Catholic Blue, Illinois

St. Laurence or Br. Rice. Both the best coaches. As far as playing time ..... it all depends. Get your son on a great summer program that may have affiliations with either school.

What programs feed in to these schools? We live closer to the I 290 but play travel in the I80 area. Our team is all spread out for high school choices. My son visited most of the Blue schools and liked Mt Carmel, Rice and Rita. We did test but understand you can still transfer scores if wanted??

You are deciding your sons school on possible playing time?

No that came out wrong. First the education is most important. I do think great coaching is much needed however I think all these schools have great coaching. Understanding how he may fit in to a program is also important. I realize there are no promises. I realize my sons talents good and bad and I am just considering the best fit for him. I see many kids transfer out and with the new rule going in to effect, I would prefer to avoid that path. I think no kid wants to sit every game and just be on the team. Just like in travel ball, there are many different levels of play to provide for many different levels of talent. I think everyone has some understanding of the history of most great schools just like the great travel programs and have to consider if the level of play is above your sons potential.

Not that I would want to dissuade you from sending your boy to a private school but may I ask what is your motivating factor. Because based on your location it looks like if you're looking for a good baseball school it looks like you have one in your backyard with OPRF which just won state and consistantly fields winning teams and from what I understand has good coaching. Academically OPRF is a strong school with a good graduation rate and excellent academics. If your thinking that your son may want to play college ball down the road and you want to get him in the best possible opportunity to achieve this I can understand. But realize that most college coaches don't come out to HS games regardless of the school. They do most of their scouting at scouting camps and summer tournaments. The most important thing to do is to make sure you have your son on a good travel team that can give your son exposure to these coaches. Again, not trying to tell you what to do just trying to give you some advice. Regardless of what you do or where you send your boy I think he'll get a good education and should be on a good team this spring. Good luck and enjoy this time with your boy as much as you can.

OPRF is a great baseball school. We have great coaching and have done well in the big stage but we are considering a Catholic Education at a ALL boys school. Nothing personal against OPRF. We also have a great local training fascility with Strikes. Scott Nelson is in my opinion as good as it gets.

Our local travel programs and local leagues are very average at best. That is why we choose to travel towards the I80 teams.