Choosing a High School

Welcome, you have come to the right place. The question that you are asking has generally been asked every year for the last few on this site. I suggest that you do a quick search using the find function at the top of the page.

Since you asked, I will give you my two cents.

Send your son to a school where he will grow as a person. Choose one with a reputation for strong academics and sending kids to college. Your son needs to find joy in going to school, listen to him, he will tell you what is appealing.

As to baseball, the game is the same no matter where you go. However, again listen to your son. Does he have the fire in his belly to compete at the highest level or is baseball a game that he loves where playing is more important than the level of play.

Ultimatly, our kids grow up and generally put baseball behind them. However, the experience that they have in high school shapes their early adult years. With this in mind, I would send my son to the school which is the best for my son, affordable to our family where if he did not play baseball would produce the best experience and education.

Good luck!

My son played for a private school his freshman and sophomore years (high school enrollment about 350) that made it to the state final 4 his sophomore year. The good -- he started at SS as a freshman and got lots of playing time. The bad -- despite its success, the program got little notice from colleges or scouts and even less respect from those associated with large public programs. I believe that the lack of quality competition from other schools dragged the players' skills down. The training during baseball season was decent but not great, and there was no training at all in the off season. Son had to do everything on his own and it was difficult to find teammates motivated enough to do extra training with him. When he played select ball with gifted public school players the summer after his sophomore year, he had a pretty big adjustment and struggled at times.

In his junior year, son transferred to a large public school with a highly successful program. He sat quite a bit (the entire infield had made All-District the previous year), but still improved his skills dramatically through the awesome training he received for the entire school year. The competitive nature of the program definitely brought up his game and helped pave the way for a seamless transition to select ball the summer after his junior year.

If I were you, I'd go for choice #1.

I think you have to consider the ability of the player and what his overall goals are.

I would choose the best school possible for education and a team that would fit the ability of the player. If the player expects to go beyond high school, I would choose the school which will make him improve the most, even if it requires him to play at a lower level for a year or two.

If the player in never going beyond HS, why play down at a lower level, never play or not play varsity until possibly his sr year.

I have friends who have gone to a strong baseball school and they were just miserable because their friends played varsity their 4 years and their sons was just as good if not better, they did not make it to varsity until their sr year and even at that did not play much. They quit baseball after high school...

Does your son have a preference?

I would agree with those who tell you to think about the whole school and not just the baseball program, but I would also give very heavy weight to your son's desires. He is at the age where it is important to consider his preferences if you can.

Sorry -- I was assuming that all 3 schools had good academics when I posted. That definitely is something to take into consideration.

Another angle on this high school matter. If you are new to this area, ignore this post.

Where are his "core" group of friends going to high school? That core group of good friends is so important to the high school success story. Also, do you have good communication with the other parents of these kids? That's key because even the best of kids can get into trouble and get involved in some stupid stunts.

Good luck as you make this decision.

The advice I have is similar to the advice given to kids looking at colleges: don't choose the school based on baseball alone. However all else being equal, I think you want to go to a school where he will play. I've seen countless kids go to a high profile school (public or private) and sit for much if not all of their four years. It will always be up to the individual (and his parents) to improve their own skill level, don't think you can pass that along to a school, however I know some are very dedicated in this area and others not. As far as college recruiting goes, if you have the ability to play at the next level and you play the travel circuit, do the showcases and target the right schools, you will find a right fit for college.

My own son went high academic private school in a very competitive league over large public. There are trade-offs that you will have to live with either way. Good luck.

You are getting good advice all around! I agree with the point about friends (which was certainly a big part of why my son wanted to go where he did).

Also--baseball at any level is always a shifting picture. Coaches come and go, pools of more or less skilled players come in, and you just never know what will happen. When my son entered high school, his high school was competing in the lower level of a 2-tier public school league. By the time he was a senior, they were placing second, two years in a row, in the high division of that league, and ended up as runner-ups in Division 1 of the playoffs, having beaten a nationally-ranked private school team along the way. A lot of that had to do with amazing team chemistry, plus an influx of talented players in his year and the year behind him, such that the senior varsity squad consisted of fantastic kids and families, several of whom have gone on to excel in college as well. But you couldn't necessarily have seen that coming in freshman year. My son picked his school for its overall qualities and his friends.

I am always amazed when this question comes up and academics are not the first consideration. That should be the first thought in choosing a HS. Good grades are a strong consideration for most college coaches, what's the point of choosing a competitive HS baseball program if one can't get into college?

Some of the replies have been great. My son went to a HS where he was accepted to a special academic program, where his friends attended, his appointed school. We played in a good district with good competition but it was a fair program as far as BB went. We didn't rely on his HS record for the opportunity to get to school in our area very few coaches (except local) watch HS games.
JMO.

Another thing to consider is the type of student your son is. Is he highly academic or just average? My son's current high school is highly competitive with top students taking 6-8 honors courses each semester, which gives extra weight to their GPA. One of my son's friends has a 93 GPA and is ranked in the 3rd quarter. Those with a 98 GPA cannot even break into the top 10%, which is required for admission to the University of Texas. If your son is an average student, this type of academic competition could actually hurt his chances to get admitted to college. Just some food for thought.

Wow, lots of good replies. Thanks to all.

I should have said that academics are actually our first priority. We have pretty good knowledge of all three of the choices I mentioned and generally believe the three schools to be even from an academic/college prep standpoint.

Baseball is being considered because our son is passionate about it and we believe that, together with good grades and tests, an accomplished student-athlete will have more options at college selection time.

