Quality soccer programs for DMV private schools?

[Anonymous]

If you have a son who want to supplement his club soccer experience with a quality high school experience, which schools should he be looking at? We live in Arlington, but are willing to travel as necessary. Also, not unike that other thread, which schools are more likely to grand a generous aid package to help us make it all work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have a son who want to supplement his club soccer experience with a quality high school experience, which schools should he be looking at? We live in Arlington, but are willing to travel as necessary. Also, not unike that other thread, which schools are more likely to grand a generous aid package to help us make it all work.

HS soccer is not at all like Club. Few if any schools has a critical mass of club players to field a full squad of good players. So good players are supplemented with good athletes that don't have technical skills with the ball. The school that can recruit the most club athletes ends up with the strongest team, but these will be weak compared to strong club teams in the area.

All that said, all WCAC schools recruit athletes and provide scholarships. You must have financial need - little Johnny is not getting a free ride if you can afford it otherwise.

http://www.wcacsports.com/sports/msoc/index

[Anonymous]

High school soccer has been crippled by the Academy programs, which -- in breach of the original promise that Academy program athletes could still play HS soccer -- now bar them from playing for their high school team. No independent school that is paying attention is going to give help in admission to soccer players, since the better the player is the less likely it is that he will ever suit up for his independent school team.

With that said, good schools that continue to have pretty good soccer programs include Sidwell Friends and St. Albans School -- both expensive but have a commitment to private school. Gonzaga (Catholic/WCAC) is much cheaper and has a good program although football gets all the attention -- a couple years ago when Gonzaga was playing for the city title zero students came to the game because it conflicted with a regular season football game.

[Anonymous]

(Fixed typo in original)
High school soccer has been crippled by the Academy programs, which -- in breach of the original promise that Academy program athletes could still play HS soccer -- now bar them from playing for their high school team. No independent school that is paying attention is going to give help in admission to soccer players, since the better the player is the less likely it is that he will ever suit up for his independent school team.

With that said, good schools that continue to have pretty good soccer programs include Sidwell Friends and St. Albans School -- both expensive but have a commitment to financial aid. Gonzaga (Catholic/WCAC) is much cheaper and has a good program although football gets all the attention -- a couple years ago when Gonzaga was playing for the city title zero students came to the game because it conflicted with a regular season football game.

[Anonymous]

Below is a link to the WCAC 2015 final season standings. Among the non-Catholic private schools, WIS regularly beats WCAC teams.

http://www.wcacsports.com/sports/msoc/2015-16/standings-table

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:High school soccer has been crippled by the Academy programs, which -- in breach of the original promise that Academy program athletes could still play HS soccer -- now bar them from playing for their high school team. No independent school that is paying attention is going to give help in admission to soccer players, since the better the player is the less likely it is that he will ever suit up for his independent school team.

With that said, good schools that continue to have pretty good soccer programs include Sidwell Friends and St. Albans School -- both expensive but have a commitment to private school. Gonzaga (Catholic/WCAC) is much cheaper and has a good program although football gets all the attention -- a couple years ago when Gonzaga was playing for the city title zero students came to the game because it conflicted with a regular season football game.

There are only two academy programs in the area that impact HS soccer, DCU and Bethesda. Two - three teams each that are HS age, that's maybe 120 kids total. There's still a huge remaining population of club players eligible to play in HS. Of the schools I know well, there are only a couple players in each that are not playing due to Academy, many of who do play in senior year anyway.

[Anonymous]

Club teams definitely hurt schools like Sidwell and STA. They depend on those two or three outstanding players. I never thought about it but it's a tough position to be in. If you are good enough to be play academy but can't afford private. I assume if you are recruited to play soccer, you will be expected to play soccer. Academy is off the table which is the best, but not the only, to attract interest of d-1 colleges. Regular club players with excellent grades can go to competitive D-3 schools but the money for sports-related applicants is significantly less than what is available. Many of d-3 schools including the nescac schools claim that there are not athletic related money but the truth is more complicated

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Club teams definitely hurt schools like Sidwell and STA. They depend on those two or three outstanding players. I never thought about it but it's a tough position to be in. If you are good enough to be play academy but can't afford private. I assume if you are recruited to play soccer, you will be expected to play soccer. Academy is off the table which is the best, but not the only, to attract interest of d-1 colleges. Regular club players with excellent grades can go to competitive D-3 schools but the money for sports-related applicants is significantly less than what is available. Many of d-3 schools including the nescac schools claim that there are not athletic related money but the truth is more complicated

The Academy no-HS rule is waived if you are on scholarship.

205 teams offer 9.9 men's scholarships each for D1. That's a little more than 2000 scholarships probably spread over 4000 players. There are 96 Development Academy teams at U18 - about 1800 to 2000 players. Even if every single one of them got a scholarship, there is still plenty of room in D1 after that. The bigger challenge for both club and Academy players is that much of the recruiting for players is now in Europe. 4 years in the US plus a close-to-free education - pretty strong recruiting tool in Europe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Club teams definitely hurt schools like Sidwell and STA. They depend on those two or three outstanding players. I never thought about it but it's a tough position to be in. If you are good enough to be play academy but can't afford private. I assume if you are recruited to play soccer, you will be expected to play soccer. Academy is off the table which is the best, but not the only, to attract interest of d-1 colleges. Regular club players with excellent grades can go to competitive D-3 schools but the money for sports-related applicants is significantly less than what is available. Many of d-3 schools including the nescac schools claim that there are not athletic related money but the truth is more complicated

The Academy no-HS rule is waived if you are on scholarship.

205 teams offer 9.9 men's scholarships each for D1. That's a little more than 2000 scholarships probably spread over 4000 players. There are 96 Development Academy teams at U18 - about 1800 to 2000 players. Even if every single one of them got a scholarship, there is still plenty of room in D1 after that. The bigger challenge for both club and Academy players is that much of the recruiting for players is now in Europe. 4 years in the US plus a close-to-free education - pretty strong recruiting tool in Europe.

They have tightened up those scholarship waiver rules considerably. Soccer continues to be even more of a pay to play enterprise in this country. In the past 3 to 4 years I am not aware of any club kids below the Academy level who have made it to Division I. I am sure some exist, they must, but the overwhelming message is academy or bust from the Division I programs. Also increasingly we are seeing the phenomenon of college coaches prohibiting players from playing senior year for their high school team even where the player would like to do that. (Similarly, more and more women's Division I programs are telling the athletes to only play that one sport and not play on other teams at their high schools.) Although individual players have more leverage than they think, they are afraid to lose the coveted Division I spot. This is an increasingly difficult time for high school sports. Cannot really put blame on anyone – – club sports certainly give strong athletes an opportunity to hone their skills – – but one thing that is sad is that the formerly fairly level high school sports playing field is now tilting increasingly in favor of those who have the fees to afford to play club.