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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Yes.  A dear friend has had several children attend Sidwell and go on to very successful Division I athletic careers at great academic colleges.  They were well prepared for college athletically and (she and they agree) even more important, academically.  (And these two things matter -- so many college athletes, even at an Ivy League school, are taken aback by the time commitment and how hard it can be to juggle the sports and school commitment.  For the Sidwell kids, they've got the "juggling" down.)  Both of the Sidwell grads are now in great graduate/professional programs.

Another point worth making is that in most sports, the center of gravity for recruiting is now the club program (e.g., boys and girls lacrosse, boys and girls soccer), because the coaches get more "bang for the buck" by seeing many athletes at showcase tournaments.  [b]And in those sports like football, if the athlete is good, the coaches will be there -- the recruiters make the rounds of all the independent school programs when there are prospects, and that includes Sidwell (I have some first-hand knowledge of this).[/b]  Bottom line: if you like the school and you value the academics, don't be scared away by the fact that Sidwell is not a powerhouse athletic program with 20 Division I prospects every year.  The kids love playing with their classmates/schoolmates, and stars will still shine no matter how many other bright lights there may or may not be around them.[/quote]

And how many football recruits have come out of Sidwell in the last few years? With football, it is about the level of competition you are playing at. Yes lots of recruiting going on through club. But the level the team is playing at for HS helps the coaches get those kids into recruiting camps where they do not go with their club teams.

It's great the kids love playing together and Sidwell is a great academic institution. But if you want football, Dematha, Gonzaga, Good Counsel, Prep are the places, hockey-Landon, Gonzaga and Prep.maybe Bullis. Lacrosse, Gonzaga, Landon, Prep, St Stephens. Sidwell is no way will compete athletically with these schools for those sports for kids who want to play at the top level.
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I'm a big fan of St. Albans, and think highly of their overall sports program, but even they have not had many Division I football players in the past five years (and kudos to them, they've still won the league a few times in that timespan, mainly with great lacrosse and baseball players who embraced the multisport ethic).  I can think of two walk-ons who played one year of Division I football, and there have been a few "FBS" (the old Division IAA) at Ivies over the past 5 years, but that's about it.  So it's not a great metric.  I also believe that football, because of the resources and money in recruiting, is a place where talent gets identified even if the team is not strong.  Finally, football coaches look for potential -- they will take the talent that is a little unpolished over the polished gem who has reached his limit (talk to a coach sometime, it's interesting to hear their perspective).

For hockey, if you're in this area it's all about club -- if you want meaningful high school competition you have to go the NE boarding school route.  For lacrosse, it is also all about club at this point -- witness all the players who have not dressed as varsity players at a school like Prep or Boys Latin in Baltimore who have commitments from top DI programs.

If a student wants the emphasis and to be part of a big winning program in high school in such sports, I agree with your list (with the exception of hockey, as noted above -- Landon, Gonzaga, Prep would all lose by ten goals to a team like Avon Old Farms in CT), but being on a mediocre or sub-par high school team is not going to hold them back in my experience. [/quote]

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