SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Boys Varsity Soccer The health of the game in the rural areas.

Do we have a problem in the rural areas of South Carolina in Soccer?

Tonight I just had to cancel a match because we could not get a referee. This is not some rescheduled game that is a makeup from a rainout but a game on the schedule from the beginning. I generally have referee's travel 50-80 miles (a regular high cost expense on travel fees to the rural schools) to come to a regular season game, and our midlands scheduler tried everything this side of pulling one out of a hat or waving a magic wand to find one.
Thankfully we were able to call the opponents before they drove the 50+ miles to the match. But we have a critical shortage for referees.

In addition: Ridge-Spring Monetta & Blackville-Hilda (1A schools) have both had to cancel their programs due to a lack of players. (** most shocking since Blackville-Hilda was just recently in the 1A State Championship game less than 2 years ago) Both cancelled their programs after the season started, leaving many teams like mine to scramble to replace those games. I now hear that Denmark-Olar may be also on the edge of folding, having already canceled a game yesterday.

Why is it that the 1A & 2A divisions have multiple regions that have only 1-3 schools with soccer teams? Are we not spreading the gospel of the great game?

For those who love the game and have dedicated many a year to its growth, are we in a down cycle? Are we missing something? Are we losing ground to other interests? I hope I'm not seeing a trend in the wrong direction.
What do you see?

I am close to the Blackville-Hilda area and I can tell you that it's a combination of things. I was able to coach many of the Championship team players during Club ball but the only reason they even became interested in soccer was someone wth a passion for the game took the time needed to build relationships and give the kids another option besides having ONLY the usual southern sports or nothing. Then the only reason we got enough for club was we had to take kids from 4 - 5 schools to make a team because they couldn't afford another club (But that's amother subject) The kids as they learned the game became passionate about it and had more conviction when they played, but things do not always stay the same. The coach moved on and players graduate. Without support or anyone to drive the next class of students to learn the game, the program slowly deteriorates into nothing. You could look at it from different views but in the end you have to have an AD who at least has a little bit of passion for kids learning something new NOT JUST FOOTBALL. But you also have to look at money. Is the program self sustaining? Some schools may be unable to afford to maintain a program. So with no money, no upper support, and no one with passion for the game, how would anyone expect a program to exist? I do hate that they were unable to continue their program because I felt they had some decent talent coming up.

Also, this whole "you have to be an employee of the school to coach" is a load. I know of a couple coaches that can develop players and coach with some of the best but NOPE, gotta work for the school. Shuts so many possible candidates out.

eMnAvA hit the nail on the head. Some of these schools don't care about soccer & make it pretty clear that they don't, so they don't put much effort into it to have a decent program. I went to school in a rural area & soccer was only available cuz we had enough folks interested to meet the minimum requirements to field a team. We didn't get game balls or practice balls until my sophomore year & the coach & players had to do everything. The biggest factor though is having someone who is passionate about the game & can coach from the early stages, because a lot of the kids from these rural areas don't even know the basic fundamentals of the game.

Also, keep in mind that these communities have a very high poverty index, and there is usually no lower level soccer programs. I have several players who start on our team and this is their first time playing soccer - many are 11th or 12th graders. Getting a feeder program (middle school or JV) has proved very difficult for me - and my district has funds available, so imagine issues in the poorer ones. I truly believe if it weren't for the large influx of Spanish speakers moving to these rural areas the problem would be a lot worse. These are the kids that are keeping many of these programs viable/afloat.

I posted the above. It wasn't meant to be anonymous - not sure how that happened.