When I was young, the catholic 7th and 8th graders played 40-50 games per year and the public middle schools played 15-20. My freshmen year in high school 4 of our 5 starters were from the local catholic school.

Today, the catholic schools have rules on games played and playing for other teams while the public schools are club teams and have the ability to play an unlimitted amount of games. When my son was an 8th grader he played 10 games in the local rec program, 20 for his middle school team and 35 for the schools club team. It sounds crazy, but he loved it and he gained an advantage over the catholic school kids.

The advantage catholic schools had in the 50's - 70's has been reversed by club sports and the catholic schools tighter rules.