Reply to Landon School Teacher Tre Johnson

Forum Index » Private & Independent Schools

Reply to "Landon School Teacher Tre Johnson"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I never thought I would be writing in defense of the Landon School for Boys, but this bashing is just so indiscriminate. The school has issues and many are well-known. The Huguely incident is not Landon-specific and should be more of a wake-up call for indulged athletes wherever they go to school. To use that unfortunate event as a litmus test for Landon School discredits any other argument.

My sons have played on club teams with Landon boys and have regularly played against Landon teams for the last 9 years. In that time, we have seen some wonderful kids from Landon and some pretty nasty ones as well. The same goes for the parents -- some of the best people I know and also some parental units that I would prefer not to encounter again. That said, I don't think Landon is any different from the other private schools in the DC area, they are just a lightning rod for criticism. Also, the fact that they routinely beat the other schools in so many sports makes them that "bully"  we all love to hate. So, put down the the poison pen and acknowledge that Tre' Johnson is making a difference in the lives of some young men. I wish my guys could get an exposure to someone like Tre', who has achieved excellence in his playing career and thne moved on to success after the NFL. Good for Landon and its students.[/quote]

Our sons played for Mater Dei and GP many times against Landon in football, basketball and lacrosse and I'd take issue with the statement above that Landon is no different from the other private schools in the DC areas. It is. And for the record, I'm pretty sure that our boys beat Landon many more times than Landon beat them.

The struggles between Landon and MD and GP I watched were epic. No other opponent played with the effort that those Landon teams played with. No other opposing coaches were as  determined to win. When GP started to challenge Landon's lax dominance, Bordley and staff scouted every single GP lacrosse game looking for weaknesses. If you are at all familiar with high school sports, you'll recognize just how unusual that is.

The Landon approach that I saw might appeal to some. It may produce tougher boys who become successful. But I'd never send my boys there. Their approach seemed desperate to me beyond what high school sports ought to be. There was never that intensity when our team played St Albans or St Stephens or Episcopal or even Prep's natural rival, Gonzaga. I never saw Landon teams having "fun" playing. There was no joy in the games ... only effort and determination. And they seemed to take the loses extremely hard.

I think a lot of the dislike of Landon is reaction to their approach to athletics. So when there's an opportunity to stick it to them, people don't miss a chance.

I actually respect the Landon teams I saw play and many of the athletes. The coaching staff got every single ounce of ability out of their players. But as I wrote above, its not a place we would have sent our kids to and it is not the same as the other DC privates we saw in dozens and dozens of athletic contests over a period of years.
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics