DragonMan
Jimmy Flynn (14)
What is the point of recruiting if the schools don't recruit the best players at that age (ie why wouldn't they recruit from A grade club?)
School sporting scholarships/recruitment
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Inside Shoulder
Nathan Sharpe (72)
League
Not in straight
Vay Wilson (31)
SDW, I've not seen anything on this in any publication. But I am sure it would be the full monty if they were doing it. Tuition + Boarding.
But I am certain they wont use it to target a football player. In fact if a kid applied for it and was a world beater he would probably be overlooked. The scholarships are NOT about sport. He would need to be have plenty of qualities in other areas.
Like be a good rower.
BeastieBoy
Herbert Moran (7)
I thought that the one of the great attractions for rugby was that it was a game for all shapes and sizes. Realistically how many 60kg 12 year olds are actually recruited into year 7 at GPS schools. Of the schools that do recruit (whether they admit it on or not), wouldn't it make more sense to recruit when the kids are about 15 or 16?[/quote]
At Scots they start recruiting in year 5 and by Year 7 they have recruited a full Team of A's practically. There is a understanding amongst the headmasters that they can't recruit beyond Year 9, with an odd bursery exemption. Once a scholarship boy they stay there and are not dropped unless they leave the school entirely. They have invested a lot of foregone school fees and want those boys to succeed on the pathway. I suspect that is why the current Scots seconds are last. In year 7 a lot of boys get bumped and they and/or their parents start losing heart for the game.
At Scots they start recruiting in year 5 and by Year 7 they have recruited a full Team of A's practically. There is a understanding amongst the headmasters that they can't recruit beyond Year 9, with an odd bursery exemption. Once a scholarship boy they stay there and are not dropped unless they leave the school entirely. They have invested a lot of foregone school fees and want those boys to succeed on the pathway. I suspect that is why the current Scots seconds are last. In year 7 a lot of boys get bumped and they and/or their parents start losing heart for the game.
BeastieBoy
Herbert Moran (7)
I think its a game for big people now. If your boy is not going to be big, his future will be very limited. Sure there may be a massively skilled exception in the future. I think that is one of the reasons for the rise of soccer in the schools. Schools and clubs year to year have massive imports of Rugby players, so its run pretty professionally at a young age and even into amateur grade rugby. You have to be skilled and on top of your game consistently and it certainly helps to be big. The professional clubs overseas hire based on height and weight. look at Sporple.com So if you want a sport that your son can achieve at and you know your son will be just average weight and height or less, then a thinking man's strategy would be something other than Rugby.
Blue & white
Billy Sheehan (19)
Position is the same in Qld.
Now far more teams in GPS soccer. Traditional rugby nurseries like BSHS (8 players in 77 And 09 Aussie Schoolboy teams) and IGS have only 1 under 16 rugby team but 4 and 5 under 16 soccer teams .
Now far more teams in GPS soccer. Traditional rugby nurseries like BSHS (8 players in 77 And 09 Aussie Schoolboy teams) and IGS have only 1 under 16 rugby team but 4 and 5 under 16 soccer teams .
Quick Hands
David Wilson (68)
The rise of the recruited super team is having a similar impact at club level as the scholarshipped super team is having at school level. It just provides a reason for the participant player to do something else.
Shane Smeltz
Fred Wood (13)
This story is not about a sports scholarship but a comment about certain schools' policies.
I know a boy, he finished HSC last year. When he was a youngster he lived in the Hills area and played A-grade rugby and Junior reps. It was his dream to attend Oakhill College for high school and play rugby for the school. He also played rep cricket and was a talented basketballer.
He was baptised Catholic and from a Catholic family, he had an uncle who was a Catholic priest and gave a reference for him.
However his family chose to send him to the local public school within walking distance from his house. He was very bright at school and did very well, he was put in a G & T class.
In Yr 5 his parents received a letter from Oakhill informing them the were only taking boys from Catholic schools (Catholic boys or not) and they suggested he went elsewhere. There was no chance whatsoever for a spot they said.
The boy was utterly devastated but his rep cricket coach, who was a cricket coach at Kings, suggested he sit the All-Rounder scholarship exam.
Long story short - he got it. A full scholarship for Yrs 7-12.
The boy repaid The Kings School by playing rugby, cricket and basketball for them at a high level and got 98 ATAR on his HSC.
Onya Oakhill College, onya.
I know a boy, he finished HSC last year. When he was a youngster he lived in the Hills area and played A-grade rugby and Junior reps. It was his dream to attend Oakhill College for high school and play rugby for the school. He also played rep cricket and was a talented basketballer.
He was baptised Catholic and from a Catholic family, he had an uncle who was a Catholic priest and gave a reference for him.
However his family chose to send him to the local public school within walking distance from his house. He was very bright at school and did very well, he was put in a G & T class.
In Yr 5 his parents received a letter from Oakhill informing them the were only taking boys from Catholic schools (Catholic boys or not) and they suggested he went elsewhere. There was no chance whatsoever for a spot they said.
The boy was utterly devastated but his rep cricket coach, who was a cricket coach at Kings, suggested he sit the All-Rounder scholarship exam.
Long story short - he got it. A full scholarship for Yrs 7-12.
