2014 Boys Soccer Verbal Commitments

[Unregistered]

You tell me, but why can NC turn out more than twice as many players than MA when they have half players. Might buy the weather idea if not for MI. MI has a little less than half the participation of MA but still manages to turn out twice as many top players. My supposition is there are just less clubs in those states so the synergy is different but that is just a wag.

Michigan & Michigan St don't have to travel far to find most of their Football/Basketball talent. Lots of big midwestern farm boys and great athletes from Detroit and Flint. MA doesn't have cities like that. Plus Mich St shops and gets most of their players in State, and it worked well this year. Chaka at Michigan shopped Nationally with a less impressive outcome.

[perspective]

Location... More players from those states go to Top 25 colleges because Top 25 colleges exist in their home states. Not saying that MA is perfect, but if we had a Top 25 school in MA I'm sure at least 10 local kids could be rostered. Just a thought.

Actually not going to argue with this, but it is an odd observation given that MA arguably is considered the most Top College rich state in the country. Do you mean top 25 in soccer or academics or both? BC is pretty darn close, especially as a combination of academics and athletics. There aren't much more than a handful of schools in the country stronger than BC if you evenly weight academic and athletic prowess -- Stanford, Duke, UCLA, Notre Dame, UVA, UNC, Georgetown, Michigan, Cal, and maybe Vanderbilt (stronger academically but not necessarily athletically), and maybe Wake Forest. NC is tough to beat in a combo comparison with Duke, UNC, Wake, Davidson, NC State, and then also schools like Elon, High Point, etc.

[ForzaAzzurri]

Why do you think they are so low?

While I don't know the answer, I'll take a stab and offer my two cents: quite simply, at the end of the day, our populace prioritizes education.

Part of it has a parallel in Macroeconomic theory, i.e., simplified as given two countries, each will specialize at what they do best (and trade for other things). In Massachusetts, we produce brainpower -- well-educated young adults. Conversely, the rest of the country is, generally speaking, more efficient at producing athletes.

It then becomes a bit of a self-reinforcing proposition. As we become ever more educated (and statistically we ARE the most highly educated state in the nation...in some measures, by far), we look to education as the path to, well, best achieving our life-long pursuits. Opportunity cost (again, economic theory) factors in as well. A student-athlete in other parts of the country likely perceives (whether consciously or not), relatively speaking, less to "risk" by prioritizing---or even devoting the requisite time to---athletic pursuits as they age up as upperclassmen in HS and beyond.

In short, it is, like one of your overriding themes, all about the demographic.

And, oh yeah, the weather...:)

[Unregistered]

I meant Top 25 in soccer. Someone asked why we don't have more kids going to ranked programs.

[Unregistered]

Half baked?? Sorry to burst your bubble but Mass is not really producing players at an acceptable rate. Sorry to put this in context using the girls side but someone posted some data about the 2014 recruiting class that shows the point. According to USYSA Mass has the 5th highest participation rate in the country behind CA, TX, NY and PA but if you look at the number of Mass girl recruits (4) going to top 25 programs relative to those participation numbers, Mass doesn't even rank in the top 10. Given that the number of boys playing soccer is higher than girls, if only 5 players are making it to top programs their ratio is going to be even less optimistic. Considering how much gets poured into club soccer around here don't you think it is time start asking why those numbers are so low?

You realize there are 6-7 D1 schools in our backyard, right? Top recruits around here can stay local and there are enough roster spots for many of them. I don't think there's any other area with so many D1 programs in such a small area. A ratio of participation to any D1 program seems more useful.

[perspective]

While I don't know the answer, I'll take a stab and offer my two cents: quite simply, at the end of the day, our populace prioritizes education.

Part of it has a parallel in Macroeconomic theory, i.e., simplified as given two countries, each will specialize at what they do best (and trade for other things). In Massachusetts, we produce brainpower -- well-educated young adults. Conversely, the rest of the country is, generally speaking, more efficient at producing athletes.

It then becomes a bit of a self-reinforcing proposition. As we become ever more educated (and statistically we ARE the most highly educated state in the nation...in some measures, by far), we look to education as the path to, well, best achieving our life-long pursuits. Opportunity cost (again, economic theory) factors in as well. A student-athlete in other parts of the country likely perceives (whether consciously or not), relatively speaking, less to "risk" by prioritizing---or even devoting the requisite time to---athletic pursuits as they age up as upperclassmen in HS and beyond.

In short, it is, like one of your overriding themes, all about the demographic.

And, oh yeah, the weather...:)

I like this. Thanks for sharing something useful and thought-provoking. You're right, we value education so much we take it for granted, and our demographic is so competitive and so snobby actually (the opposite of the ridiculous "trophies for all" stupidity) that we tend to have a very skewed view of even many of our better schools (e.g. "oh, such and such is a decent school but not a great school"). We're competitive, we're skewed, and we're spoiled. So we can't see that an athlete who is the first in his family to go to college might actually view Savannah State or Appalachian State or Louisiana Tech as their Harvards. And the diploma they earn at those places (mocked by many in our little contingent here as worthless paper) may mean the world to them and actually serve as their lifelines to a better life. Think about all those football players at Grambling who took a stand this year. Almost none of them will play professionally. Their education and their athletic experiences there are just as important to them as anyone at Harvard, Stanford, Duke, BC, Williams, etc, etc.

