Who cares?
But what is the deal with that Admissions Director?

Anonymous wrote:Several pps have correctly stated that for DI recruits (apart from basketball and football) ... college coaches are going to look to club teams, camps for recruits. So, apart from football and basketball, don't worry. Sidwell would be fine. My kid went to an all girls private school here and was recruited from her club team. Her h.s. team in her sport was terrible. I won't say which because it might identify her.

I know many kids from the private schools here who were recruited for various sports with fairly louzy h.s. teams but good club teams. I even know one girl whose h.s. (public Wilson) didn't even have her sport, but she was recurited off of her club team.

This is accurate w/re to club sports -- LAX, soccer, hockey, baseball. Then you add the sports where individual performance is measured -- track and XC, swimming, wrestling, golf, singles tennis -- so it doesn't matter to the star how the team does. Now, as PP has stated, we're down to very few sports -- maybe just football. Basketball is different because one star player can make the team shine while still going on to a D1 school. That has been true at SFS for the past 2 years, at least. So, bottom line I'd say is that if your sporty kid only wants to hang with jocks (not that there's anything wrong with that) or he or Mom and Dad need to be on the winning team all the time (again, not that there's anything wrong with that), then go to a school that "dominates". If your kid loves to play even when the team doesn't win and wants to have friends with many different interests and talents, then Sidwell may be a good option.

Several pps have correctly stated that for DI recruits (apart from basketball and football) ... college coaches are going to look to club teams, camps for recruits. So, apart from football and basketball, don't worry. Sidwell would be fine. My kid went to an all girls private school here and was recruited from her club team. Her h.s. team in her sport was terrible. I won't say which because it might identify her.

I know many kids from the private schools here who were recruited for various sports with fairly louzy h.s. teams but good club teams. I even know one girl whose h.s. (public Wilson) didn't even have her sport, but she was recurited off of her club team.

One or two down years doesn't make a pattern. it's still a great soccer school for boys and girls. with it's current recruiting pattern and strong coaching, boys basketball will be solid.

Sidwell had several great years in soccer but has been hurt by two things. First, some of its best players are on Academy teams and those teams recently passed a rule forcing kids to choose between school and Academy. So those players dropped Sidwell soccer. It's aggravating for all involved but nothing to do about it now. Second, a lot of other really good players graduated. While Sidwell will still be a strong team in the MAC, it's not clear that it will be as strong as it was in previous years.

http://www.thesportsfannetwork.com/articles/6045-private-school-soccer-power-rankings-10-10-2012/?page=10

Not this past fall. Episcopal, Landon, St Stephens and St Albans were all ranked higher. Flint Hill was also ranked over Sidwell.