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

>>[Hurst66] Why do you need to go to Disney?<<

>>[futbol(soccer)] The same has to be said for the player - the more exposure you have the more choices you have. The caveat is the player must be capable.<<

The talk about "being seen" quite correctly calls out that a player has to market herself or himself to coaches. But I think that what is overlooked is that it's not enough to be seen, or to be recruited. A player has to be ready to play at the next level. And in college, that's particularly tough because each year you've got a new round of players coming at you to take your position on the team away -- you're not protected by single-year age brackets any more.

I realize that many players have a single-minded focus on getting a college coach's attention. And while marketing will help, the thing that helps the most is having the individual talent and skills that make that coach step up and take notice.

I remember two kids who were criticized on the high school thread for missing one day of a preseason tournament to play in a college showcase and one day of practice to play against Furman and Clemson -- and that was all that they missed for the entire high school season. In the case of both, they were much more interested in developing to become better players than they were in being seen by some mythical college scout. Let's face it, the decision to play against Orangeburg-Wilkinson or the decision to play against Clemson from the standpoint of becoming a better player is pretty much of a no-brainer.

Hypothetical question #2: a player is invited in the spring to play at a regional team event out of the country. It conflicts with either a high school practice or game. This regional team event will be in turn used to evaluate players for invitations to the national pool.

Should the high school coach support this? Why or why not?

I think its more of a no-brainer than in first scenario. A player of that caliber would develop more from that challenging experience than in a high school game. Those kinds of experiences not only help the player become more competitive, but also can give him/her great confidence in him/herself. Also I am not so much thinking of the player's prospective future in college ball, rather the club team's development to get to the level of winning a Regional or more. There are players who excelled tremendously at the club level, and then chose not to pursue college play, due to the particular academics they pursue. I feel the primary focus should be not on what kinds of experiences as a player should I be involved in, so that I may be seen by college coaches, but rather what kinds of expeiences will development me into a better player to help me contribute towards the successes of my club team, again looking towards a Regional title or more. If I have that focus as a player then college ball will come to me, if I so choose.
Regarding the 'myth or no-myth' of being seen/marketed by/to a college coach, the player should possess the ability to play at that level first, then put themselves in a position to be seen and observed by a college coach. Yet, I have also seen a political aspect to the marketing process. Since there are only a few who are selected to play the Div I level, sometimes HS/Club coaches do become overly political in their contacts and with their input about a particular player's abilities.

Chico .... I'll be preaching to the choir.... absolute , 100% support. Why? No brainer.... because it is in the player's best interest in developing their potential which is after all what the school is supposed to be teaching.

The only problem you run into is exactly what I was trying to state before. If that player is the "heart and soul" of the HS team, can the coach do without.

Well this is why you coach, in essence - "your best player is injured for a short period of time". Adjust, move on and do the best you can with what you have.

Look at Jamal.. Going to USC, coach puts him in a scrimmage against a lower caliber opponent in a a position he never plays at the end of a game that was already won. Overzelaous opponent goes in hard and Jamal is lost for most of the season. Did anyone worry about the fact that you may lose your star player in the game? what is the difference in the scenarios? In my opinion they are the same

Lots of times depends on the coach at both the club and the HS!

Hurst66, the bigger conflict in HS soccer in the fall is not that some players might play both sports, but that most schools share the same playing field (at least in the midlands) for the two sports.

dhunter,

Is that game field or practice field? If we don't play soccer on Friday nights....are we OK?

With Varsity, JV, B, C ,D ,E .......X,Y,Z teams Both are a problem.

I'm not speaking with any authority, but I don't believe the school districts allow both sports to share the fields. With the Columbia schools, practice fields are limited, with some teams having to use middle school playgrounds just to find enough space.

Further justification that high school and club ball can co-exist-
http://www.pressboxonline.com/story.cfm?id=650