[Unregistered]

Actually not going to argue with this, but it is an odd observation given that MA arguably is considered the most Top College rich state in the country. Do you mean top 25 in soccer or academics or both? BC is pretty darn close, especially as a combination of academics and athletics. There aren't much more than a handful of schools in the country stronger than BC if you evenly weight academic and athletic prowess -- Stanford, Duke, UCLA, Notre Dame, UVA, UNC, Georgetown, Michigan, Cal, and maybe Vanderbilt (stronger academically but not necessarily athletically), and maybe Wake Forest. NC is tough to beat in a combo comparison with Duke, UNC, Wake, Davidson, NC State, and then also schools like Elon, High Point, etc.

Would buy the argument if BC was landing nothing but Mass players. They are not.

Would buy ForzaAzzurri's educational value argument if all of the "elite" academic schools in Mass were then completely stocked with Mass players and then all of those schools were then at the top of their divisional rankings. They are not

[Unregistered]

While I don't know the answer, I'll take a stab and offer my two cents: quite simply, at the end of the day, our populace prioritizes education.

Part of it has a parallel in Macroeconomic theory, i.e., simplified as given two countries, each will specialize at what they do best (and trade for other things). In Massachusetts, we produce brainpower -- well-educated young adults. Conversely, the rest of the country is, generally speaking, more efficient at producing athletes.

It then becomes a bit of a self-reinforcing proposition. As we become ever more educated (and statistically we ARE the most highly educated state in the nation...in some measures, by far), we look to education as the path to, well, best achieving our life-long pursuits. Opportunity cost (again, economic theory) factors in as well. A student-athlete in other parts of the country likely perceives (whether consciously or not), relatively speaking, less to "risk" by prioritizing---or even devoting the requisite time to---athletic pursuits as they age up as upperclassmen in HS and beyond.

In short, it is, like one of your overriding themes, all about the demographic.

And, oh yeah, the weather...:)

Here's an old post regarding HS Class of 2011 and an interesting response the similar question of why only so many going to D1. By the way I do like your additional educational theory factor which I believe played a role in HS Class of 2011 and those following.

There are many schools of thought on this perplexing question: 1) there really are not many D1 caliber players in Massachusetts in the Class of 2011; 2) the remaining D1 caliber players are not impact players and thus don't want to be walk ons/roster only with little chance of playing and are chosing to play D2/D3 were they will play for 4 years; 3) the small amount of remaining D1 caliber players who do not want (never did) any part of D1 athletics or a big school and would prefer to play at a smaller college D2/D3 which is a better fit academically/socially...for them; 4) Massachusetts boys soccer is not held in high esteem by the ruling "good old boys" of college soccer. IMHO I believe it is a combination of all four and possibly a few others. For those who have seen the games at DAP/Region 1/National Showcases/Regional ODP...and then look and see some of the players from NJ, NY, MD, PA, VA whose names you recognize are committed to D1 schools--you wonder why aren't the Mass players getting these opportunities when they seem to hold there own and perform just as well when playing against these same teams/players? Perhaps the Mass Clubs and their coaches don't have the same pull/influence with D1 coaches as those in the Mid-Atlantic states? The training and skills seem to be there. Certainly it leaves alot more questions than answers. Perhaps it's that more non-New Englander's are taking D1 spots in these highly sought after New England D1 schools. Perhaps in the same light very few of our Mass players want to attend college outside of New England and play D1 in Seattle (WA) or Evansville (IN) for example.
Having seen numerous Mass teams play their counterparts from the Mid-Atlantic states and perform well against them over the years at various tournaments/leagues it is quite perplexing that more Mass players are not listed as playing D1. Perhaps it's because the boys do not have two highly nationally recognized Clubs which concentrate 95% of the talent in any age group as do the Mass girls in the Stars and Scorpions. The Stars and Scorpions have been to the National Championships for many years and with that comes the cache as a nationally recognized "top club/team" (they also have had some National Team talent--which the boys side cannot say has had much). Neither one of the DAP teams have that national cache and certainly no other boys Club in Mass has anything else as close.
Of course if you mention Baltimore Bays, Weston FC, FC Delco...they have cache and carry clout and are always in the national picture. Perhaps we need one of the DAP teams to constantly be in the DAP Championships or a non-DAP club to continually win State Cup and be in the REgion 1 Finals and win it a few times to garner this cache to change the perception of Mass boys soccer. My guess it's a combination of all of these, and if so I don't think the #'s of boys playing D1 will change much going forward unless some Mass boys Club consistently become national players or a few National Team talents come along which pulls a team along and helps recruiting spotlight shine on some of his other teammates . Just some thoughts to a question that has no one answer.

