Masters Academy International Sports Prep (Northeast/Boston)

Prep School Admissions
41

When I refer to pay to play, I’m talking about the kids who want to go to college to play baseball in “13th grade”. They are paying college tuition solely to keep playing baseball. Some weren’t good enough to start on their HS varsity teams, but get “recruited” by local colleges (because as you said, they need to keep the lights on). Most never see the field. We even know “recruited” kids who were cut before the season even started. But they were all settled in and knew they wouldn’t play anywhere else after being cut from a low-level team, so they stayed at a school that probably wasn’t the best fit for them had they been realistic in the first place.

We also know kids at IMG. One I know very well . He sprouted early and was a standout when he was young . Dad was convinced he was going pro when he was a 10U. Payed for every PG tournament, had him in lesson 5+ days a week, flew him in to sub on any team looking for players at tournaments 40 weekends a year, which resulted in being “ranked” (because how many kids pay for that at that age). Now that he’s in high school, he’s on the lowest IMG team, playing schools in the lowest division, and in the bottom half of his team for stats. Dad is still convinced he’s going pro. That’s who pays 90K for IMG. If you’re truly going to go pro, IMG is going to find you, and you’re going for free (or close to it).

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42

Any word on how enrollment is going? For hockey or any other sports?

43

Not sure but seems entire teams follow college coaches from one school to another so that could easily happen here as well.

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44

Genuine question: Why would a parent want their child to change from an excellent prep school to a sports school with no academic record? Why wouldn’t one stay at the prep school which offers both?

I understand attending if the kid is not academic, or if they don’t have successful admissions elsewhere. I also get a PG year. But pulling a kid from excellent academics at age 14 makes no sense? At that age they have the energy and ability to do both. Please explain.

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45

Assuming every player afford 90,000

46

I am not sure. The coaches must believe they can get kids to the Ivies and other high academic schools so there must be an academic course load they believe in. The coaches left their jobs at Andover, BBN, NMH, Brewster, Deerfield to move there. I believe teachers and college counseling coming from those schools as well. The talent pool of teachers in the area seems like an easy to fill facility. Will families believe in it right away? Not sure. But a family that’s frustrated with the lack of year round training for their particular sport might take the risk in order to go for it.

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47

If the family was already going to pay that for another prep school plus trainers and rehab and coaches, this probably ends up same cost all in with less aggrevation of having to drive all over for 3 different aspects of training for the sport. It’s all in one place.

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48

Maybe once it gains traction with a track record? Seems a bit chicken egg now. Not sure the high academic kids and parents would choose this over a Deerfield or Andover without some success?

49

Because plenty of high academic kids can’t get into the top boarding schools. Now if we start talking about boarding schools a few tiers below but with good sports, that seems like a more interesting comparison right now.

If I were a parent looking at this option for one of my kids, this information would give me comfort to be a pioneer, given a good fit for my kid both academically and athletically. And if things don’t work out, kids can transfer. Not ideal, but not uncommon in the boarding school ecosystem. What MAI leadership has accomplished so far seems impressive to me. I wish them luck as they build their business. It would be great to have a direct competitor to IMG which IMO has really gone downhill during the various ownership changes (primarily talking after IMG sold it.)

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50

Comfort for coaching maybe. Not for the academics. This won’t be on par with Exeter, Andover or Deerfield academically, but for the lower- level boarding schools then it’s a different decision metric. I do wonder how competitive the entire array of teams will be with a small student body. Maybe in a couple of years when there’s a track record it will have more depth. Now it seems like a compromise on all metrics: not great academics and not bench strength for teams and not breadth of all teams being good and limited financial aid

51

Are these coaches poaching from their current schools?

52

I heard about this school from a kid who applied to a specific boarding school but was then contacted by the coach who was leaving for Masters.

53

Sort of an aside– but I live near the town where the new MAI is located. I recently went to a fundraiser for a state legislator who represents my town and the town where the school is located. He mentioned (among other opening comments) that the state provided $2.8 million in tax credits for the new school and that it would bring nearly 200 jobs to the area. Basically, it was an example of the “good works” he’s done for the area. A few folks asked about the viability of program in the Q&A, i.e., are kids enrolling, etc. A woman in the audience, who was a realtor in the area, said that she recently sold two properties (a $1 million single family home and a townhouse for $500K–it’s a pricey area). Based on those sales, she felt that the school was attracting students. Adding–both buyers were in the area because their child was going to attend MAI.

