We've heard of two boarding schools with a soccer emphasis: IMG in Florida and St. Stephens in Austin, Texas. Does anyone know of other such schools with worthwhile soccer programs?
Just to add, the Facilities at St. Stephens are fantastic. My school and them are in the same "league".
The Darlington School in Rome, Georgia has started a soccer academy program. If want top-notch academics with year-round soccer training (and a fantastic campus with super facilities), Darlington would be hard to beat. http://darlingtonschool.org/admission/USR-soccer.asp
There is one in GA, cant remember the name tho, i only know about it b/c i was invited to a camp they held over the summer, didnt go tho so idk if its any good, but its somewhere in GA...
Loomis Chaffee in Windsor, CT. The school is best known for it's girls program. Woman’s National team trains there, they host the Adidas ESP camp and have a wonderful reputation for placing kids into top notch DI,II & III college programs.
Shattuck-St. Marys in Minnesota also has started a soccer academy, run by Tim Carter. New program, but if they reproduce even an inkling of the success the hockey program has, it will be brilliant- though very, very cold much of the school year. Tom Durkin runs IMG, and Bobby Murphy runs St. Stephens- both have fantastic facilities and strong programs. St. Stephens has the advantage of being near a cool city- Austin, TX. While IMG, unfortunately, is in a depressing little town called Bradenton, FL. Both have great weather year round. The Darlington School is new, so I am not sure how that will build itself out. There are some prep schools that happen to have historically great programs, such as St. Benedicts in Jersey (read Ramos, Reyna, and others). All basically fledgling, but great to see the development occurring.
Shattuck-St. Marys called because they were interested in my son last year. The coach said he had several region 2 ODP players coming to the school. I figured he probably had several kids looking but I was skeptical of a new program. I never really considered it because I can't imagine letting him go off on his own at 14. But after seeing this thread I took a quick look at their program again. Looks like he was successful in obtaining several region 2 ODP players. So far they were 2-0 with a tie against Sockers (top talent I assume). Curious as to what "level of HS/age group" they are playing against. At least 50% of the team is a '90 or '91.
My son goes to Shattuck. They are playing U-17 club teams (one of the team members is a U-17, the rest are U-16). They are playing high school teams in the Minneapolis area. They recently beat an undefeated Minneapolis South 3-0. They won the U-17 Des Moines Menace tournament. They will travel to Cocoa Expo for Columbus Day, and Darlington for a Christmas tournament. Also, under construction are 2 full-size sports turf fields, one outdoor with a heated surface and one indoor (bubble). The website is fairly informative of their schedule. http://www.s-sm.org/upper/athletics...+-+Athletics+-+Boys+Soccer&yearid=2005+-+2006
Are the 90/91's getting any playing time ? How do you think the program is shaping up? Is your son happy with the coaching/ the team/ and the school ?
Shattuck St-Mary's follow-up 1. Everybody is getting playing time, only 18 players on the roster--16 field players, 2 goal keepers. Full-time trainers, nobody is permitted to play with even slight injuries without clearance from a doctor, so a full roster of ready players is a necessity. 2. The schedule, coaching, and facilities are excellent, and will get better upon the completion of the 2 new fields, scheduled for November. 3. The school has been around for 150 years, so there's a large endowment, lots of history, and with the hockey program, lots of athletic success and exposure. 4. My son loves it, and the other boys with whom I've spoken love it, too. No drop outs at this point.
if a kid has been told by reputable scouts/coaches that he can develop into a pro prospect, then somethign like IMG makes sense to look at. But only the most gifted players, with the best soccer-world connections go that route. if you're one of those people, godspeed. If not, the wise move is to look at elite academic institutions with well-run soccer programs. If you're considering a boarding option, the New England prep schools are hands-down the best place to look. Check out the endowment size, campus layout and college placement records for Andover, Deerfield, St Paul's Middlesex etc. Public and parochial schools generally can't offer anything close to the great, and even middling NE preps. If the student-athlete's goal is to put themselves in position for D-1 or elite D-III playing time, those schools are the best places to play. The Ivies, & NESCAC schools lean heavily on the N.E. Prep, N.E. ISL (that's the Boston-area ISL, NOT the mostly all-day ISL in Wash.D.C., although Georgetown Prep, Bullis & St. Albans always have great teams) & Founders League (esp. Deerfield and Loomis) schools to fill their rosters. some of the strongest ISL programs are day or 5 day boarding schools like Nobles, Brooks (?maybe regular brdg?) and Belmont Hill. Milton, Middlesex, Groton & St. Pauls can be up & down soccer-wise but have unbeatable facilities and top-notch scholastic reputations. Andover, arguably the best school in the country, has a consistently strong program, aided by Post-Grads who are often in their home country's National Team pool. A star player at these schools can go anywhere, literally, (See Mike Videira, Khari Stephenson, Alex Blake and Charlie Davies) and a pretty good , 1-2 year starter has a decent shot at making the roster at competitive D-3 programs like Amherst, Middlebury, Tufts & Wesleyan.
