Sidwell Basketball Article

[Anonymous]

Gonzaga's a joke.

[Anonymous]

Academically, there are tougher/most prestigious schools than Gonzaga. Athletically, they are the biggest dog in the area now. Great school spirit there, too.

Sidwell used to be the top academically, but no more. Athletically, they have always been at the bottom. Now they will lower academic standards to get impact athletes. Sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Academically, there are tougher/most prestigious schools than Gonzaga. Athletically, they are the biggest dog in the area now. Great school spirit there, too.

Sidwell used to be the top academically, but no more. Athletically, they have always been at the bottom. Now they will lower academic standards to get impact athletes. Sad.

Gonzaga is a terrific school -- it is large enough to accomodate some brilliant students and athletes alike, and has an interesting vibe from its city location. Unbelievably loyal alums, too. (Read Pat Conroy's "My Losing Season" for a wonderful portrait of Gonzaga in the early 1960s.) Nobody should get angry and call it a "joke" -- that's just silly.

I think Sidwell's academic demise might just be wee bit overstated, however. In this year's senior class at area schools in DC, here are the number of National Merit Semifinalists (cite to Georgetown Patch article below):

Sidwell - 17
Maret - 3
GDS - 9
St. Albans - 8
NCS - 8
Gonzaga - 6
Visitation - 6

So, looks like they're still squeezing a few scholars in, aren't they?

Moreover, as someone who has been around independent schools in this area for many years, they all (even non-sports oriented GDS, god bless 'em) take great athletes, and most actively recruit for them. Much more for boys than girls (although there are exceptions -- think St. Stephens St. Agnes for girls lax, for example), but, again, every one of the bigger/more well known independent schools in this area gives "credit" in admissions for athletic ability. The WCAC most of all, followed by IAC, followed by ISL -- but they all do it. Alumni and the community like to win, smart Division I level kids translate to Ivy recruits, etc. Heck, the new Bullis Head has made it the cornerstone of his strategy, pretty successfully so far.

Sidwell people, I suggest you just turn the other cheek on this one -- your school continues to be a flak magnet, but, then again, so is Harvard (and they recruit hard for sports too!).

http://georgetown.patch.com/articles/area-schools-students-national-merit-semifinalists

[Anonymous]

St. Stephen's & St. Agnes does not "recruit" female lacrosse players. Many girls who have been at the school for years dream of playing for Jenkins, so SSSAS gets top female athletes every year from their own talent pool. Many of these girls play rec ball for either Fort Hunt or Alexandria, so they are getting lots of experience at a young age. The top players are also playing for Stars/Capital and other club lacrosse teams as well.

There are some girls who transfer to SSSAS school as a HS student. But generally speaking, they are not recruiting girl lacrosse players.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:St. Stephen's & St. Agnes does not "recruit" female lacrosse players. Many girls who have been at the school for years dream of playing for Jenkins, so SSSAS gets top female athletes every year from their own talent pool. Many of these girls play rec ball for either Fort Hunt or Alexandria, so they are getting lots of experience at a young age. The top players are also playing for Stars/Capital and other club lacrosse teams as well.

There are some girls who transfer to SSSAS school as a HS student. But generally speaking, they are not recruiting girl lacrosse players.

Au contraire mon frere (or ma soeur), of course they recruit. They set up their own captive club team (Fort Hunt) years ago to facilitate this, which was a brilliant move and helped ensure their dominance during the 1990s. Coach Jenkins is a great person and a legend, but please don't insult everyone's intelligence by suggesting SSSAS does not recruit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St. Stephen's & St. Agnes does not "recruit" female lacrosse players. Many girls who have been at the school for years dream of playing for Jenkins, so SSSAS gets top female athletes every year from their own talent pool. Many of these girls play rec ball for either Fort Hunt or Alexandria, so they are getting lots of experience at a young age. The top players are also playing for Stars/Capital and other club lacrosse teams as well.

There are some girls who transfer to SSSAS school as a HS student. But generally speaking, they are not recruiting girl lacrosse players.

Au contraire mon frere (or ma soeur), of course they recruit. They set up their own captive club team (Fort Hunt) years ago to facilitate this, which was a brilliant move and helped ensure their dominance during the 1990s. Coach Jenkins is a great person and a legend, but please don't insult everyone's intelligence by suggesting SSSAS does not recruit.

You have no idea what you're talking about. "Recruiting" was done in reference, say, to Good Counsel attracting football players from other schools. Or Gonzaga, PVI, etc. mining public school 8th graders to come to their respective school, etc.

