Has anyone found any inside scoop on the new northeast prep sports academy that’s opening outside of Boston? My research indicates a high academic version of IMG academy with some overlap in sports. I see lacrosse, basketball, hockey, soccer and baseball. No football. And the USA fencing team is moving there. They’ve pulled some good coaches and academic leaders from elite northeast prep / boarding schools. Their website is scarce but they seem to update instagram https://www.instagram.com/mastersacademyinternational?igsh=MW1vOTFneDZiNmJ3MQ==
I don’t know a ton about the other names they have assembled, but Pat Moriarty running baseball is legit. Unfortunately, I’d have a hard time trusting sending my kid there based on the publicly available information at the moment. They’re supposed to open in September 2026?
I have to imagine, at least to start, they will be looking at a lot of PGs or kids who don’t have the grades for one of the area prep schools but need or want better athletics than their HS offers. If you have the grades for a known name, I’m not sure why you would roll the dice on Masters with what we know right now.
In baseball terms: I think they’ll be competing with Austin Prep for younger players and a place like Winchendon for PGs.
To be clear, AP is a good school and a world class baseball program but they don’t have the academic reputation of other area prep schools and they are loaded on the diamond. They have D1 committed players who might not see much time this spring. It’s hard to earn time there. Winch has a ton of PGs every year but Masters can offer more athletic opportunity and a different locale for folks who maybe don’t want to board.
It’s still hard to imagine the family of a younger player rolling the dice on a brand new school but players who know they are looking for one more year of development? Sure.
maybe they will have better luck recruiting from further away to start?
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This type of environment really doesn’t exist for fencing today. The top junior fencers are all clustered around a few locations (Boston, NYC/NJ, SF, LA, Michigan). If you’re not training at one of the top clubs, it is quite hard to succeed at the national/top college level just because of the level of training/competition (similar to gymnastics, figure skating). There aren’t prep schools with top programs, some kids home school, most go to Top 250 public high schools or top private schools.
Academics are a big question. Most top fencers are lopsided but have academics competitive with T50 schools. It seems like its going to be a challenge to have academics here similar to what these families are used to.
I haven’t heard of families interested, but if they get results in competition I’m sure people will be interested to go there. If you’re outside one of the regional clusters (and rich) this might be your best path to reach your fencing potential.
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I believe the USA Olympic fencing team is moving from Colorado to Masters so that’s what will be the fencing program.
It’ll be interesting to see what pool MAI draws from. I agree that they’ll pull PGs who would appreciate an extra year to mature before college, but I wonder how many students will choose MAI for athletics over other boarding schools. Will the baseball/lax/hockey be significantly better than other boarding schools if you’re there for four years? The schedule will allow for more playing time and three season sports, so that will certainly help, but it’s unclear whether the coaching will be better. They seem to be drawing from the same coaching pool.
The academics page on the MAI website is laughable and the class descriptions are brief. The description of World Languages, in particular, makes me wonder if kids will just be doing DuoLingo in class. There are no teachers or administrators listed on the website that aren’t coaches/managers/recruiters. The teaching looks like it’ll be thin in the beginning, though that may not matter for the demo they’re attracting.
Their first pull could be athletes who don’t have the grades for other boarding schools, but want top quality training. The question is whether MAI can begin to draw athletes from top programs who aren’t great students and who are hoping for athletic scholarships. (Top programs here is likely broader than GLADCHEMS since it would include top baseball, basketball, football programs.) It should also pick-up a fair number of athletes from NE that want more than their local HSs can offer. The point about the History Teacher who’s an assistant football coach likely resonates.
Ultimately, why would an athlete who wants to go D1 attend GLADCHEMS if they could focus more on their sport at MAI without the headache of homework? This seems like a school that’s found a niche and will do a great job preparing its atheletes.
It’s definitely going to be interesting to see it play out. As for why students would choose a top academic institution over a place like masters:
- These are family decisions (especially at 14), not solely an athlete’s decision.
