SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Boys Varsity Soccer 2005 Championship Picks 1A,2A, 3A, and 4A

AMHS will win 1A.

And the private school issue has been around since my kid played HS soccer.

First of all I agree with Dexter. I play for a private school team that competes in 1A and so I know what it's like for the private schools and public schools to compete every week. I like Dexter's point about why exactly these kids go to private schools. Answer this for me EHS...Do you really think that an All-American soccer player like Tomek went to Christ Church to play soccer? No, it's because of the high level of academics that they have there. And trust me Christ Church did not recruite him and offer him scholarship money to go there. I know this because both his mom and dad are doctors at the Anderson Hospital so they're what we would classify as "well off." If he was really looking for competitive soccer...being from Anderson he could've gone and played for Daniel High or being that he's zoned for TL Hanna, he could've played for them.

And if you're from Emerald I don't see why you have such a problem with Christ Church considering ya'll laid the smack-down on them.

Regarding guardrail22....What's up with parents getting on here and posting...get a life!

If i'm not mistaken...didnt BE move to 3a this year?...it doesnt matter to me, mostly b/c they dont win state anymore...but i believe they moved to three A correct?

If they did they are going to get punished

For Brock Scott, Bishop England is still in Class 2A.

DCA- if it is only about the academics, then what would be the problem with having BE and CCES compete in SCISA since it is only about the academics? Also, Tomek is a tremendous exception. You cannot say that every player who goes to those schools attends solely for the education and does not look at the athletic reputation of those schools. I knew players who left Riverside b/c they knew they would never see any playing time (but would have won two state title) and went to CCES and stepped into the starting line up. I know that was a few years ago, but all athletes who choose to attend BE or CCES are not looking solely at the academics.

Everyone acts like SCISA is the ugly step-sister of the SCHSL. Pinewood beat BE last year, Ben Lippen has a strong program and with SCISA seperating into levels, it mirrors the SCHSL more than ever. It is not like SCISA is a "boot it, boot it, kick it, kick it" kind of league.

My perception from reading posts on this topic for almost three years now, is that players today think that BE and CCES recently joined the SCHSL. BE has been a member of the SCHSL since the late 80s and CCES since the mid-90s (someone correct me if I'm wrong or give the specific year they joined). Both have dominated their respective leagues since joining. If players from public schools feel it is unfair to have to compete against these teams, then you have to get your parents involved to petition the SCHSL. This topic is discussed to sickening levels every year. Either take some real action or drop it. The SCHSL is not going to listen to players only and they are certainly not going to take posts on a web site from players or parents seriously.

It has to be players to get their parents involved and use the democratic process.

After sidetracking this thread with a post on 11/14 I'll come back in for at least one more comment. I mostly follow girls' HS soccer but the specific example of BE's successes (both girls and boys) made me wonder if there was any resentment by the other 2A schools over the success of a private school that has more liberties in it's player selection than the public schools do. From the tone and the number of posts that is the case at least for some. Coach Hamil, who knows 2A soccer, made the point I was trying to make succinctly with the following: "Their primary advantage is not that they actively recruit players like a college team, but rather there are very loose attendance area restrictions so they can draw players from a far larger area than a public school their size." Upscale private schools just simply compete "bigger" than their enrollment numbers suggest, and the SCHSL uses enrollment numbers exclusively to determine level of competition. Dexter's point that the private schools get trounced in certain sports while excelling in others is well taken. For stability's sake keeping the SCHSL's 1-4A rules gives workable schedules within regions. For the sake of fair competition a BE could well be moved up to 3A. BE, 2A, and 3A schools would benefit from this in my opinion.

lpaf

For the Voice.

At the risk of spinning this totally off the subject, I'm offering the following.
While students may wish to move to a different school for the athletic reasons, ultimately it is a family decision. I say family because I believe the successful education experience is shared between the child and parents. Many factors play into that decision and while athletic reputation helps, if you are in pursuit of the education benefits provided at some of the private schools, it becomes secondary.
Having lived in South Carolina and moved around the country with my job a private education for my family seemed to be the best option. When you are transient by nature, you don't have the time to learn which school districts perform better both academically and athletically.
We recently moved back and were fortunate to find Pinewood Prep. Having lived in South Carolina before, I was familiar with BE and PG, and we compared these schools before making our decision. For us, athletics were a very small piece of the puzzle. I say we were fortunate because the education experience for my son has been tremendous, and he was able to play on a state championship team at a very young age. Something he would not have been able to do if we were part of the SCHSL.
I'm not sure of the dates for BE to be playing in the public sector, but I do believe they were playing football at least, publically in probably the mid 70's. My high school played them in the playoffs before I played football which began in 79.
All of this to say, normally parents/families have many reasons for picking schools, and probably most often, it's not athletics.

for all those talking about how great austin moody is and how hes committed to "play" at usc... he has gotten a full acedimic ride to the school and is being offered a spot to sit on the bench behind Mike Gustavson. But neither will play their freshman year.. Brad is nasty

I must agree with Dexter. The thought of parents paying that much money per year so their child can play on a championship high school team is absurd. The students are sent to schools such as Christ Church and BE to get a quality education. Tomeck did not get a schoarship from Duke for his participation on the CC team. His club experience got him to where he is. If parents are concerned with their child's participation on premier teams they will probably focus on what club the child is playing at and not what school they attend. Don't you think that if parents were that interested in high school soccer that they would move to Wando's,Irmo's, or Greenville's zoned areas. It would be way more cost efficient than to pay large sums of money to attend a private school (just for soccer)and they would be playing on 3A and 4A championship teams.
There are some problems with the theory of moving private schools up in classification due to their success in soccer. First, are you that egotistical to think that only soccer matters in high school sports? Luckily, the SCHSL does not share the opinion that schools should be catagorized by success in one sport since that sport would probably be football. Then, schools such as BE would be moved DOWN to 1A. Second, the private schools are at an advantage due to the large geographical area which they can draw from so they should be moved up to 3A or 4A. This notion would mean that rural schools should be forced to play in 3A and 4A. Lamar and Timmonsville would be 4A schools????? Irmo would probably be a 2A or 3A school??? You can not set classifications by these factors since density of the populations are not taken into account and would be to difficult to accurately measure the density of school age children in a particular geographical area.. The SCHSL has set aside rules and regulations for ALL schools who compete. CC and BE compete by these rules (of which dictates that enrollment will determine classification and not success in ONE sport).