Specialty high schools

[johnb]

I wonder at the extent of early specialization for Duke students. Angularity is a big deal for regular students but even moreso for athletes.

Because of a different thread, I went browsing on GoDuke and wandered onto the rosters for the tennis teams. 3/10 of the men were from other countries, and one other went to a specialty sports high school, and the rest seem to be from the usual range of public and private schools that probably send other kids to Duke.

The women's tennis team was unusual, it seemed to me, in that 7/8 went to either a specialty sports high school or graduated from an online high school that presumably allowed them to play a lot of tennis. 3/8 graduated from the same high school (Laurel Springs) and presumably would have made a fearsome lineup if the 3 girls didn't live in 3 different states.

The women's golf team had a similar demographic with 2/8 attending typical American high schools and the rest either being international or attending a sports academy, an online school, or being home schooled until her senior year.

Men's golf had 4/10 international students with most of the rest seeming to attend regular schools (though the only one I looked up happened to have finished first or second in state in 11 sports in the 2011-12 school year--though it didn't seem to label itself as a specialty sports school).

As a point of comparison, at least 11 of the basketball players went to high schools that explicitly mention Christ on their web sites. Not sure what that means except that a bunch of private/religious schools have developed very strong basketball teams.

I don't have time to look through the rest (I didn't really have time to look up these) and don't mean to cast any aspersions on these student-athletes. Instead, I should add that our sports teams are filled with folks who are also an all-academic teams. My point really is perhaps the obvious one: it's hard to be nationally competitive at sports that are widely played, and if you want (or want your kids to want) to go to Duke on a sports scholly, you better hope they're athletic and then have them spend their time playing sports rather than video games...

[burnspbesq]

As far as the men's basketball team is concerned, I can't speak to the quality of academic programs at Oak Hill, Montrose Christian, Atlantic Shores Christian, or Charlotte Christian, except to note that none of Quinn, Josh, Dre, or Seth appear to be having any difficulty doing the work at Duke.

Gonzaga, Christ School, Strake Jesuit, Friends Central, Ravenscroft, and Lake Forest Academy all have national reputations for academic rigor.

On the women's basketball team, there are three Catholic high schools and one of the most academically rigorous prep schools anywhere (Peddie) represented.

It's not unusual for top talents in junior golf and tennis to be home-schooled or attend IMG, because of the time commitments required to play a reasaonbly full schedule of junior tournaments. Home-schooling isn't necessarily a sign of poor preparation: to cite only one example, Becca Ward was home-schooled and graduated from Duke on time with a double major.

I don't think you're barking up the wrong tree. I think there's no tree.

[johnb]

As far as the men's basketball team is concerned, I can't speak to the quality of academic programs at Oak Hill, Montrose Christian, Atlantic Shores Christian, or Charlotte Christian, except to note that none of Quinn, Josh, Dre, or Seth appear to be having any difficulty doing the work at Duke.

Gonzaga, Christ School, Strake Jesuit, Friends Central, Ravenscroft, and Lake Forest Academy all have national reputations for academic rigor.

On the women's basketball team, there are three Catholic high schools and one of the most academically rigorous prep schools anywhere (Peddie) represented.

It's not unusual for top talents in junior golf and tennis to be home-schooled or attend IMG, because of the time commitments required to play a reasaonbly full schedule of junior tournaments. Home-schooling isn't necessarily a sign of poor preparation: to cite only one example, Becca Ward was home-schooled and graduated from Duke on time with a double major.

I don't think you're barking up the wrong tree. I think there's no tree.

The tree I was barking up was not related to academic rigor. As I said, many of these students are on All-ACC academic teams, and I can't recall the last student-athlete who failed to graduate. If you read my post a bit more carefully, I was saying that a large percentage of the people on these specific teams had attended high schools that allowed them the time and structure to specialize at a relatively young age.