[Unregistered]

Here's an old post regarding HS Class of 2011 and an interesting response the similar question of why only so many going to D1. By the way I do like your additional educational theory factor which I believe played a role in HS Class of 2011 and those following.

There are many schools of thought on this perplexing question: 1) there really are not many D1 caliber players in Massachusetts in the Class of 2011; 2) the remaining D1 caliber players are not impact players and thus don't want to be walk ons/roster only with little chance of playing and are chosing to play D2/D3 were they will play for 4 years; 3) the small amount of remaining D1 caliber players who do not want (never did) any part of D1 athletics or a big school and would prefer to play at a smaller college D2/D3 which is a better fit academically/socially...for them; 4) Massachusetts boys soccer is not held in high esteem by the ruling "good old boys" of college soccer. IMHO I believe it is a combination of all four and possibly a few others. For those who have seen the games at DAP/Region 1/National Showcases/Regional ODP...and then look and see some of the players from NJ, NY, MD, PA, VA whose names you recognize are committed to D1 schools--you wonder why aren't the Mass players getting these opportunities when they seem to hold there own and perform just as well when playing against these same teams/players? Perhaps the Mass Clubs and their coaches don't have the same pull/influence with D1 coaches as those in the Mid-Atlantic states? The training and skills seem to be there. Certainly it leaves alot more questions than answers. Perhaps it's that more non-New Englander's are taking D1 spots in these highly sought after New England D1 schools. Perhaps in the same light very few of our Mass players want to attend college outside of New England and play D1 in Seattle (WA) or Evansville (IN) for example.
Having seen numerous Mass teams play their counterparts from the Mid-Atlantic states and perform well against them over the years at various tournaments/leagues it is quite perplexing that more Mass players are not listed as playing D1. Perhaps it's because the boys do not have two highly nationally recognized Clubs which concentrate 95% of the talent in any age group as do the Mass girls in the Stars and Scorpions. The Stars and Scorpions have been to the National Championships for many years and with that comes the cache as a nationally recognized "top club/team" (they also have had some National Team talent--which the boys side cannot say has had much). Neither one of the DAP teams have that national cache and certainly no other boys Club in Mass has anything else as close.
Of course if you mention Baltimore Bays, Weston FC, FC Delco...they have cache and carry clout and are always in the national picture. Perhaps we need one of the DAP teams to constantly be in the DAP Championships or a non-DAP club to continually win State Cup and be in the REgion 1 Finals and win it a few times to garner this cache to change the perception of Mass boys soccer. My guess it's a combination of all of these, and if so I don't think the #'s of boys playing D1 will change much going forward unless some Mass boys Club consistently become national players or a few National Team talents come along which pulls a team along and helps recruiting spotlight shine on some of his other teammates . Just some thoughts to a question that has no one answer.

We moved up here from CT about 18 months ago and I'd have to say your description fits CT as well. At the DAP level you have Oakwood and SouthCentral (Now Beachside), neither of which were powerhouses on the national level. We also had a highly educated state with plenty of kids want to stay closer to home and have their pick of high quality educational institutions. There would be players who would move onto D1 but one could argue that the quality of that D1 play was often questionable. Same can be said of premier clubs as well. Once in awhile you'd get a club with one team that would make it far in playoffs but no club is consistently fields teams that make it very far year in and year out. We never had to travel far to get our butts kicked in NJ/NY/PA/VA. And just like in MA, Lacrosse and hockey also are big in CT and at a certain age players much make a choice. I don't think of states like VA or CA as lacrosse or hockey powerhouses. I grew up in the Midwest and had never even seen a lacrosse game until I went to college. Fewer player doing other sports means greater talent flowing into the remaining sports.

Naturally each player is an individual with his/her own set of circumstances. None of my kids wanted to play D1 - happy playing HS and club. The youngest is now in HS and the others are either in college or grad school. All did great academically and soccer played a big role in their lives and development but it didn't rule it. For those who can achieve their dreams, whatever they may be and how ever they may get there, congratulations.

[Unregistered]

New coach at MIT ?

[perspective]

Would buy the argument if BC was landing nothing but Mass players. They are not.

Would buy ForzaAzzurri's educational value argument if all of the "elite" academic schools in Mass were then completely stocked with Mass players and then all of those schools were then at the top of their divisional rankings. They are not

If I'm following your logic I think you are missing something. If the Mass schools are better you shouldn't expect them to be stocked by Mass kids. The better schools don't want kids primarily from their own states. It's actually often a disadvantage. The fact that BC is recruiting well outside of the state actually argues FOR the prestige of the school.

[Unregistered]

New coach at MIT ?

MS headed to Washington and Lee

[Unregistered]

If I'm following your logic I think you are missing something. If the Mass schools are better you shouldn't expect them to be stocked by Mass kids. The better schools don't want kids primarily from their own states. It's actually often a disadvantage. The fact that BC is recruiting well outside of the state actually argues FOR the prestige of the school.

Not too many big farm boys from Mass

[Unregistered]

Interesting article on staying local

http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2012/1...st-reputation/

[Unregistered]

Where are all the commits? I need more commits!