will bet that in most or all of the last five years St. Albans has had more National Merit Semifinalists than the other five IAC schools combined (some of which don't even get one some years). The college acceptances look very good as measured against peer schools (or even the big boarding schools, as well).

Certain things ebb and flow in schools, at least American schools, and emphasis and prowess in athletics is one of those things; moreover, I believe that at most all-boys' schools there is structurally going to be a natural interest in and emphasis on athletics. So maybe St. Albans will put on a full court press (or blitz, or insert sports metaphor here) on recruiting and admissions of very strong athletes. But, it's hard to see any signs of a school that perceives a crisis over this issue, even if there is one part of the constituency that wants more IAC championships, or thinks they need to come only in football/basketball/baseball/lacrosse or they don't "count.' Other parents might very well think the athletic emphasis is strong enough (or too strong) already -- and I'm sure every good academic private school on the East Coast will be taking a look at whether to keep football over the next 2-3 decades, for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is great news for STA and especially those in the STA community that still support the scholar-athlete model and are fighting to keep STA in the IAC.

Bravo on this point. The sad truth is that people in the STA community have to "fight" to keep the scholar-athlete relevant at the school. The admissions head has not done his job in terms of finding the scholar-athletes to populate the contact sports teams. This type of job performance would result in a pink slip at most of the schools against which STA competes. For those families whose sons play on the contact sports teams, there is a certain "The Few, The Proud" attitude that exists, but it is an attitude borne out of making the best of a bad situation. At some point, STA will need to address the lack of numbers in terms of players and size of the players themselves on the football, basketball and lacrosse teams. I expect a drop in the amount of contributions will be the needed "kick in the pants" to reverse the obvious trend at STA.

I think, if I'm reading this correctly, the poster implies that St. Albans is doing a worse job in admissions than Landon, Prep, St. Stephens? My goodness, that is myopic. The last time I checked St. Albans was still a school, correct? So the problem with lots of academically strong applicants who go on to be very successful high school and college students is what, exactly?

[Anonymous]

I think, if I'm reading this correctly, the poster implies that St. Albans is doing a worse job in admissions than Landon, Prep, St. Stephens? My goodness, that is myopic. The last time I checked St. Albans was still a school, correct? So the problem with lots of academically strong applicants who go on to be very successful high school and college students is what, exactly?

They state that Landon, etc are doing a better job with scholar athletes in contact sports. Which is true.

There is no problem with a school being just a school, there are many schools/programs for kids that are smart and not athletic. But, St. Albans bills itself as "While our students reach exceptional academic goals and exhibit first-rate athletic and artistic achievements".

But they are not delivering on "first-rate" in the athletic department for most sports. I don't think there is any shame in that. My son goes to a similar school, the only difference is the faculty, parents and students know the sports are mediocre compared to the area and nationally. So what? I don't care but to pretend we are a "first rate" athletic school is wrong.

The school can not just claim they are first rate in athletic achievement because they have a few students who achieve this outside the school programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I think, if I'm reading this correctly, the poster implies that St. Albans is doing a worse job in admissions than Landon, Prep, St. Stephens? My goodness, that is myopic. The last time I checked St. Albans was still a school, correct? So the problem with lots of academically strong applicants who go on to be very successful high school and college students is what, exactly?

They state that Landon, etc are doing a better job with scholar athletes in contact sports. Which is true.

There is no problem with a school being just a school, there are many schools/programs for kids that are smart and not athletic. But, St. Albans bills itself as "While our students reach exceptional academic goals and exhibit first-rate athletic and artistic achievements".

But they are not delivering on "first-rate" in the athletic department for most sports. I don't think there is any shame in that. My son goes to a similar school, the only difference is the faculty, parents and students know the sports are mediocre compared to the area and nationally. So what? I don't care but to pretend we are a "first rate" athletic school is wrong.

The school can not just claim they are first rate in athletic achievement because they have a few students who achieve this outside the school programs.

Well, I read the post as saying that at the other IAC schools the Admissions Director would be fired for not recruiting enough athletes in football/basketball/lacrosse. Which, I suppose, could be true -- but to me just emphasizes that St. Albans is smart not to focus on athletic recruiting at the expense of bringing in academically strong students who can do the work at what is a rigorous school but is also one that parents generally see as warm and caring. I like a great dessert after a good meal too -- but if I have to pick I'm going to take the nutritious meal first. If St. Albans can bring in top students who help them win football, basketball, baseball, and lacrosse games -- great! But if they would be bringing in students who would struggle, that's not great for those kids nor for St. Albans.

I would also take issue with the idea that St. Albans isn't delivering "first-rate athletic and artistic achievements" along with strong academics. They've currently got alums on Ivy League rosters for cross-country; track; rowing; swimming; ice hockey; sprint football; lacrosse; and baseball just from what I can remember from the past 3-4 years. Along with some additional Division I athletes (baseball, football, lacrosse, basketball at schools ranging from Maryland for basketball to UVA for baseball) and lots and lots of kids at NESCAC schools like Amherst, Bowdoin, Middlebury and great academic schools live Davidson playing the same range of sports. They are not as strong as they have been in football, baseball, and lacrosse, but I would say what they are doing is similar to what the Ivies do at the collegiate level, and it's a blend that most parents and alums and board members are very happy with (of course, not everyone).

My bottom line is that I think St. Albans has a great niche -- it's different from Landon or Prep or Bullis's niche -- but it is working for them and yes, it does include a lot of athletic excellence although more focused on the running/rowing in recent years. I would venture to say that the fact that school is doing a capital campaign to expand their athletic fields suggests that the school wants to signal to applicants and current families a continued or heightened emphasis on athletics, including in "field sports," so if that's what other posters are suggesting I don't disagree. But the idea that there is some big rebellion winning because STA hasn't won banners in football/basketball/baseball/lacrosse in the past few years doesn't comport with what I'm seeing/hearing.