Anonymous wrote:Lets not act like Visitation is in the same sentence at St. Stephens when it comes to girls lacrosse.

Visitation has the numbers and good athletes. Their lacrosse program will never be stable since they dont have stability in the head coaching ranks. THey need a full time girls lacrosse coach if they want to elevate their program.

Associated with a different school but yes, they are "in the same league" figuratively (of course that's true literally now). For many years, only SSSAS really drew club players. Now club and youth lacrosse are prevalent enough that there are more good players in the area. Many of the top Catholic players do go to Visitation. The number of recruits they produce for college is quite comparable, and they did win the league last year (only the regular season determined the championship up until this year, so SSSAS winning the tournament did not mean they "won the league"). SSSAS has roared back strongly this year and has a coach who is a legend and has done a great deal for the game, not just her school. But SSSAS takes Visi very seriously as a rival and knowledgeable lacrosse people do see them as comparable. I would probably compare it to how Landon was dominant for a long time and first Georgetown Prep was an upstart, then it was a true rival. Now other schools are stepping forward in area boys' lacrosse (Gonzaga, SSSAS, Bullis) depending on the year. As girls' lacrosse continues to grow at the youth level the same will be true for the girls, I suspect, although SSSAS may well remain the "gold standard" for years to come.

Anonymous wrote:Lets not act like Visitation is in the same sentence at St. Stephens when it comes to girls lacrosse.

Visitation has the numbers and good athletes. Their lacrosse program will never be stable since they dont have stability in the head coaching ranks. THey need a full time girls lacrosse coach if they want to elevate their program.

I dont have a child at either school but, these days, Visi is in the same league with SSSA. Just take a look at the National rankings: http://laxmagazine.com/high_school/girls/2013-14/nike_us_lacrosse_national_high_school_girls_top_25

The rankings change every week and right now, SSSA is near the top and Visi at the very bottom but they were ranked significantly earlier in the season. Visi has strugggled with a brand new coach. If you live in NWDC, Visi is a far more attractive choice if you have a daughter who wants to play highschool lax at a high level than SSSA, which like GC and BI, are too far out. Academically Visi is also the choice of the same group.

Anonymous wrote:Would anyone be willing to take an educatd guess at the following:

The likelihood of a girl who plays lacrosse at the top level in DC-MD travel/elite teams, and a stand-out on that team, attending Holton or NCS (instead of VISI or SSAS) getting an offer to play DI college lax at a top school (Ivy or top State school).

Fairly high if, as described, the player is that good. Recommend that she attend some summer camps at schools she is interested in -- that is a good way to showcase ability and show interest in the particular college program. For Ivies she should be a strong student with good boards. The ISL as a league is well known and respected among women's lax coaches and players from this area have good credibility as recruits. It may also depend on body type -- the Division I teams want tall, strong, athletic girls. A very skilled player with a shorter, slighter build may have more trouble getting interest.

Anonymous wrote:Would anyone be willing to take an educatd guess at the following:

The likelihood of a girl who plays lacrosse at the top level in DC-MD travel/elite teams, and a stand-out on that team, attending Holton or NCS (instead of VISI or SSAS) getting an offer to play DI college lax at a top school (Ivy or top State school).

Here are the college recruits that are listed in WaPo.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/highschools/all-met/recruit-watch/girls/Lacrosse/index.html

Lets not act like Visitation is in the same sentence at St. Stephens when it comes to girls lacrosse.

Visitation has the numbers and good athletes. Their lacrosse program will never be stable since they dont have stability in the head coaching ranks. THey need a full time girls lacrosse coach if they want to elevate their program.

Would anyone be willing to take an educatd guess at the following:

The likelihood of a girl who plays lacrosse at the top level in DC-MD travel/elite teams, and a stand-out on that team, attending Holton or NCS (instead of VISI or SSAS) getting an offer to play DI college lax at a top school (Ivy or top State school).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So which private HS's are best for girls sports? I assume Holton?

Holton does very well in softball, swimming, ice hockey, tennis, and volleyball. They are just okay in soccer, lacrosse, field hockey and basketball.

I do wonder if colleges even look at these small college prep schools for true athletes though.

The answer to the bolded question is basically "yes, in a sense" or "yes, it depends." As an initial matter, the schools around here produce a lot of graduates who will play sports in college. More at the Division III level, but a respectable number at the Division I level. For the girls' schools in this area, the most Division I athletes are in lacrosse. Probably soccer would come next, and each year there are one or more Division I basketball players coming out of the ISL (at least three for Bullis this year, I believe). You will also see Division I athletes in pretty much all the other sports, but a smaller number.