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54

There is this article on the Globe published last August about MAI.

I also glanced over the comments and some are quite interesting.

I live next to Stow— cute little town. The previous Bose campus has been sitting empty for several years now so the school will definitely help with the town and local businesses.

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55

I just saw a 4 star Gatorade player of the year basketball student is following his coach over.

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56

What did that kid end up doing and in what sport?

57

Sounds about right on par with how the two brothers have always operated. No surprise that they’ve instilled that same slimy, gutless mentality in the coaches that they’ve hired.

58

I just searched “Bose Stow MA”, because I was curious if the acreage was listed anywhere online prior to MAI being announced - as these guys are very unafraid to exaggerate when it comes to numbers and making their conquests seem bigger than they are…

While I couldn’t find any direct language stating the total size of the campus in acres from back when Bose occupied it, as I was scrolling don’t the first page of Google results I stumbled upon these two articles, hilariously stacked one on top of the other, and felt it was too comical not to share… It won’t let me attach a screenshot to the post here (or add any links), so the web addresses of these two articles are transcribed below.

Now I’m no math major, and I went to lowly public school where the cost was under 6 digits per year - but I would absolutely LOVE for someone with a more decorated background in education to explain to me how, in less than 4 years, the budget legitimately TRIPLED (!!!) going from $28 Mil to $84 Mil?

You’d have to imagine the initial budget they built out prior to the release of that 2021 article ($28 Mil figure) included: Purchase of Land/Facilities, Staffing/Salaries, and a whole lot more..

So I am DYING to know how the cost of the project somehow tripled magically. Unless, of course, this is just the Masters brothers doing what they’ve always done - wildly embellish and exaggerate the prestige and merit of something in an effort to make it appear more established and prestigious than it actually is…

Some funny takeaway notes from the articles if you don’t care to click and read them for yourselves:

2021 Article Link: wbjournal.com/article/stow-moves-toward-welcoming-28m-private-school-as-bose-corp-vacates/

  • States that it’s a $28 Mil project
  • States that this figure INCLUDES budgeting in for the construction of a new ice rink
  • States that the plan is to enroll 700 students, Grades 6-12
  • States that the school intends to open in time for the 2023 academic school year :rofl:

2024 Article Link: wbjournal.com/article/new-84m-youth-athletic-academy-at-former-bose-campus-in-stow-to-be-site-of-usa-fencing/

  • States that it’s now an $84 Mil project
  • Does not mention or include anything regarding the construction of a new ice rink
  • States that the plan is to now enroll 500 students, Grades 6-12
  • States that the school now intends to open for the 2026 academic school year
  • Cites the Middlesex Registry of Deeds as listing the sale of the site for $9.82 Mil
  • States that they were granted $2.85 million in tax credits from the Commonwealth EOED
  • States the tuition for boarding will be “upwards of $65,000” & Day “more than $45,000”

TL;DR - These guys have no clue what they’re doing, zero experience overseeing and successfully executive a project like this, and absolutely no shame lying to everyone’s face. If you are a parent of a student-athlete looking at boarding schools for next season, and you make both the financial and educational decision to enroll your child to be first-year guinea pig at this place, then shame on you. Truly…

59

Wow.

I expect you have some ax to grind here that goes beyond being a hockey mom. If you are using your actual name, I encourage you to change your user name:

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60

I think this might work if we leave out comparing to Exeter and Andover-level academics and kids being recruited to Ivys/top nesacs. MOST kids at boarding schools aren’t quite at that level, and most aren’t recruited to ivys. Their parents are still paying BS $$.

The hurdle here is the starting point, IMO, how to get people in the door and to pay all the upfront costs…and not to grow too fast.

e.g. Parent's lawsuit alleges Croft School was run as a Ponzi scheme

Probably looks good on a spreadsheet in year 10, but years 1-5 are impossible to get through (I don’t think Master’s is a ponzi scheme - just hard to get off ground! Croft then did shady stuff ot keep it going..)

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