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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This is the first I've heard about this going on in St. Johns' soccer program but it doesn't surprise me. We were consideing St. Johns for our son who is a baseball player. St. Johns has a reputation as the best baseball program around- they have won the wcac for the last 5 or 6 years. Their head coach and his brother who is an assistant run a private travel program called Diamond Skills. Diamond Skills also runs baseball camps at St. Johns. If you look on their site the camps are $400 or $500 a week. But here's where it’s worse than with soccer- we heard you HAVE TO play for Diamond Skills or you are not allowed to play baseball at St. Johns. We heard a few players were kicked out of the program this summer because they played for other travel programs and not Diamond Skills. Two of them are in 10th grade and are verbally committed to ACC schools. The other is in 11th grade and is committed to an SEC school. Why does the school let them do it? I think it's just wrong and don't really understand it. I also think it's ironic that this is a Catholic school- nice values you're teaching the kids. Our son plays for a very good travel program and isn't considering St. Johns anymore.[/quote]

My son played baseball at SJC. Maybe the biggest regret of his life. He was a top area youth player in an excellent travel organization and when we looked at SJC he was promised the world by Coach Gibbs. Playing time; development; exposure and recruiting assistance. When we met him he showed us all the great facilities and he talked about their reputation of winning and sending players to play in college. Smoke and mirror. All he cared about was winning and making money. My son ended up having a chance to play in college but at a much lower level then he hoped and planned. By his senior year friends of his who he played with before SJC had improved much more then he did and had scholarship offers from good division 1 schools. Those kids got a lot more recruiting exposure with their travel teams then my son got with Diamond Skills, which as a previous poster said they were forced to play for. They also went to big recruiting showcases that my son wasn't able to go to and thats where a lot of the college coaches were. Also if I'm being honest, part of the reason they went to better colleges is because they got better then he did in high school, but it wasn't because of a lack of effort by my son. He worked out with the SJC team year around and worked really hard. Other then getting faster and stronger he didn't really improve. He looks back and says there was just a lot of wasted time. What makes me sad is that he stopped enjoying baseball and missed out on a lot. I remember playing high school sports as one of the most fun and exciting times of my life, and I feel like he totally missed out on all that. The crazy thing is that we spent a lot of money for this. Not just tuition but also to be a part of the baseball team there. We paid thousands of dollars a year to play Diamond Skills and for the camps and work outs. We are not wealthy and I really regret our decision for him to go there. His friends who went to publics spent a lot less money, did better and had more fun.

If the original person is talking about the SJC soccer coach you should know it is going on with other sports there too. The administration knows it is going on and has been since before our son went there, and they're OK with it. Maybe it works out for some people but not from what I saw with most of my son's team mates.
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Have a 7th Grade son who plays baseball at a high level. One of his friends on his team wants to go to Saint John’s beyond badly. We have heard horror stories from other parents about the grueling practices at 6 am and their kids riding the bench.

We are big believers in our kids playing multiple sports. Our son just started at an area independent school where he can do just that. They have many kids who go on to play sports in college at his school. If, after puberty, it looks like he’s college material for one of his sports they’ll know what to do. In the meantime, he’s developing his skills, learning how to be a good teammate, etc. and having fun.

Maybe we are doing it wrong, but our kid is happy and that’s what matters. 
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