SSSAS is not out there beating the pavement to get girls (public or private) to come play lax for them. Fort Hunt is a monster feeder program, for sure. But they are not trying to poach 8th grade girls to come to their school.

The boys side is different matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: They thought the Post article would be good publicity to look good about "helping" a student without realizing it would make them look like hypocrites for all their attacks on the other schools with good athletes and what they perceive as less than stelllar academics.

Who is the "they" that attacks other schools? The anonymous posters on here? Where are the supposed Sidwell people running around bashing other schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: They thought the Post article would be good publicity to look good about "helping" a student without realizing it would make them look like hypocrites for all their attacks on the other schools with good athletes and what they perceive as less than stelllar academics.

Who is the "they" that attacks other schools? The anonymous posters on here? Where are the supposed Sidwell people running around bashing other schools?

I agree with your question. I don't see any of these supposed attacks. I think there is someone posting here who is trying to make the school look bad. (Yeah, I'm voicing the obvious, I know!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St. Stephen's & St. Agnes does not "recruit" female lacrosse players. Many girls who have been at the school for years dream of playing for Jenkins, so SSSAS gets top female athletes every year from their own talent pool. Many of these girls play rec ball for either Fort Hunt or Alexandria, so they are getting lots of experience at a young age. The top players are also playing for Stars/Capital and other club lacrosse teams as well.

There are some girls who transfer to SSSAS school as a HS student. But generally speaking, they are not recruiting girl lacrosse players.

Au contraire mon frere (or ma soeur), of course they recruit. They set up their own captive club team (Fort Hunt) years ago to facilitate this, which was a brilliant move and helped ensure their dominance during the 1990s. Coach Jenkins is a great person and a legend, but please don't insult everyone's intelligence by suggesting SSSAS does not recruit.

You have no idea what you're talking about. "Recruiting" was done in reference, say, to Good Counsel attracting football players from other schools. Or Gonzaga, PVI, etc. mining public school 8th graders to come to their respective school, etc.

SSSAS is not out there beating the pavement to get girls (public or private) to come play lax for them. Fort Hunt is a monster feeder program, for sure. But they are not trying to poach 8th grade girls to come to their school.

The boys side is different matter.

I know my ISL history. Think what you like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: They thought the Post article would be good publicity to look good about "helping" a student without realizing it would make them look like hypocrites for all their attacks on the other schools with good athletes and what they perceive as less than stelllar academics.

Who is the "they" that attacks other schools? The anonymous posters on here? Where are the supposed Sidwell people running around bashing other schools?

I agree with your question. I don't see any of these supposed attacks. I think there is someone posting here who is trying to make the school look bad. (Yeah, I'm voicing the obvious, I know!)

I agree, there's someone here trying to make Sidwell look bad. Wonder if it's the same person on the NCS thread who is trying to make NCS look bad. Whoever this is, s/he/they seems to have absolutely no connection to the school, none whatsoever, which gives the complaints a childish, whiny character. Wonder if it's a rejected applicant.

That said, it's hard to avoid the conclusion, after reading the article, that somebody at Sidwell cooperated with the journalist and provided some of the background information. We can only speculate why.

[Anonymous]

Sidwell supporters can't have it both ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell supporters can't have it both ways.

Agreed.

Sidwell provides a fantastic education and for those for whom it matters, great prestige. So why this obsession with improving the sports programs? My view is that it harkens back to many parents (mainly the men) who were the nerds in high school, and thus now successful in life, when all they really wanted to be was a jock. You can't have it both ways, indeed, Sidwell parents. Let us all just embrace our nerdiness!!

[Anonymous]

I think it has more to do with being well rounded across as many disciplines as possible. I have no idea what the "embrace our nerdiness" is all about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it has more to do with being well rounded across as many disciplines as possible. I have no idea what the "embrace our nerdiness" is all about.

I certainly hope the school strives to maintain a well-rounded curriculum, to include competitive sports and physical education. Otherwise, the decision to spend millions on an athletic complex, rather than use the funds to provide tuition assistance for the education of deserving children, would appear ill-conceived and contrary to certain basic tenets of Quakerism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it has more to do with being well rounded across as many disciplines as possible. I have no idea what the "embrace our nerdiness" is all about.

You sound uptight. If you don't know what the phrase is, then you're also not as smart as you think you are. I think what the pp basically means, nerdiness is what got you to the place in life where you can send your kid to Sidwell. So be happy. Don't try to be, through your kids, something you never were in high school - i.e., a jock. We former and current nerds now run companies that employees, sometimes, those former gods of the high school world.