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What is going on? Granted, Northwestern is Northwestern, probably the most successful Boys 4A program in the state over the last four years, but......

South Pointe wins their first two varsity games in their program's history, 10-0 and 11-1?

Rock Hill goes to Fort Mill and puts on a respectable showing in a 4-2 loss?

Wow.....does a city that previously had only ONE "soccer school" now have THREE?

not surprising if you think about it...
A city of that size...with several prominent clubs in nearby areas...should have multiple competitive high school programs. Within 5-10 years, I wouldn't be surprised if the Rock Hill area is producing Charleston/Columbia/Greenville like results and showings in the major HS soccer events.

Most of the kids going to south pointe came from Northwestern.

no. you cant talk up Rock Hill yet. wait til they have an upset or two over some quality teams....There are still two great soccer schools, but Rock Hill isn't quite there yet.

And South Pointe is doing their thing with no Seniors.

Rock Hill is much improved this season and should be better in the future with a solid JV team in the works. One thing that would help even more would be a change at the top.

The talent pool for soccer is now being EVENLY split up amongst the three area high schools...starting with the very successful DSC 90 Green team, formerly the U16B Mutiny. Since South Pointe opened, and the new attendance lines were drawn, the students who were originally zoned to attend Northwestern, have now been zoned for Rock Hill High and South Pointe. While Northwestern will continue to have a strong program this year, I would look for all three schools to have very competitive programs in the next 2-3 years.

Realist,

You don't like their forwards? They scored a couple of nice goals against FM Monday night.

Chuck, didn't South Pointe's wins come against Lancaster and Lewisville? South Pointe definitely picked the right two teams to get wins out of.

South Pointe's wins came from Lancaster, Lewisville, and York. They play Clover friday...first home game.

South Pointe is 3-0, and the pipeline is bulging. Check out this article from the front page of today's Rock Hill Herald:

http://www.heraldonline.com/101/story/13956.html

The article in today's Herald brings to mind a quote from the movie "Field of Dreams"...

"Build it, and they will come!"

i know i am still talking to the congragation but those 800 rec kids is another reason the york co clubs need to merge.offer a reason for those kids to continue to play soccer and advance to a higher level of the game.out of those 800 rec kids just think how much talent could be there to dig into for 1 good club.(boys and girls)

40,

Good point........(but I'm actually in the choir, not in the congregation!)

i dont know if i sing to the choir or talk to the congragation.
i dont spend to much time in either.not as much as i should.

Hurst, I'm not refering to the players. RH has needed quality leadership for quite some time now. If they are to take the next step and join the top teams in the state, then a top notch Coach will be needed. Right now Soccer is not a high priority in Bearcatland. This is definitely the best team they've had in a while, and it's due to attendence realignment not Coaching.

Realist, you might want to hold off on that claim. The realignment has not affected RHHS yet. The guys they have on that team have been brought up primarily through the program. You might be right that soccer is not a top priority at "Bearcatland," but you need to go higher than the coach to address that situation. He's doing more than he can...and a lot more than you guys might realize. Don't blame the coach for things he can't control. 3 AD's in three years and not one of them cares about soccer

3/8

Rock Hill 2
Gaffney 0

.....and the beat goes on.

There will be no change at the top.

I take it Northwestern played with restrictions last night? Good to see that they kept it respectable. Trojans will be a very tough out in the state playoffs. Love to see another NW-Irmo battle at the end of the season.

Raad, no. Lehman plays for the varsity squad, but he came up through the jv program. My point was that the guys who play for RH's varsity squad came up through the system at RH--not another school and then transfer in. And, again, Fernando will go through the jv program.