- You know for sure the school is going to be around long enough for you to graduate from it.
- If you graduate from a top school all of the colleges in the country are “open” to you as an athlete because they know they can get you in, know you will be eligible, and know you can balance the load.
- The school will provide you with a lifetime of valuable connections across sports and business.
I know IMG does well, I’ve just never heard of a kid being like “I might go to Andover or I might go to IMG.” That’s why I think they’re looking at different markets for now. That can change as they establish themselves.
it’s really going to be fascinating
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In my child’s sport the kids who train at IMG for the most part are not the best in the country, in fact most of them will not even find a spot in college. Maybe D2 or 3. It’s more for kids who want to play sports all day and don’t truly care about academics. No one is going to IMG for academics for sure.
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What sport is this?
Girls tennis
Interesting. I’m shocked IMG isn’t better at that sport given the location and ties to Bollettierri.
I think IMG now is not even close to what it was under NB.
I am now a few years away from high level soccer recruiting (and I couldn’t find anything on the website about coaches etc when I looked) but there already are several boarding schools with ok academics and very strong soccer programs. So not sure how much demand there would be from soccer players/families.
I noticed in the early Instagram posts, they talk about being “powered by” the Newman School, which is…well..interesting? I think they are using their accreditation umbrella, not sure how that works exactly…but that isn’t the academic powerhouse of MA schools. Perfectly fine school, but not at the level of the top ones for sure. I am sure there are plenty of highly qualified teachers and admin they can hire to set up the school, but having a range of options and levels and offerings is tricky, obviously. Newman is an IB school, FWIW.
I assume, they assume, there is enough $$ and people in the region who don’t want to deal with the hassle of “missing school” for sports (not looked highly upon in public school in these parts) or dealing with traffic themselves to all those travel games (ha!) that they can fill a school?
I was unsure about the new NEIA and demand for another expensive school, but it seems to be chugging along from what I can gather (though to be fair, I haven’t looked at it closely). Very different niche, to be sure. And this is a more expensive undertaking with ALL those coaches and facilities they have to deal with 
Good questions. Does powered by Newman, mean there will be Newman teachers on MAI campus? Is MAI going to offer an IB curriculum? Will students graduate with IB diplomas? That would seem to be a stretch for a school that focuses so heavily on sports.
@RegularDad99, yep, it’s going to be interesting to follow. Does IMG pull from a distinct set of families who otherwise wouldn’t consider boarding school? If MAI is in New England, would it make a difference? For example, would a student consider MAI over Avon or Tabor for football?
@Schoolmama, what’s the appeal of IMG if the athletes aren’t going to play sports in college? Just to have a lighter academic workload? My impression was that IMG was training kids for college and professional sports. Are there other schools that are doing a better job of that? Put another way, if you had a child who was great at baseball, tennis, lax, etc. and your sole goal was wanting them to get a college scholarship where would you send them to train all else being equal?
I assume they aren’t doing IB for athletes, at least not for all of them. I think Newman may be just overseeing it all paperwork for accreditation purposes for school? tricky stuff for legalities, insurance, accreditation, etc. If I were on Newman’s board, I would be nervous, honestly! Though I would expect $$$ is good? I am guessing even at Newman in Boston, not all kids do full IB diploma, etc. Newman has some boarding, I always assumed international, so may have visa experience that could be helpful here too?
Most of the top players at least in tennis train with private coaches.
James Proctor from Worcester Academy is running soccer at Masters. And Colin Cramer is a coach. They’re listed on instagram. The website has no information. Insta has more.
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They have no football.
Why do you think that the coaches are switching? Is it purely a salary question? Or do they also want the opportunity to train specialized athletes without as much distraction from academics?
Holy crap I looked at the tuition… are people actually paying these rack rates? Not like they have a huge endowment for aid, right? It’s more expensive than any of the highly rated boarding schools I looked at for comparison.
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