Where to send kids to school for best public school football program? (Dallas: houses, YMCA)

[OpenBook777]

Hi all,

We just relocated here from NC. Our boys are 8 and 12, never played football, but want to start in the fall. Any suggestions where to put them and which schools have the best football programs for these ages?

We will be living in Frisco, Lakewood, or Lake Highlands. Thanks in Advance!

[TurtleCreek80]

None of those areas have the top football programs in the state/area, but all public schools in those areas will have football teams starting in 7th grade. For younger grades, most play on teams through the YMCA. Think football starts in 3rd or 5th grade, can't remember.

FYI, top football programs & facilities in the area are in Allen, Southlake (Carroll ISD), Highland Park (the Green Bay Packers used their indoor practice field prior to the Super Bowl this year), and some of the South Dallas DISD schools (wouldn't recommend them academically or for safety reasons).

[ChristieP]

As TC said, none of the DISD schools that have good football are safe or even decent academically.

Southlake Carroll HS is a perrennial powerhouse in football. So is HEB Trinity HS, which has won several state championships in recent years.

Honestly, for your kids' ages, the 8 year old can play in a peewee league that most suburbs have plenty of. The 12-year old can play on his junior high school's team.

[OpenBook777]

Thank you TurtleCreek and ChristieP. Is Southlake really snooty? Not our cup of tea if so. And what does HEB stand for? Thanks again!

[PlanoGirl]

Hurst-Euless-Bedford...three separate cities under one school district...also called the Mid-Cities, due to their proximity between Dallas and Forth Worth.

[IndianaDad]

Frisco is a great place for kids. The 12 yo can play middle school FB in 7th grade and up. Frisco has a fantastic fall league (Frisco Football League) but its too late to join for this fall (draft already occured). He can play in the Frisco YMCA fall league or a league at the Fieldhouse. there are other leagues around too. Frisco has so many things for kids to do its not funny. The town is geared to young families with elementary to teen aged children.

[TurtleCreek80]

Here are the area schools with rising seniors on the Rivals.com top 100 national college recruits:
Denton Ryan (#2 recruit), Dallas Skyline, Euless Trinity, and Mansfield. 14 of top 100 recruits are from Texas.

Here are the best programs from 2010 based on playoff performance->
UIL 5A-1 (largest high schools): Euless Trinity (state championship runner-up). Coppell, Arlington Martin,Allen, Dallas Skyline, Desoto, & McKinney Boyd all advanced to 2nd round at least.

UIL 5A-2 (next largest high schools): Cedar Hill, Southlake Carroll, South Garland, Rowlett, & Mesquite Horn all advanced to at least 2nd round.

UIL 4A-1 (next largest schools)enton Ryan was championship runner-up. Wylie, Dallas Kimball, West Mesquite, CFBISD Newman Smith, & Dallas Carter all advanced to at least round 2.

UIL 4A-2 (next largest): Dallas South Oak Cliff, Highland Park, Frisco Liberty, Dallas Hillcrest,and Mesquite Poteet all advanced to at least the 2nd round.

There are divisions 3A, 2A, and 1A, but the schools get really tiny in enrollment after 4A.

As you can see, only 1 Frisco HS advanced in the playlets last year and neither Woodrow nor Lake Highlands did either. If you believe you are truly raising athletes who could play football at a higher level like college, get thee to a district where the recruits get noticed- Southlake, Euless, Denton Ryan, Highland Park, Mesquite, etc. You may want to check rivals.com to see the size of college recruits to see if your boys will grow to be anywhere near a competitive size.

If you just want them (and hopefully THEY want to, too) to be on a good team that has a lot of community support and enjoys the traditional "Friday Night Lights"/ Texas high school football experience of cheerleaders, pep rallies, bus trips to away games, cross-town rivalries, etc- then either Lake Highlands or Woodrow Wilson are WONDERFUL schools to get that experience. Both are storied programs with decades of history and traditions, and while they arent currently the powerhouses they once were, they are still a great place to be on the football team. I'm sure Frisco has good facilities and whatnot, but it's a new area that lacks the same traditions/school pride/entire community support that you'll find in LH and Lakewood.

[OpenBook777]

Wow, this is great information! My boys are different body types; the oldest with a great arm and is a very fast runner, very muscular and thin but not bony; the youngest is thick, not fat, but thick, strong and loves to tackle. So, I'm thinking we have a quarterback/receiver/running back and a defensive linebacker. Is it too late for my rising 7th grader to play football at the school? Hopefully not as that is where I would like him to start. And what are the chances of him making the team if he's never played? He's been in Challenge soccer for 8 years, so he does fare well in team sports. But I do have concerns that he won't make the cut since families here seem to start their kids in football 2 weeks after birth.

Thanks for the info! Keep it coming! Allen is looking very promising, but I know nothing about it. Any thoughts on the town?

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by OpenBook777

Wow, this is great information! My boys are different body types; the oldest with a great arm and is a very fast runner, very muscular and thin but not bony; the youngest is thick, not fat, but thick, strong and loves to tackle. So, I'm thinking we have a quarterback/receiver/running back and a defensive linebacker. Is it too late for my rising 7th grader to play football at the school? Hopefully not as that is where I would like him to start. And what are the chances of him making the team if he's never played? He's been in Challenge soccer for 8 years, so he does fare well in team sports. But I do have concerns that he won't make the cut since families here seem to start their kids in football 2 weeks after birth.

Thanks for the info! Keep it coming! Allen is looking very promising, but I know nothing about it. Any thoughts on the town?

Pretty much anyone who wants to be is on the 7th, 8th, and 9th grade football teams. Whether they play or not is another story and depends on talent level of course.

Allen is a great suburb. It's about an hour north of downtown Dallas in rush hour traffic so you'll have to figure that in if your job is in or near downtown. The other big "con" is that there is only 1 high school and absolutely no plans to build another. There are well over 1,100 or so kids in each graduating class and about 4,500 total at the high school (vs a Woodrow Wilson or Frisco high school with 1,600-2,400 total HS enrollment). Another con is housing prices- you really need $300k minimum to get into Allen. Pros are the suburb is well laid out. Good shopping & entertainment at the brand new Shops @ Fairview. Excellent school quality. Affluent and fairly homogenous population.

[jennifw]

Originally Posted by OpenBook777

Thank you TurtleCreek and ChristieP. Is Southlake really snooty? Not our cup of tea if so. And what does HEB stand for? Thanks again!

I hate to say it, but your kids might get eaten alive at Southlake. If they haven't played football before, it might not be the best place to start. (and it is really far unless your job is over that way which it doesn't sound like based on the Lakewood/LH/Frisco comment)

Originally Posted by OpenBook777

Hi all,

We will be living in Frisco, Lakewood, or Lake Highlands. Thanks in Advance!

Not Lakewood. I don't know much about the middle school football program, but we have attended a few Woodrow Wilson games (Lakewood's high school). While fun, it isn't what they are known for and is a pretty small program.

I would seriously consider Lake Highlands over Frisco. LH is going to have more established programs simply because it is an older area and I don't see as much of the competitive-mom-syndrome that I see in Frisco. I personally think it would be a better environment overall, not just for football.

Good luck with your move!