Players like Lehman and Gonzalez played club ball before coming to high school ball...just like the players at Northwestern...Martinez, Benson (both borthers), Kropp, Antinoro, Clark, Ferguson, Parks, Stillman...all on NW's roster, played years of club ball before ever stepping onto a high school field. My point is that "the high school system" doesn't have as much to do with the success of the team as the prior club training does. All these boys who have played club ball have been trained for years outside "the high school system." Also, I believe a former DOC for Discoveries was instrumental in getting Rock Hill High's team to play club ball, for extra training in the off season. How can this be considered to be a part of the "high school system?"

In the past, the majority of boys who played club ball happened to be zoned to attend Northwestern or Fort Mill high school. Very few boys, over the years, have been zoned to attend Rock Hill High. That has now changed...hence, some of, not all of, the reason why Rock Hill is now seeing some success.

Also, for Fernando Gonzalez to play JV before playing Varsity, in my unsolicited opinion, is doing a disservice not only to the soccer program, but also a disservice to Fernando.

I agree. Club ball is very important. Perhaps I wasn't very clear in my originl post. There are lots of good players all over the Rock Hill area. Let's celebrate that fact.

Coming up through the JV program should have no effect on whether Fernando makes the varsity squad next year. He has no choice but to play JV this year. Also, in my opinion,for whatever its worth, I would think Fernando would benefit more from playing high level club ball in North Carolina than playing for a sub par JV program whose competition is very low. Then he comes in next year and makes the varsity squad when he is eligible as a 9th grader. Just my two cents.

Mike,

And where should Fernando play club ball next year when he is a 9th grader? Playing club in NC at U-15 and above conflicts with the SC high school sesaon.

Boys 3/9

NW 12
York 0
Northwestern 7-1

RH 5
Lancaster 1
Rock Hill 5-2

SP 1
Clover 0 (OT)
South Pointe 4-0

Sorry I may have confused you, Hurst. I was referring to this year. He could play club in NC instead of playing JV and then next year he could play only high school soccer for RH's varsity team. I just think he could benefit more from playing high level club in NC this year instead of JV which would more than likely better prepare him for varsity than JV would.

Mike,

I agree that 8th graders should continue to play competitve club soccer in the spring but I feel they should also play for their HS JV as well. If the boy plays club in NC as an 8th grader, he needs to find an SC team for Fall of his 9th grade.

I know we are all sensitive to the hard work that coaches are do for the high school teams, but what is being said about RHHS is true. While the coaches are undoubtably enjoying the new talent, it is the club experience that has made the change at RHHS and not anything worth noting within the program itself.

Before the rezoning, the RHHS program did not have kids with club experience. Everyone knew that. Last year there was a senior on the team who had never even played the sport before. Having room on your roster for an inexperienced senior is not an option in most 4-A schools.

The rezoning impacts the current Junior, Sophmore and Freshman class. So it is easy for the coaches to say that they are bringing the kids up through the program (has RHHS really yet to define a program for themselves?). What they are really doing is reaping the benefits of gaining club experienced contenders who have not only played at club level, but more importantly have been coached at the club level. These kids would not be in their program if it were not for the change in the zoning that Rock Hill went through.

What the coaches are not owning up to is that of the starters, 7 would be at Northwestern right now if it were not for the rezoning. This includes the two Arzaluz brothers, the Robinson kid (who actually won the MVP for RHHS’ Varsity as a FRESHMAN - that is NOT bringing him up through the ranks coach since he didn't play JV for you), the Spradley goalkeeper (who was named to the 2007 Byrnes All Tournament Team a few weeks ago), and the Lehman kid who won 2006 MVP for the JV team…and his playing JV was HIS choice. The Lehman kid actually DID go to Northwestern his freshman year. When he came to RHHS last year, the coaches wanted him to play Varsity, but he did not want to play against his big brother at Northwestern, so he played JV. More than half of the bench would also be at Northwestern if it weren't for the new zones. By the way, it isn’t that I know so much about all of these kids. I got all of the information about the starters from the school’s soccer site.