Here's the "in a sense" or "it depends" part. In most sports, recruiting is now heavily focused OUTSIDE the high school athletic process. It is a matter of efficiency -- it is much easier for college coaches to see large numbers of athletes in one place at showcase type tournaments. Will college coaches still call the high school coach for an assessment/input? Yes, they often feel the HS coach knows the player better as a "whole person" than the club coach might. But are college coaches flocking to the sidelines of HS sports games to scout? No, not generally. In some sports, like basketball, the recruiting "sell" will still bring recruiters (and even head coaches) the the schools. But mostly the recruiting goes on elsewhere.

Anonymous wrote:So which private HS's are best for girls sports? I assume Holton?

Holton does very well in softball, swimming, ice hockey, tennis, and volleyball. They are just okay in soccer, lacrosse, field hockey and basketball.

I do wonder if colleges even look at these small college prep schools for true athletes though.

Anonymous wrote:What are the top three schools for sports (soccer/baseball /basketball) Plus academics? St. Albans? What else?

St. Albans, Sidwell, and Maret (baseball)

Landon averages roughly 81 - 85 boys in a graduating class. I think Landon and STA are pretty similair when it comes to enrollment.

Prep is around 120 boys and YES it makes a huge difference when you have a large talent pool to choose from.

Anonymous wrote:

Same thing as Georgetown Prep. Prep is much bigger than the IAC schools (Landon, STA, EHS, Bullis and St. Stephens) but is afraid to make the jump to the WCAC as it knows it would not be able to compete in any of the big sports other than lacrosse.

I wonder where you are drawing your numbers from and saying Prep is much bigger. The class size is 115. I hardly think that is much larger than Landon and STA which probably average between 85-100 students. Gonzaga has 240 kids - that is my definition of much bigger.

As of several years ago, Prep was approaching 500 boys. Landon had about 330 in the Upper School and St. Albans about 320. Even if Prep's enrollment has dropped to about 460, that's still a significant difference (40% bigger). And they've got an even bigger advantage in numbers over the co-ed schools in the IAC (SSSAS, Bullis, Episcopal).

I believe Georgetown Visitation also has close to 500 girls, which is much bigger not only than the all-girls' schools (NCS has something like 320 in the Upper School, for example) but would be about double the number of girls at a co-ed school like GDS or Sidwell.

You can make up the difference with targeted recruiting (the Bullis approach in boys' sports), but the bell curve does come into play in sports success -- more kids makes a difference.

Anonymous wrote:

Same thing as Georgetown Prep. Prep is much bigger than the IAC schools (Landon, STA, EHS, Bullis and St. Stephens) but is afraid to make the jump to the WCAC as it knows it would not be able to compete in any of the big sports other than lacrosse.

I wonder where you are drawing your numbers from and saying Prep is much bigger. The class size is 115. I hardly think that is much larger than Landon and STA which probably average between 85-100 students. Gonzaga has 240 kids - that is my definition of much bigger.

Landon has never had 100 kids in an class. 90 is the max and most classes the last few years have had bet 77 and 82.

Same thing as Georgetown Prep. Prep is much bigger than the IAC schools (Landon, STA, EHS, Bullis and St. Stephens) but is afraid to make the jump to the WCAC as it knows it would not be able to compete in any of the big sports other than lacrosse.

I wonder where you are drawing your numbers from and saying Prep is much bigger. The class size is 115. I hardly think that is much larger than Landon and STA which probably average between 85-100 students. Gonzaga has 240 kids - that is my definition of much bigger.

Visitation should compete in the WCAC girls conference with Holy Cross, Good Counsel, Ireton, St Johns etc. etc.

Its enrollment is nearly twice the size of Holton, St. Stephens, NCS Holy Child etc. etc. They should be dominating in all sports with the larger pool size to choose from.

Same thing as Georgetown Prep. Prep is much bigger than the IAC schools (Landon, STA, EHS, Bullis and St. Stephens) but is afraid to make the jump to the WCAC as it knows it would not be able to compete in any of the big sports other than lacrosse.

Anonymous wrote:One factor to consider for your kid is even if they go to one of the top schools for their sport, will they make the varsity team (ever)? That is one of the benefits of the smaller schools - they usually don't turn away a decent athlete for any sport and expert athletes make varsity as freshmen. At St Johns / OLGC even visitation that happens less often.

Yes, very good point. It can be a lot of fun to have a great high school career and be a key team member rather than a smaller cog -- others really want to be part of a Program with a capital "P" and don't mind a lesser role. With so much recruiting shifting away from the high school teams, there's certainly a lot less downside in going to a school that is less high-profile in the given sport.