SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums SCHSSCA State Championship venue

Several colleges have a nicer field than Gilbert. USC Upstate for one... they may want to recruit a few good SC players... many others as well.

I had gotten USC Upstate to agree to allow us to play a club state championship there... the other team was scared of the fields size.

All you have to do is ask, most of the time.

As far as USC recruiting SC girls... well, I would assume they will recruit the kind of kid it takes to win. You draw whatever conclusion you can with that...

I don't get the "they play all the time on small fields" argument. Yes, and Stoke plays on as small field and QPR plays in a tiny old venue. But were they to meet in the FA Cup final, they'd be playing at expansive, state-of-the-art Wembley.
Look. Your CHAMPIONSHIP weekend SHOULD be a showcase event. I think it's great that Gilbert is making the effort to host. Kudos to them! But I also think there are better, FAR more appropriate places to play a SHOWCASE event like the SCHSL Championships.
The two concepts are NOT mutually exclusive.

I agree... the bigger the better.

Devil's advocate (my favorite game):

If the vast majority of high school games in SC are played on fields the size of Gilbert's, and only a few teams in the state have had regular opportunities to play on larger fields (which lends the opportunity to master the use of increased space--something not every team has a chance to develop in the course of the season due to prevalant field sizes), wouldn't it be safe to say that having a LARGER than average field would provide a more unequal competitive advantage to any team fortunate enough to train and play on that size field regularly, whereas having an average-sized field keeps things more equal since almost everyone has had to learn to compete in that type of space?

It seems to me that if anything would be cited as a "factor" in deciding a match, it would be a field size that would be advantageous to an experienced few, but disadvantageous to a majority who are inexperienced in managing that kind of space.

Just thinkin' out loud. I agree that soccer should have a fine playing surface for a state championship...just addressing the "factor in the game" issue.

Something in that, Coach.
But I would say this. At this point in the proceedings, many (if not most) of these kids have played club/Academy soccer on larger fields. In general, larger surfaces reward more athletic/skilled kids who fully understand concepts of space and time. Why hamstring THEM by playing on a short and/or narrow surface?
Again, let's showcase what's BEST about the H.S. game.
Look at SCISA. They played at CofC, which I suspect is a good 10-15 yards wider than EITHER team's home field.
And the single best player put on a late-game show.

I don't know who would have the advantage on a larger field between Wando and Mann. I would just like to see it. But we won't. No biggy. Short narrow fields seem to slow the game with a lot of out of bounds and seems to cut down on scoring since their is alot of bunching together.

SCHSL is a sports organization.

What possible reason would they have to insist that they deal with principals? There is no sports related issue whatsoever that should ever go above the sports coach or in extreme multi-sport issue (which this is NOT) the AD.

By demanding communication thru principals, input gets diluted, distorted, slowed down and spontaneity is lost all to the detriment of the sport and the players that SCHSL is in place to support.

When I was in Nam we played in rice paddies and poppie fields and were all the better for it. When you here the banjo music take notice Jack. It'll be on like Donkey Kong. The entire Robertson klan will be present. We'll be the ones in camouflage. By the way Myrtle Manor will not be back next year. A new reality show will begin filming in Gilbert called "As the soccer ball turns" or "Gilbert Manor".

Field looks great