Reply to Why does Sidwell seem so hypocritical?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]They have been cancelling meets and games for MS but then they send their US girls' bball team out to Minnesota? When did they become Spire Academy? What happened to equity? I hate that they are all Quaker until the NBA or ESPN comes calling. So hypocritical. And yes, I WENT TO SIDWELL.[/quote]

and the girls team practiced over the holidays even htough other teams could not

i am an alum and a parent, deeply disturbed by how the school is now trying to become an athletics powerhouse. Donors $$s and college admissions seem to be the motivation. Meanwhile there are no full time art teachers and kids have to choose either CS or Art because the schedules conflict and both are both basically afterthoughts. The school has really lost its way, very sad to see. I mean WTF ramping up the football program and hiring a big name coach. [/quote]

It's not "trying" to become a powerhouse. The boys basketball team is as it has been for years. The girls team has a new coach after decades of the old one. Coaching matters. Talent matters. The AD is fantastic and gets the ability for talented kids who work hard in the classroom and with their sport. He has hired coaches who actually care, and teach their crafts through both Middle and Upper School. As a result, ALL of the sports are doing better.

And to the OP, the issue is MS versus US. It is also likely that other MS doesn't want the kids playing other schools and SFS is a casualty of that.[/quote]

I agree with the above post for the most part but let's not kid ourselves.  Sidwell didn't get to be the #1 girl's team in the US because they got "talanted kids who work hard in the classroom".   I have no inside info but can almost guarantee that they're doing what schools in te WCAC(in B-ball, football and lax) and to a lesser extent the IAC (especially in Lax) have been doing for years.  The coaching staff likely is deeply connected to the local middle school girls basketball community and is heavily recruiting. This sort of thing has  really ramped up in the past decade across the region in boys sports and now appears to be spreading to girls sports as well.

Sidwell, will never be an "athletics powerhouse".  They don't have 200+ boys/class.  They can however pluck 5 or 6 girls from around the region (which is loaded with basketball talent) and now all of a sudden they are competing on a national level.  There's no way that SFS admin looks at a 10 year old boys game the same as it does their HS girls team.   It's a commitment the school clearly seems to have made and like anything there are tradeoffs which appear to be ruffling some feathers.

You wouldn't ask Gonzaga to put the same resources into freshman fencing as varsity football.  Or Landon to treat their lax program like they do their model UN team.[/quote]

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