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Coach - You strike me as something of a logician. Surely you see the fallacy in your conclusion regarding Donavon and Onyewu?

Depends...what are we perceiving as my conclusion?

A generalization based on two obviously outstanding examples? No, just a reply to those same specific examples in a previous post, with no guarantee that those two examples represent the typical blue-chip player and the typical high school programs.

The idea that Donovan and Onyewu would have still chosen high school if the DA had been an option at that point? Nope, no way to tell what those choices would have been at that point, and I wouldn't begin to assert an assumption.

The thought that Donovan and Onyewu reached the top of their games and would not have been further developed by something like the 10-month DA? No, again, no way to tell; although every athlete has some point of peak potential after which additional training has a much lessened effect, it's hard to know when the athlete has reached that peak unless fully pushed.

The thought that it was playing in high school that led to their development as elite players? No...as I said, they may not have relied on high school for their development. Both players had high-level club experience in addition to playing on their high school teams, so from the information available in this limited context, it's impossible to definitively say where they received the majority of their player development.

The fact that both players given as examples combined high-level club training and high school play as part of their collective experience, and both have achieved status as elite international players--therefore playing in high school did not prevent them from reaching that developmental level? That's not a conclusion; it's just an observation.

"It didn't seem to hurt their development."

A version of post hoc ergo propter hoc. Maybe it hurt their development, maybe it didn't. We'll never know for sure.

How many guiduance counselors or parents with kids with 1400-1500 SAT's......assuming the school doubled the breadth of AP classes that were available to a student, would counsel that student to take a CP class instead.

Nothing wrong with CP classes. My kids took plenty of them.

But a kid capable of earning A's in AP classes is probably better served academically by not taking CP classes. And my guess would be......that if they were looking at a Davidson or a Furman or a Duke or an Ivy league school those folks would strongly encourage the kids to not take CP or Honors classes if AP classes were available. In fact, they would probably downgrade a student who took CP or Honors classes in lieu of AP classes.

If this is untrue....let me know.

USSF = Harvard; 10 month Academy = AP class; Club/High school blend = CP or Honors; Player = student.

BD :Apples-Oranges
Stick to soccer please.

Just curious. Why do you think its different?

An interesting, but not particularly apt, analogy.

The reality is, MANY "college prep" kids turn out to be higher achievers than their "Harvard" counterparts, for many of the same reasons. Among those: poor early evaluation methods, a better or more inspirational teacher/trainer, differing rates of physical/emotional maturity, the raw quality of each experience, etc.

A similar reality is that many kids benefit from a BLEND of "all of the above." Closing one door -- forcing kids to "make a choice" -- is not a constructive approach.