The boy repaid The Kings School by playing rugby, cricket and basketball for them at a high level and got 98 ATAR on his HSC.
Onya Oakhill College, onya.
SonnyDillWilliams
Nev Cottrell (35)
Not in straight, are you not at old boy?
I gather they are hitting up old boys to fund it ...
I would have thought careful thought needs to be given to making sure the recepient has a great experience ... As obviously dropping an indigenous child into a sea of privileged Anglos (predominantly) might be great for broadening horizons but obviously the child's happiness/health / opportunity must be the priority
Anyway I reiterate I think it is great first step by shore ... Even if it has to be a rower
I gather they are hitting up old boys to fund it ...
I would have thought careful thought needs to be given to making sure the recepient has a great experience ... As obviously dropping an indigenous child into a sea of privileged Anglos (predominantly) might be great for broadening horizons but obviously the child's happiness/health / opportunity must be the priority
Anyway I reiterate I think it is great first step by shore ... Even if it has to be a rower
oakhilldad
Stan Wickham (3)
My youngest boy was in that year at Oakhill. He did not go to a Catholic primary school and we received no such letter. We are Catholic and we did have a reference from the local priest. Of the boys who applied to Oakhill from his public school I noted that only the two catholic boys were selected. He played club rugby but not A's or reps so I don't think that had much bearing. As far as I can see being Catholic was the only criteria, fair enough for a Catholic school?
We were told they had over 2000 applications for 200 year 7 spots.
So I think there is a bit more to the above story.
I don't think Oakhill do sporting scholarship. There was one boy who left in year 9 to go to Kings after making NSW reps that year. I don't know if it was on a scholarship, but good luck to Kings!
DragonMan
Jimmy Flynn (14)
"At Scots they start recruiting in year 5 and by Year 7 they have recruited a full Team of A's practically. There is a understanding amongst the headmasters that they can't recruit beyond Year 9, with an odd bursery exemption. Once a scholarship boy they stay there and are not dropped unless they leave the school entirely. They have invested a lot of foregone school fees and want those boys to succeed on the pathway. I suspect that is why the current Scots seconds are last. In year 7 a lot of boys get bumped and they and/or their parents start losing heart for the game".
Do you mean they make offers in year 5 to start in year 7 or actually get them in to Scots in year 5? Either way wouldn't this mean that they would have a strong Second XV (because what would have been the 1st XV are 'pushed down' and at least some of the 'natural' Scots 1st XV would have stayed on in rugby). I'm a Newington Old Boy and I'm not pretending New doesn't recruit in one way or another but if its true that Scots recruits as young as 10-12 year olds then that's just ridiculous. Why are parents paying 32K a year if their sons are not going to be elite sportsmen? I can understand the justification (to a degree) of forking out big money at the other schools because at least you either get a great all round education (View, Joeys, New, TKS, Shore) or are guaranteed to work at Macquarie Bank or a become a top notch surgeon or barrister (Grammar) but why are non sporting parents paying 32K a year if their son is at a school which appears solely designed to conquer GPS sport (note their Soccer, Basketball and X-Country teams have suddenly become extremely successful).
Do you really believe this?? Apart from sporting issues, Scots, like many schools, offers a broad curriculum as well as co-curricular activities and presents as many opportunities as most other schools for kids to develop their education. And, to someone's credit, they have improved their academic performance somewhat in recent years. Not to mention the fact that many parents of boys at Scots do not endorse the perceived mania for sporting achievement.
This labelling of schools as this or that, as you have done here, is facile.
DragonMan
Jimmy Flynn (14)
My response was premised on the statement that Scots recruits Rugby kids into or before year 7. Scots may have improved academically but they are still the worst performing GPS for HSC results. In addition if there are parents unhappy with the mania for sporting achievement why are they still sending their kids to Scots? If I labeled Grammar an academic hothouse or Joey's a rugby nursery would that also be facile ?
Because it actually offers more than just sport, which was my point, which you seem not to be able to grasp.
And yes, labelling schools as narrow in focus does them all a disservice. You see the headline, but cannot or will not read the fine print.
And the 2014 rankings were:-
SHS 6
SGS 11
SCEGS 27
TSC 52
TKS 58
SIC 64
SJC 72
NC 73
I appreciate these "rankings" are of limited benefit, but it seems to question your proposition regarding Scots being the worst school for HSC results.
DragonMan
Jimmy Flynn (14)
I didn't realize Scots had finished above TKS and even View. I must have been referring to earlier years when I know View was much higher and TSC much lower. The 'labelling' process may not be to your liking but would you at least agree that Scots appears to have an unhealthy preoccupation with sport (hyperbaric chamber etc and free supplements according to another poster?). I'm not trying to bash Scots but I know that if I were a parent and my son wasn't destined to be a an elite sportsman I'd send him to a school that didn't appear so preoccupied with sport.
It's a hypoxic chamber, the opposite of hyperbaric.
And you keep missing the point - while I, like others, disagree with the way sporting success is chased at some schools (including Scots), MOST of the boys at these schools (including Scots) are just getting a decent rounded education, so I don't see the issue for most boys at all these schools, by and large. It's a separate issue to sporting scholarships / bursaries, call them what you will. I think most parents aren't fools - they know what they're getting.