SW teams in middle school stress the fundamentals to the detriment of wins. They would rather see a player use an off hand and fail then rely on a dominate side… a different philosophy. You will also see a go to goal mentality in the early years regardless of outcome to enforce aggressiveness. The high school years are significantly different in that their ultimate goal is for their players to get recruited which they always do. This 2027 team will change again in high high school with out of state players etc.. The SW program has a lot of alumnae in the coaching ranks and currently playing in college (certainly more than Coppermine or NEMS out together)
Out of State players flocking to SW is a thing of the past. Girls did that when the Baltimore area was the best option for them to compete with the best. Now the girls can play for a more local team (TX, GA, FL, CO, etc.) and they travel to Tournaments together whether on the East Coast or anywhere else. Yes they have lots of alumnae but have been around the longest. Other clubs are creating more options now. Plenty of other teams also teaching fundamentals but also winning as a team which shows me they are learning something important- how to play as a team. SW is a great program but just not as relevant as they once were.
Not true. Midwest (Ohio, Michigan) have always been the source of most of SW's out of state players. And those states don't have a single top 100 girls program. Probably the best player on SW 24s in from Michigan and one of the 3 or 4 best players on the 26s is from Ohio.
The only reason SW may have fewer out of state players is that the top Long Island programs, especially Top Guns, has started recruiting top out of state players.