Of the three schools, my son is especially enthusiastic about only one of them due to his friends, so I think we are heading in that direction.

Thanks again.

JPF

It seems odd to me that your son would have a choice between two public schools. In Louisiana one must attend the public school within his residential district. But I've heard that in California, and maybe elsewhere, there are no such restrictions and players are allowed to transfer without penalty, at will.

quote:

Originally posted by Louisiana Lightning:
It seems odd to me that your son would have a choice between two public schools. In Louisiana one must attend the public school within his residential district. But I've heard that in California, and maybe elsewhere, there are no such restrictions and players are allowed to transfer without penalty, at will.

Some districts in some states have open enrollment.

You just wait, LL, with your new governor, the public school system is going to be changing dramatically. New charter schools, vouchers, all sorts of choices are going to be opened up.

Due to overcrowding here, many have choices as well.

Some Florida schools have "magnet" programs with specialized curriculum in fields such as medicine, engineering, etc. Students apply to transfer to that particular school.

Students also can transfer based on overall school achievement scores. When a school performs poorly students can transfer.

Students at racialy unbalanced schools can transfer to a "balanced" school.

Dad04,
Quite a few charter schools popping up as well.

When daughter was in high school, she was assigned to another school (have to claim a hardhip) and was granted as long as we provided transportation.

I am aware of those exceptions, but for the great majority of students, attendance within one's school district is mandatory. But my understanding of California's system is it is wide open to all students without penalty, regardless of where one's parents might reside, and there is no penalty for transferring at any time.

LL,
There are statewide rules regarding the eligibility of transfer students to play sports. They are available at California Interscholastic Federation.
Basically, for varsity sports, a student can transfer, and retain eligibility to play, if his entire family makes a valid change of residence. Or a student can transfer once without change of residence if he/she does it before the start of the sophomore year.
If there isn't a valid change of residence, retaining eligibility requires a lot of affadavits, and the cooperation of the previous school.

Recently, a new wrinkle has been added. If a student transfers to a new school, and has participated on a non-school athletic team which can be construed to be "associated with" the new school, then even with a change of residence, it is assumed that "undue influence" has occurred, and affadavits are required. See rule 510 in the parent handbook, Volume 1.

Hardly "wide open"

Independent of athletics, there are limitations on public school attendence. I can't speak to the entire state, but at least for our local school district, there are 5 high schools. A student is assigned to one of the 5 schools based on address. A student can apply to attend one of the other 4 schools, and if there is insufficient space to accomodate all the intra-district transfer requests, students are chosen by lottery.

The old regulations were a joke as 98% of all applications for transfers were approved and you can still transfer for any reason after your freshman year. Read this article.http://www.marinij.com/ci_6704960. The rules to which you refer are new and might help curb the abuse. I know of one "used to be famous" California high school QB who transfered, I think, three times, each for purely athletic reasons.

quote:

Originally posted by Louisiana Lightning:
The old regulations were a joke as 98% of all applications for transfers were approved and you can still transfer for any reason after your freshman year. Read this article.http://www.marinij.com/ci_6704960. The rules to which you refer are new and might help curb the abuse. I know of one "used to be famous" California high school QB who transfered, I think, three times, each for purely athletic reasons.

Might you be talking about Todd Marinovich? Shreveport Evangel has their share of super transfers in football have they not? From what I've seen, the charter schools are basketball player only schools that are feeding off foreign talent in some cases. It is really sad what has happened at the high school level in some "competative" sports.

Lifted from another forum:


Here is another one of those great transfer stories. Kyle Crisp, RB at Upland HS, decided to 'sit out' the playoff game against Mission Viejo to be at the UCLA/USC game to 'enhance his status as a DI recruit'. Needless to say, the coaches, administrators and players at Upland HS weren't too happy. Soooo Crisp's mom disenrolled Kyle Crisp and enrolled him at Long Beach Poly. A great school to 'enhance his status as a DI recruit'. Unfortunately, it became obvious at talent-laden Poly, his chances of playing were slim. Soooo Crisp's mom is now looking at moving him to Rancho Cucamonga which appears to have a talented team returning and doesn't have the stockpile of RBs. In one short offseason, Crisp has moved from Upland to Long Beach Poly to Rancho Cucamonga. A mere three stops and close to 100 miles roundtrip. Ahhhhh, the beauty of California High School football. I am sure Crisp will be filing for the 'hardship' rule to play this year at RC. By the way, Upland plays RC late in the year and I am sure his Upland teammates will have a special surprise for quitter Crisp.......OCStatMan

quote:

Shreveport Evangel has their share of super transfers in football have they not?

Yea, but they got caught and the player, whose name I think was Nixon, a QB from Texas was forced to sit out his senior year.

Louisiana has also curbed some of the abuse by forcing elite football programs to play within their enrollment classifications. So now you have Evangel, John Curtis, Calvary Batiste playing against each other in the next to smallest classification 2A and destroying everyone else they play in that class.

quote:

Originally posted by Louisiana Lightning:

quote:

Shreveport Evangel has their share of super transfers in football have they not?

Yea, but they got caught and the player, whose name I think was Nixon, a QB from Texas was forced to sit out his senior year.

Louisiana has also curbed some of the abuse by forcing elite football programs to play within their enrollment classifications. So now you have Evangel, John Curtis, Calvary Batiste playing against each other in the next to smallest classification 2A and destroying everyone else they play in that class.

That can happen when public and private schools all compete together. In Texas, only two schools are allowed to compete in UIL athletics and at the highest level (5A). They are all boy schools Dallas Jesuit and Houston Strake Jesuit.