I am under the impression that 8th graders are not allowed to play Varsity soccer, but a parent told me today that their daughter would be playing for a high school in the midlands next year on their Varsity squad as an 8th grader. I told them that could not be correct since SCHSL didn't allow that. Any official rules would help.
7th and 8th graders can play varsity at SCISA schools even when they are playing in games against SCHSL teams. So if the daughter goes to a private school that plays in SCISA, she can play in the 8th grade. I had a 7th grade player on my club team this past season who played varsity at Cardinal Newman.
Nah, she is going to a public school. All I know is that either the coach, parent, and player are misinformed or the high school is breaking some rules. But, it would be hard for me to believe that this coach would not know the rules.
The SCHSL considers football, wrestling and soccer contact sports. These are limited to 9-12 graders. Players in other sports are allowed to play at the varsity level as a 7th or 8th grader.
Perhaps the player in question played varsity basketball as a 7th grader (at a very small school) and the parent just assumes the rules are the same for all sports.