Prep School Athletes

[secondasky]

I've never been to one of these prep schools. But I get why a high school kid would be attracted to a prep school. Exposure, possible better facilities, better competition, coaching (though I seriously doubt you can find better coaching in most cases). I still think if you are a good athlete colleges are going to find you anyway and kids usually play in some higher competition during the summer. What I'm trying to understand is the education part. Are these places paying teachers more. Some of these prep schools are just a few years old where do they get the quality teachers ?

 

[UncleMark]

I've never been to one of these prep schools. But I get why a high school kid would be attracted to a prep school. Exposure, possible better facilities, better competition, coaching (though I seriously doubt you can find better coaching in most cases). I still think if you are a good athlete colleges are going to find you anyway and kids usually play in some higher competition during the summer. What I'm trying to understand is the education part. Are these places paying teachers more. Some of these prep schools are just a few years old where do they get the quality teachers ?

I'd guess @Bloom. would know more than most anyone else.

 

[mcmurtry66]

I've never been to one of these prep schools. But I get why a high school kid would be attracted to a prep school. Exposure, possible better facilities, better competition, coaching (though I seriously doubt you can find better coaching in most cases). I still think if you are a good athlete colleges are going to find you anyway and kids usually play in some higher competition during the summer. What I'm trying to understand is the education part. Are these places paying teachers more. Some of these prep schools are just a few years old where do they get the quality teachers ?

I’ve been involved with IMG soccer in the past. Look up their tuition…..

 

[Bloom.]

I've never been to one of these prep schools. But I get why a high school kid would be attracted to a prep school. Exposure, possible better facilities, better competition, coaching (though I seriously doubt you can find better coaching in most cases). I still think if you are a good athlete colleges are going to find you anyway and kids usually play in some higher competition during the summer. What I'm trying to understand is the education part. Are these places paying teachers more. Some of these prep schools are just a few years old where do they get the quality teachers ?

My experiences with undergrad prep schools has been a mixed bag. Many of them are a joke. Donda Academy for one.

The education part is mostly like college. You go to class when you're around. There are tutors to help when they're not. If it's a good situation, they hopefully travel with the team, but these days it can be guided virtually.


There is this practice fallacy that often gets cited. Prep schools, in that many of them don't have strict rules regarding school time vs. extracurricular time, can practice when they want and to some extent for how long.

OK. Fine.

However, in that the play more games and travel more for games, once their season arrives, they don't practice everyday. I would say from that aspect, it tends to even out. Also, what keeps Trent (or anyone) from putting in extra time individually while staying at Heritage Hills? (Again, this would be for any kid.)

There is nothing that regulates how much work a kid can put in on his own, which could include working with a trainer. No rules prohibit that.


The coaching fallacy. There isn't much to say about that. A lot of these guys aspire to be college coaches, and just because you're a college coach or prep school coach doesn't mean you know what you're doing. Odds are it was more about who you know than what you know.


The competition fallacy. Some of their games are vs. high caliber teams. The rest are against some pretty shaky teams, masquerading elite level prep schools. They are mostly teams that operate outside of their state high school association's rules on purpose, then struggle to find other teams to play.



The one thing about practice that does stand out is there is more talent in the gym on a regular basis. However, that has diminished returns. It bleeds over into games, but it's like these guys who play in the OTE. There is very little defensive resistance outside of the point of attack. Sure there are guys out there hunting blocks and steals, but in terms of a team defensive system, it's few and far between.


Sure, some of these schools can point to the players they have had go on to bigger and better, but those players were going to go on to bigger and better without the prep school. Playing at Heritage Hills or a kid like Braylon Mullins at Greenfield, hasn't hurt their ability to improve or get exposure one bit. It's no different than what IU fans say about Kentucky's one and done. Those guys were headed to the league regardless, and playing for Calipari for one season didn't change any player's trajectory for the better, or if it did, for every player whose prospects improved, there is another whose prospects worsened.

Sounds a lot like any other college experience.

 

[secondasky]

My experiences with undergrad prep schools has been a mixed bag. Many of them are a joke. Donda Academy for one.

The education part is mostly like college. You go to class when you're around. There are tutors to help when they're not. If it's a good situation, they hopefully travel with the team, but these days it can be guided virtually.


There is this practice fallacy that often gets cited. Prep schools, in that many of them don't have strict rules regarding school time vs. extracurricular time, can practice when they want and to some extent for how long.

OK. Fine.

However, in that the play more games and travel more for games, once their season arrives, they don't practice everyday. I would say from that aspect, it tends to even out. Also, what keeps Trent (or anyone) from putting in extra time individually while staying at Heritage Hills? (Again, this would be for any kid.)

There is nothing that regulates how much work a kid can put in on his own, which could include working with a trainer. No rules prohibit that.


The coaching fallacy. There isn't much to say about that. A lot of these guys aspire to be college coaches, and just because you're a college coach or prep school coach doesn't mean you know what you're doing. Odds are it was more about who you know than what you know.


The competition fallacy. Some of their games are vs. high caliber teams. The rest are against some pretty shaky teams, masquerading elite level prep schools. They are mostly teams that operate outside of their state high school association's rules on purpose, then struggle to find other teams to play.



The one thing about practice that does stand out is there is more talent in the gym on a regular basis. However, that has diminished returns. It bleeds over into games, but it's like these guys who play in the OTE. There is very little defensive resistance outside of the point of attack. Sure there are guys out there hunting blocks and steals, but in terms of a team defensive system, it's few and far between.


Sure, some of these schools can point to the players they have had go on to bigger and better, but those players were going to go on to bigger and better without the prep school. Playing at Heritage Hills or a kid like Braylon Mullins at Greenfield, hasn't hurt their ability to improve or get exposure one bit. It's no different than what IU fans say about Kentucky's one and done. Those guys were headed to the league regardless, and playing for Calipari for one season didn't change any player's trajectory for the better, or if it did, for every player whose prospects improved, there is another whose prospects worsened.

Sounds a lot like any other college experience.

I was not sure but assumed several of these points because there just has to be tradeoffs like less practice time vs more games, less fundamentals vs more offensive emphasis. I saw where Harrelson's team just beat someone 124-62 or some number close to that.

If the education part is similar to college then these kids have to suffer for lack of discipline and training to study. Also it always seems these kids have high GPA's. That's skeptical. A lot of people would say they're not going for education, yes but where is the regulation for some form of standards. Seems like the wild west here.


Finally, the money part not mentioned before. Are these kids getting a form of NIL money ?

 

[Bloom.]

Finally, the money part not mentioned before. Are these kids getting a form of NIL money ?

Without any rules to govern it they certainly can. Not sure what that gets Sisley. Again, not change your life money.