sussexgal

Hi there,

I came across this forum and thought somebody might be kind enough to help me!!

I have a son who is 12 years old (year 8) and talented at sport. His main sport is soccer but he is also county cricket and athletics.
For a number of reasons i've got the feeling that he would benefit from going to a US boarding school when he reaches Year 10. I spent time at a US high school when i was 18 and so i know a little about what its like. I can't find anything on the net for Brits doing this (probably because there are so many boarding schools in the UK) so any help appreciated.

A few questions for anyone who has any knowledge:

• i have looked at a few schools online but there are so many!! What are the main soccer schools in the usa?
• how do scholarships work?? we are asset rich, cash poor so could afford to contribute something from re-mortgage and grandparent contributions - but not $50-60k p.a.
• are international students considered for us high school scholarships?? I had a quick look at the online means test site and it seems, understandably, very geared to US so i wasn't sure how they assess international students.
• when does the admission process start?
• He is academically able but not an academic scholar by any means. tbh he just does the bare minimum to get by. Are there academic assessments to consider?
• Finally does anybody know of any schools that might fit the bill that offer residential summer programmes (ideally for soccer) so that he can get a taster and see if its something he'd enjoy?

Thanks in advance for any help anybody is able to give.

Orangepants

IMG Academy at Brandenton, Florida I know is recommended in the soccer world. Don't know anything about it though.

scrubbedexpat099

I am passibley familiar with the Football system at that age but Girls not Boys and my impression is that it is very much Pay to Play well apart from teams focusing on Ethnic areas. Scholarships at that age? Now later if you are good enough to go to College maybe.

I would have thought a UK Boarding School with Academy connections would be a better deal.

Cricket here seems more Sub Continent focussed where it exists.

zzrmark

Soccer, tennis, gridiron - they act as a feeder for the local schools here, we've had a few top notch QB's finish their schooling at my wife's school (note: not her school, where she teaches!!). Students from all over the world, often out and about in shops and restaurants and always well behaved. No doubt one of their coaches will bring a small group to tonight's football game at the school, three or four of them usually turn up to watch.p
If the lad is into cricket then he'll have to look outside the US schooling system, we do have an active scene here thanks to some keen Pakistanis but cricket is very much in it's infancy in the US.
If mum is really keen to ship him as far away as possible and play cricket in school then you'd be better looking at some of the UK's old colonies!

carcajou

What outcome, specifically, are you trying to achieve? The US and UK education systems are not similar, and neither are public attitudes towards them, and neither are the purposes of boarding schools. Based on what you wrote, I don't think you are likely to find something that meets your expectations (athletically or financially).

I think you are better off finding an academy in the UK that has a track record of landing US university scholarships for its students. In the US, high school athletics "feed" into universities and parents aiming to develop athletic skill in their children are aiming for a place at a top-tier university sport program. It is quite normal for even wealthy parents to leave a child in the public school system, if developing an athletic talent in a major sport, due to the competition and facilities available, and the recruiting "pipeline" that gives access to. However, a lot of the universities do recruit overseas for soccer. From the budget you outlined, you will probably be dependent on a scholarship if your child wants to attend a US university.

Cricket, forget it. There is no cricket infrastructure in the US whatsoever and even universities that offer what are boutique sports in the US like squash and rugby, don't offer cricket. The general public doesn't know anything about cricket other than a vague sense that it's some kind of British baseball.

tom169

From my observation Cricket isn't a thing except in certain Indian culture over here.

Rete

It was Indian and Pakistan in New York City area.

The OP didn't mention cricket but rather soccer. These days soccer is getting more and more popular, particularly in geographical areas that have a high Irish population. My niece won a full scholarship to St. John's University for soccer. Saved her parents a fortune for 4 years of college. My two granddaughters also are on teams. One in New York and one in Mississippi. Both those girls and my niece as well didn't play on school teams (there weren't any) but in town sponsored teams after school and weekends. Niece was on a traveling soccer team for 3 years when she qualified for the full scholarship.

