I think we see year after year that your average upstate public schools just can’t compete with the privates and charters. Over the years the various schools like Caravel, St Marks, Red Lion, Sallies, DMA get all of these studs come in either as freshmen or transfer in year after year. Yes some public schools get one or two here and there, but it’s not even close. William Penn being the only school in their district and more importantly having a youth program differentiates them. Do we just accept that public teams upstate are what they are? Do we make all transfers who didn’t physically move sit a year? Do you eliminate 8th graders wrestling in HS since it’s a loophole that’s been taken advantage of no matter how they change it? Not knocking anyone but I didn’t even watch the D1 final this year or the Sallies/WP semi. While CR and SC tough teams, I knew nobody was coming close to Sallies. They had an amazing season, but those of us with no dogs in the D1 tournament had no interest as it was a lock from December that they would win.
Any way to level the playing field?
- Thread starter givemethree
- Start date
You can't level the playing field in athletics until you fix the public schools. The reasons folks do not send their kids to the feeder and go private/parochial/charter are many, but until voters get rid of people on boards who won't do anything to fix the lack of discipline and other things, nothing changes.
Just take them off your schedule for the season I mean you might see them at a tournament or two but if everyone takes them off their schedule what would be the interest in going to a school where you barely get any matches. I don’t know maybe I’m wrong but it’s definitely not a fair playing field.
The way this hurts them is that when it comes to state seeding they would have a lot of kids without common opponents. I can’t see teams like CR, WP, DMA and SC ever not wrestling them.
Is it running or is it not putting up with the recruiting and is it considered competition when a team is that stacked?
I wouldn’t be to sure of that I wouldn’t be surprised if acouple teams don’t drop them.
This was posted on Delaware online. It gives a different point of view about the issue
Lmao it shows a lot. When was the last time a true upstate public school won D1 or D2? Do you feel there aren’t enough talented kids up there? Or do you think the Sallies, St Marks, Caravels and DMA’s are getting those kids “because of such strong academics” and not athletically motivated?
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not expecting Newark or Glasgow to win states, but you can’t tell me that schools like Brandywine or Middletown who both have a lot of kids in their feeder patterns aren’t at a huge disadvantage these days. How about AI? How many kids are they losing to private and charters? Should they suck it up and be expected to beat DMA or St Marke?
Last edited:
It has nothing to do with sports but the bureaucracy of public school education. Red Clay has Dickinson, McKean, and AI, three high schools that all struggle. Christina, three high schools that all struggle, and we are not talking just in sports. If you go downstate all the schools, from elementary to high school, are all new or renovated, clean and beautiful. Athletic fields are amazing. If Red Clay and Christina, down sized and went from 3 to 2 or even 1. They pull together, the resources and make those schools great. There are also, so many people that work in these districts that never see a kid on a day to day basis. The district office is bloated. If they upgraded their facilities, kept students safe, and improved their academic performance, people might come back. As long as the schools are rundown, not safe, and academically challenged, no one with choices wants to send their child to them.
I get that and not entirely untrue but how do you explain Dover which is a newer modern school yet struggles to field a wrestling team? I believe that parents are drawn to the teams with winning histories and until DIAA starts enforcing transfer rules the rich will keep getting richer. Honestly in my opinion even if Christina, Brandywine and Red Clay each had all star teams comprised of kids from all of their district HS’s, they still couldn’t compete with privates and our schools down here that are neighborhood schools for the most part. That’s because their schools athletes are leaving for winning programs. Go watch kids states and see how many HS parents/volunteer coaches are approaching kids parents.
School districts, like empires, rot and fall from the inside, not the outside. Christina, Brandywine and Red Clay will continue to degrade as long as they continue to hire from within for the most part. The former principal at AI, who was there long enough to shoulder much of the blame for its decline, is now an admin at Concord. You think kids transferring is a problem, inept teachers and admin moving from one school/district to another is far worse. I know far more public school teachers with kids in privates than I do with kids in public schools. Canary in a coal mine, as they say.
AI was the first of many public schools to be hurt by options. Many wealthy families in that feeder pattern who could afford private schools and then Conrad, DMA and Charter School Wilmington took what was left if they could play a sport. They weren’t able to field football or baseball teams years before everyone else started struggling and probably before whoever that principal was unless he was there 10 years or more.
So you know for a fact the Salesianum wrestling team recruits? I would love if you could share any facts on recruitment for wrestling at Salesianum vs just making assumptions because they have a good team. Where were these recruitment conversations when downstate was dominant? It took Coach Cam 20+ years to figure out he could start recruiting? Make it make sense.
Again who doesn’t want to go to a school with the states best football stadium, wrestling room and baseball fields? Sometimes you just need a good assistant to let people know when applications are due and where the financial aid office is located. My point is that it’s virtually impossible for any public school in NCC to compete. I ask because I do not know, but when was the last time that a true public school with no admissions tests or lotteries was the best team in New Castle County? D1 or D2? Has it been in the past 10 years? If not then I’d have to argue that it’s not a level playing field. Davis is by all accounts a great coach and person which surely doesn’t hurt when it comes to choosing where to send your kids.
Experienced Tenured Coaching, Access to year round practice/leadership (school adjacent club team), Impressive Financial support.
I like to believe Middletown was on the ups with coaching and a club before their population was cut by the creation of Appo, St Georges, and a few others. AI had similar but Ive heard weird stories about all of their athletics crashing out of nowhere.
I like to believe Middletown was on the ups with coaching and a club before their population was cut by the creation of Appo, St Georges, and a few others. AI had similar but Ive heard weird stories about all of their athletics crashing out of nowhere.
Yes… the state of northern public schools is absurd. It’s laughable and shows you don’t really understand the state of New castle county. The best public schools in the north actually are competitive i.e William Penn, Delcastle, and St. George’s. All of these schools field competitive teams across all sports.
I know that downstate there are way less options for our kids. Choice could mean a 30-45 minute commute both ways. I was not aware that Delcastle was that successful in sports. They always had tough wrestlers but what other sports are they winning conference championships in?
Absolutely running a club out of your school is super beneficial! Do most public schools up north have dedicated wrestling rooms available year round? If so they are foolish not to try something.
