SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP High School Soccer: Hurt or Help?

Kyle Heise: I was wondering when someone would raise the US Women's team in the context of world-class soccer and how poorly the United States does. Sometimes it seems a little misogynistic around here...

I have not a clue as to the degree soccer will grow a spectator-oriented competitive sport in 20 years. I will say, however, that Philip Anschutz is a pretty smart guy -- I wouldn't bet against him.

These are all the teams that played in the recent National Championship. It would be interesting to know how many played year-round club ball, while forsaking HS ball. There were at least 3 teams that played year-round, no HS ball and won their respective titles. It just is a question as to how far you want to go as a club team. If you have played together from a very young team, and added good players along the way and have continued to improve, I think playing HS ball can prove to be a detour on your journey to a Regional title or beyond.
Pennsylvania-East
boys
u15 - FC DELCO Hammerheads
u18 - FC DELCO Crunch
u19 - FC DELCO Black IV

girls
u14 - Hershey Attack
u17 - Spirit United Gaels

Maryland
boys
u14 - Bethesda Road Runnrs
u16 - B'more Casa Mia Bays
u17 - Bethesda United

New Jersey
girls
u15 - PDA Pride
u18 - PDA Wildcats

Massachusetts
girls
u16 - FC Gtr Boston Bolts

Virginia
girls
u19 - Chantilly Inter Milan

Michigan
boys
u14 - Michigan Wolves
girls
u14 - Michigan Hawks Blk 92

Illinois
boys
u15 - Chicago Magic
u18 - Chicago Magic
girls
u15 - Eclipse Select
u17 - Eclipse Select
u18 - Eclipse Select
u19 - Eclipse Select

Ohio-North
girls
u16 - Internationals

Wisconsin
boys
u16 - FC Milwaukee

Missouri
boys
u17 - Scott Gallagher

Kentucky
boys
u19 - Javanon

South Texas
girls
u14 - Dallas Texans 92 Red
u15 - Dallas Texans 91 Red
u18 - Dallas Txns 88 Red N
u19 - Sting Dallas Royal

South Texas
boys
u14 - Dallas Texans Red
u17 - Solar 89 SC
u18 - Dallas Texans Red

Oklahoma
boys
u15 - Tulsa SC 91
girls
u16 - Edmond SC 90 Black

Georgia
boys
u16 - Concorde Fire Elite

Texas-North
girls
u17 - Dallas Texans 89 Red

California-South
boys
u15 - So Cal United
u16 - Rampage FC
u17 - Arsenal FC
u19 - Arsenal FC
u14 - Valley United Blast
girls
u14 - ISC Strikers
u18 - San Diego Surf

New Mexico
boys
u18 - Classic Bandoleros

Florida
boys
u19 - Weston FC

Washington
girls
u15 - Crossfire Premier

Colorado
girls
u16 - Real Colorado Nat'l
u19 - Colorado Rush Nike

California-North
girls
u17 - Mustang Blast

FYI....that Duke education has landed Brian Kelly on Wall Street, with the investment firm Goldman Sachs. He's currently pulling down 10x what he made as a player in MLS.

>>[Beezer] Being able to play both club and high school at the same time is not an answer because, physically and psychologically, the better players will not be 100% when they arrive to training. Again, the club environment should be the best with the best at 100%.

The point is, again, development to be a better soccer country! The best players playing as much as possible to give the United States a chance to improve on the world stage.<<

I get it now. You want to put kids into a system and tell them what to do and what not to do (e.g., when to practice, how much to practice, and the like.)

I'm coming from it completely differently. I'd rather there be choice out there and have the individuals involved make the decision so as to optimize what they want out of soccer.

Your system might work better for your goal of making the United States men's team more competitive in the World Cup...I don't know.

Top-down societies, and systems, always seem better on paper than they actually do in real life. Millions of kids and parents, making millions of decisions to optimize their life and their experience within the framework of choice, tends to operate more successfully in most realms. Maybe soccer just isn't one of those...

Chico,
But to be a real winner in club soccer, you cannot allow choices and decisions to be made by mere players/parents. This sport of soccer is not a democracy. As the good Nazari has said-

"We have a lot of volunteers with good hearts," Nazari says. "But soccer people have to make soccer decisions. It is a huge mistake some clubs make that because the parents pay the money, they know the game.Standing around watching your son or daughter play the game does not make a parent a soccer person, just as standing in an operating room doesn't make someone a surgeon. I don't go to our parents and tell them how to run their businesses," he says. "The decisions have to be soccer decisions, not politically correct decisions."

i guess the only thing left now to find out is what college did paulo freire play soccer for. . .

setting aside that i may have been called a BAD marxist—i sincerely believe, all, that soccer and sports matter way too much to be a carrot, a lure—i also KNOW that an education matters too much to be taken lightly or given lip-service just so johnny or jane can play soccer in HS or college—

and since this is scsoccer.com and not scschols.com—i am making the case that disassociating sports from schools would benefit SPORTS—and i stand firmly by that assertion—

kyle—i think the elite element in club is due to the outlet of HS soccer—without HS sports, i think that would dissipate—but i could be wrong—

thanks, chico, for the topic!—although you do realize that now that you have mentioned gates this thread is being monitored. . .

Dear Bill Gates,

Please send me some money so I can build nice soccer fields for the youth of South Carolina.

(We'll see if he's really listening!)

i havnt read all these post from end to end.i may have missed something.here is my short answere to the whole school thing and hurst can back me up on this knowing where i come from on this.it is from the the girls side i speak.
there are kids out there that play a sport in school not because they are the best player or that their team is any good.they do it to be a part of something and to represent their school.is that so bad?

I have a lot of respect for soccer40's daughter. The best player her age in the state, playing on arguably the worst 4A high school team in the state. She runs around the hallways of her school trying to get 10 other girls to come out for the team. Yeah....that's loving the game.

>>[2004striker] Chico,
But to be a real winner in club soccer, you cannot allow choices and decisions to be made by mere players/parents. This sport of soccer is not a democracy. As the good Nazari has said-

"We have a lot of volunteers with good hearts," Nazari says. "But soccer people have to make soccer decisions. It is a huge mistake some clubs make that because the parents pay the money, they know the game.Standing around watching your son or daughter play the game does not make a parent a soccer person, just as standing in an operating room doesn't make someone a surgeon. I don't go to our parents and tell them how to run their businesses," he says. "The decisions have to be soccer decisions, not politically correct decisions."<<

Thank you, thank you, thank you -- a post about clubs!

I actually agree with what he's saying...within the context of club play. In other words, I absolutely want my kid to play at a club where soccer decisions for the club and for the teams of the club are made by soccer professionals and not by parents.

At the same time, there is high school, state select, region teams, national teams, etc.

Now -- do I support a club that says "You can't play high school soccer and play on one of our teams." Believe it or not -- yes -- as long as that isn't the only club around. That's why choice is so important; there needs to be other clubs available that offer other alternatives as well.

Getting to the bottom line of this, however -- from my limited observation, it is a rare, rare player who doesn't benefit from more time on the ball. If as a player you're going to give up two hours a day of practice with your high school, it seems to me that you better have some great training/practicing lined up a lot of days a week. Easier said than done -- at least in South Carolina.