RICH

From their website:
https://www.imgacademy.com/sites/def...%20YEAR%29.pdf

zzrmark

OP's name suggests that she is from Sussex and if the kid plays on the county youth team he is going to be quite keen on the sport and quite handy! ( especially as Sussex isn't exactly the worst county in Britain to play for!!)

Owen778

I am unsure what you are trying to achieve by sending him to a boarding school on a different continent. The problems I see:
- It's a very long way away. I know from experience that weeks at a time away from family can be done at that age, but the extra distance and 5 or more hours of time zone difference are going to be harder than a boarding school in the UK. It's also going to be very expensive, and not just school fees. US flights have gone up in price a lot in the last few years, both internally and transatlantic. If you are cash-poor, the flights to and from home would be a big hit, even ignoring school fees and other costs.
- Cricket will go out the window. It is unlikely that he'll even be able to find a team, and if he can that team might converse in Hindi or something else.
- Soccer is big in only a few parts of the US, and that is often among the Hispanic (Mexican etc.) population. It doesn't make sense to me to send a kid from Europe to the US to learn a sport that is much more commonly played and supported in Europe.

Personally, if I was in the UK and thought my local set-up was going to hold back my very sporty kid, and I was considering boarding school, I would look at somewhere like Millfield in the UK, in Somerset. There may be other schools very strong in sports too.

And honestly, the biggest red flag I see is that you say that your kid just does the minimum to get by academically. Personally, I'd be trying to find somewhere that will interest him and stretch him while still providing the high-level sports he needs.

Nutmegger

Like others, I'm not sure why the OP would want to send a boy to the US to further his skills in soccer (at best a fourth or fifth tier sport here) and cricket (played only by Asian and Caribbean immigrants in the park) from a country that has a storied history in both games. In the US, sports are utilized as a means to get to college on scholarship by young people who play well, but have no hope of eventually turning pro; in the UK colleges are not the feeders for professional sports that they are in the US, and there are non-academic routes towards sports careers. With the OP's son not being a good scholar, it would seem that he has a better chance of success in the UK (without his parents having to mortgage the house to pay for it), where, let's face it, many top soccer players have only a passing acquaintance with grammar and sentence construction!

Rete

It's not been touched on but there is a high incident of drug and alcohol usage among high school students in the US, particularly those students who are poor academics and jocks. Without parental supervision, a poor scholar, far from home, is a prime candidate for this culture. Yes boarding schools have house parents and such but it does little to curtail the use of alcohol and drugs. He has already demonstrated that he prefers to forego learning in favor of sports so he fits that criteria to a "T".

petitefrancaise

Good Grief Rete!!!!!
Whilst I would say that probably every high school may have some drug use going on, your definition of "high incidence" is extremely subjective. I would say that every high school in EU/UK/USA and lord knows where else has some drug use and whether or not is a problem is very highly dependant on each school. You also don't know where this child is coming from and what the norm is there, it might actually be better at whichever school they choose in the USA.
I would be more concerned about the use of performance enhancing drugs in a sport oriented school.
I would be more concerned about putting any child into such a hothouse environment of a sport focused school. The pressures on the children to do well in their sport and get into a college based on their sporting ability (along with the scholarship) would be something I would be a lot more concerned about.

Rete

Why do I need to know where this child is coming from. And why is the incidence of enhancement drug use in sports viewed differently from illegal street drugs. The point was, and is, that the child is without parental supervision on a daily basis. A parent knows when I child is 'off kilter' far more than a school authority. And a child who feels that it doesn't have to perform to his ability academically is showing that they are easier prey to those who push enhancement drugs or street drugs. They apparently don't care enough about their future or have the self-respect to live up to their potential. So shipping them off to a strange country, is, IMHO, not the best course of action for this child.

You are, of course, entitled to your opinion and me, to mine.

AdobePinon