The Raad kid is playing JV not because the coaches have this wonderful and developmental program, but because his dad wouldn’t let him play Varsity as a freshman, a decision I certainly respect. Of course there is Fernando playing JV, but he's still in middle school. It will be interesting to see if he stays with the RHHS program or either moves to Northwestern as Enzo did.

Ok, so the point of this ramble is that RHHS now has something worth noticing. So what changed, the coaches or the players? It is frustrating to see the talent pool do so well under a club coach (many of the sophmores played for Discoveries U15 champion team) and then fall apart during the school season. I understand that the RRHS coaches do not demand near the level of commitment, conditioning, and comradre as the club coaches, but do expect these players to play club during the off season so they can get these qualities elsewhere. That isn't coaching, but riding coat-tails of the club coaches.

I have caught a couple of their games and you can tell by watching the games that the kids have heart and talent, but no real strategy that works with their strengths, which shows the coaches are in way over their heads. It is only a matter of time before the parents and AD demand a change in leadership from competent enough to take the program up a notch for their hardworking kids.

Why would fernando play for a club in NC? Last i heard he was going to play for the CESA u15 team.

3 different threads on rock hill soccer.what is the world coming to.

blues3, all of your specific arguments are based on club data with a general statement near the end that the kids play with no real strategy. If that is the heart of your argument, then your criteria for a good coach is somebody who can do something with nothing (clubwise)--This rules out just about every team with a winning record in South Carolina, so the good coaches must be at the rural schools with losing records.

Dude, can you read? If that were true (making something with nothing) then RHHS would have been the state champs up until the rezoning! Go back and re read the post

Randomguycoach,that is what i heard to.That Fernando was going to go to play CESA next year.Cant wait to see that.

blues3, first of all I am not the infamous "Dude."

In clarifying to myself the role of a coach, it has occurred to me that teams with good players do not do well without a decent coach. Bad teams may still be bad even with a decent coach, great coaches may get overachievement from bad teams, great coaches may make the most of good teams. But a bad coach will get little to nothing good from a good team (unless the only opponents are bad teams with mediocre to bad coaches). If Rock Hill is doing well, ther coach may not be the best coach in the state, but he must be decent. At the high school level (really at all levels--even pro teams struggle when the players take charge), players do not have the maturity to play well "despite" their coach.

No one is arguing that Rock Hill is doing better this year because they changed coaches--clearly they are doing better because their coach has more to work with; however, the coach still has to do the work.

Read the first line of my first post in giving credit to the hard work of the high school coaches. All three coaches for RHHS have added to the thread and not one mentioned that the caliber of player has improved or agreed that the rezoning and club experience has made positive changes to the team. That is what the "heart" of my argument is.

By the way, are you a fourth coach for RHHS?

..psst.

Benp is "infamous"

I'm legendary.

speakin of benp.... where's he been. i've seen him reffing a few games.

Garrett Keogh leading the way:

http://www.heraldonline.com/209/story/14197.html

3/13

NW 12
Clover 0

Rock Hill 2
South Pointe 1

Wednesday, March 28

#1 Northwestern (11-1) versus #14 Rock Hill (9-2).

What's the line?

northwestern 5
rock hill 0

a hard fought match by the bearcats but run out of gas in the second half.

maybe 2-0 at half.
this is only a guess and not an educated one.

Wow...that sounds like last night's NW - SP game.

You had the right score....just the wrong match.

maybe NW will be a little tired and we can get a close one.i did not know the NW-SP score.i was at the middle school parents night for incoming 6th graders.i think rh beat sp 2-1 earlier in the year.

40,

You missed the NW-SP boys game.
You missed the FM-Clover girls game.
Where's your dedication?

i dont think that northwestern will be too tired tonight, most of the starters sat the final 20 minutes.

going back to the whole thing with rhhs guys being from nhs zones and what not.. did yall ever think that nhs's two best players (martinez brothers) come from rhhs zones but got "moved"

More fine coverage from Barry Byers and The Rock Hill Herald:

http://www.heraldonline.com/102/story/14957.html