Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is Academy soccer really worth it? Seems to deprive the kids of the high school team sports experience which is sad for both player and school.

It was designed to help the US produce 2-3 players per birth year with World Cup talent. In the meantime, it has decimated high school soccer; tilted the playing fields towards those who can pay and/or have easy transportation; and basically is just a minor league system for college coaches to recruit from.

My kids have done development soccer... it is just much better 'soccer' training than what's still coached in US high schools... (I played back in the day (& I was 'recruited' back then) & it's almost like it's a different sport.) It's an elite program, but calling it 'minor league' is a little over the top. But if your kid is top caliber, wants to be challenged & learn the sport at a higher level &/or might want to play at college (even many of the SLACs), it's 'worth' it. It's not that different than with swimming where the top swimmers really train and compete on club teams & the HS teams are more supplemental or for fun (the difference is the kids can compete at both). It is a bummer for the kids and the HS's not to have as strong teams & the top kids not playing, many of whom would like to ... the rationale is they don't just don't get as good training, they get 'bad' training and/or could get hurt from over competing (which is also more enlightened than back in our day where people pushed til injuries).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So who has good girls high school soccer around here?

St. Johns and St. Paul VI are currently ranked in the Wash Post Top 10. Good Counsel and Georgetown Visitation both cracked the Top 10 earlier this season.

Good Counsel has been very strong for years (maybe a little weaker this year than some of the very dominant teams of the past), and St. John's seems to have made strides in all of their sports (boys and girls) as there is increased emphasis on athletics at SJCHS generally.

In the ISL, National Cathedral has had a lot of good soccer teams over the past 10-15 years, and Sidwell has as well, with quite a number playing in college. Bullis in the ISL has been very good the past couple of years although not a force traditionally, and Georgetown Day School has a good girls' team.

Anonymous wrote:So who has good girls high school soccer around here?

St. Johns and St. Paul VI are currently ranked in the Wash Post Top 10. Good Counsel and Georgetown Visitation both cracked the Top 10 earlier this season.

So who has good girls high school soccer around here?

Anonymous wrote:Is Academy soccer really worth it? Seems to deprive the kids of the high school team sports experience which is sad for both player and school.

It was designed to help the US produce 2-3 players per birth year with World Cup talent. In the meantime, it has decimated high school soccer; tilted the playing fields towards those who can pay and/or have easy transportation; and basically is just a minor league system for college coaches to recruit from.

Is Academy soccer really worth it? Seems to deprive the kids of the high school team sports experience which is sad for both player and school.

Anonymous wrote:Why are we saying 'private school' but not specifying if you are talking about boys soccer or girls soccer?

Sadly, because it is assumed to be about boys' soccer (as one can see with the opening Dematha reference). Not that the thread couldn't broaden to include girls' soccer.

Why are we saying 'private school' but not specifying if you are talking about boys soccer or girls soccer?

Anonymous wrote:Who cares. Soccer is for boys who can't handle real sports.

Girls soccer on the other hand, that's worth discussing.

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Who cares. Soccer is for boys who can't handle real sports.

Girls soccer on the other hand, that's worth discussing.

Yes, the very best kids play on the academy team's and are not permitted to play on their school teams. The college coaches generally support this and tell kids even after they have committed not to "quit" the academy team to play for their school team for senior year (for kids who wanted to play for the school with their friends at that point - experienced this first hand). Of course their are exceptions where really strong players still are on the school teams, buy overall it does mean at the team level the figurative playing field has changed.

Not trying to be dismissive, but doesn't the existence of Academy soccer, which by definition pulls the best area players out of the boys' high school soccer scheme, put a real damper on enthusiasm for high school soccer and which schools have the best teams? I've watched soccer for a while in this area and the Academy phenomenon seems to have let the air out of the HS soccer balloon.

St Albans has had a strong soccer team for many years running. But with the departure of the head soccer coach who also happened to be the Admissions Director (yes, a symbiotic relationship) last year, the team is already much less dominant than it has been. Still a winning program, but with teams like Landon nipping at their heels, or paws as it were:

I don't think any of the schools in the area are nationally ranked these days, but I could be wrong.

Let's talk about which private schools in the area have the best soccer programs. Is any program in striking distance of DeMatha?