Coach Chass,
I am not current on all the HSL rules, but I can tell you "home school" teams are not public schools. In the past three years that we have played in various tournaments there has been occasion that I have had to call the HSL and talk with the commissioner. In 2010 he initially denied us (PAC)entry into the very first tournament we tried to enter, but later gave us approval and basically said he would watch our "behavior" and "conduct" in the tournament. We had no problems until this fall. All four teams JV and Varsity have been in numerous tournaments.
Our JV girls have had the most success, winning the Irmo JV highest bracket last spring. We usually finish somewhere in the middle to lower end of the tournaments. Is this a problem?
I was told one of the issues is that we could possibly travel around the state and recruit "the best" players. Really??? I can tell you this, you can't recruit anyone to give up their job and home school their child/children unless they have a very good reason to do so. Another thing, if you know any home schoolers you will know there are not that many who are willing to forego "family time" to cart a child across state to play soccer, let alone pay hundreds of $$$. Remember this is a one income family more than likely and most likely thier child has only played rec or church league.
Honestly, we are not a threat to any public or private school team. We try to follow the HSL rules as closely as possible, not because we have to but because we don't want to cause any problems. There are somethings that we have to do that may seem "unfair", like having tryouts early. Reason being #1 so I will know we have enough players for each team and have time to notify teams we have scheduled with if we cannot fulfill our commitment, #2 so uniforms can be ordered. Each player has to pay for their uniforms therefore they get to keep them, so we run more like a club purchasing uniforms every two years but having to order for those joining in on the odd year. Being funded totally by the player, there is no other way to make it work.
We are not out to make money or gain big titles (everyone likes to win though:) It is about the kids, their development as athletes and letting them have fun in the process.
