I wish I had some sort of idea what the best solution is for everyone.
If we got rid of regions, it would make it hard for the smaller, rural schools to find games.
I think solutions could be found for soccer but the HSL isn't going to create special regions/rules just for soccer.
If you lump all of the Magnet/Private/Charter schools together I can live with that but then how to you handle districts that have school of choice? I had a friend coaching at a Columbia area school that said he knew of 2 kids that lived in his neighborhood, zoned for one school that were going to another so they could play soccer.
I know kids in my area say that they want to take a certain class so are able to go the school they choose to play a sport.
The rules are being bent everywhere. When I start coaching 18 years ago, I knew of kids that lived in Chapin that were going to Irmo to play soccer.
I curious if other states have this same issue and how they handle the private/magnet/charter issue.
Several good points here.
Absolutely, the smaller schools would be impacted the most if they left. Would probably have to go back to 1A-4A, which has its own issues.
Soccer isn't really a consideration here. Football, and to a lesser extent, basketball, will drive this.
Irmo benefited from the school of choice for years, but now the migration in Lexington 5 is elsewhere. DD2 allows kids to go to other schools if their home school doesn't offer a specific program (I know of some athletes that go to Ashley Ridge for a CTE program not offered at Summerville HS).
Recruiting takes place in the other sports as well. I personally do not think that the HS sports should be so driven to win, win, win, but instead focus more on being an extension of the classroom where values of teamwork, sportsmanship, dedication, etc... are emphasized. Most coaches do this, but for some, well, the less said, the better.
Definitely no easy answers.