Since your son goes to Shattuck, would you be willing to answer a few questions. We are seriously considering Shattuck and would great appreciate your thoughts: 1. Has your opinion changed about Shattuck since your posting last fall? 2. Does Minnesota winter truely not hinder the soccer program? 3. What would another program need to attract you away from Shattuck? 4. Do you get a sense that more and more top level players are considernig Shattcuk? 5. If you had to dig deep and offer two criticisms of Shattck, what would they be?? THANKS!!!
? I don't think IMG has developed a whole lot of pros. The Bradenton Residency program that happens to be located at IMG does, but that's an entirely different proposition.
If your player is good enough they will pay his way, then by all means, send the budding professional. Otherwise, you have to consider, which do they want more, your player or your money?
Let me get this straight... You would send your child AWAY to live outside your home for 3-4 years during high school for soccer? I'm new to this board, and wow, just wondering, do people actually do this?
Harvard westlake in CA a brilliant prep school with very strong athletics. Ivy coahes always looking at athletes form there. I am pretty sure they have soccer, great athletic facilities
My son does not go to Shattuck, but has been recruited by them, and is considering it. He has been on ODP regional team 2 years. The regional team players I know of that go there are Teal Bunbury and Baba Omesgbon-90, and Keegan Gunderson- 91. As far as cold winter, it is about 60 degrees inside their air structure, which contains a 75 X 115 field turf- type field. The weather is not an issue. A seperate, adjacent artificial turf field is also heated by warm water under the surface, so remain largely free of snow for fall and early spring training. From what I've seen, I would say it would be second only to Bradenton residency for boys for soccer, and better in academics.
We had chance to visit Shattuck-St. Mary's and see their boys squad face a team from Austin, Texas. Shattuck appears to be living up to its promise. The team played a strong passing-style game; they kept their shape yet quickly developed on both offense and defense. They worked hard to keep the ball on the ground. Shattuck really does appear to be a true soccer academy where a young player can really develop. The academics also appear top level. Our kids go to an excellent public high school and Shattuck appears to be at least as good. The smaller private school also allows more flexibility. Our son could take two more Advance Placement courses then he could at our public high school. Finally, a school like Shattuck understands and supports the student-athelete. Time will tell how well the school can attract premier level players from both the Midwest and around the country-- but we are applying for the 2006-2007 season!
the boarding schools that you list are all suspect, barring Andover. Very few of their players go on to play d1, most will end up going d3. While they are all great schools, their soccer programs are sh*t. (That would be the reason I only stayed one semester). And with a couple of the schools, it is tough to find time/travel to play with top club teams, which further hampers your ability to find your way into the top college programs.
not sure why you say the soccer programs are sh*t.... if you know of ANY boarding schools that consistently place more than 2-3 players per year in D-1 soccer, I'd like to hear of them. anyway, sending your kid to any school to specifically improve their soccer is not so smart. HS soccer is losing influence; Club teams are where good players develop. The best players in the NE ISL, the ones in the Youth National Teams, typically play for the same 3 club teams in the offseason(Greater Boston FC, Oakwood SC, and South Shore United), regardless of where they go to school...
Masters, Millbrook and Trinity-Pawling are decent small schools usptate but none of them are known for especially for soccer. although T-P, being all boys, is kind of jockish. better option for soccer would be boarding schools in Southern CT or NJ. Avon Old Farms, Hotchkiss and Loomis are roughly 2 hours from NYC and are annual contenders for the NewEngland prep title. Same for Peddie and Lawrenceville in NJ.