SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Boys Varsity Soccer Anyone think size of schools matter?

Some sneak dissin going on around this spot...I'm bout to get back on deck...why on this subject was exchange students brought up?

Sorry, I meant that they haven't necessarily had any formal training.

spring valley were missing quality players

Everyone wants to win but I don't think the sport of soccer needs to have the American Football mentality.

"Winning is not the most important thing...the important thing is to develop creative and skilled players with good confidence"..Arsene Wenger

not really in american soccer. some small schools have a big tradition of soccer, some big schools are just not interested in soccer.

What private school in south carolina recruits or gives scholarships for soccer players? Each year someone posts that comment with no basis. If the private schools were giving scholarships for great soccer players, why wouldn't their team be filled with year round soccer players? I'd guess the large school state winners have pure club soccer players where the smaller schools (including those that are private) are waiting for their players to finish basketball season, wrestling etc. and half of them may not have even touched a soccer ball for a year. As far as putting the private schools, irregardless of size (which range from 100 students to 800?), in the same division why not just make the divisions based on the number of kids on the roster that play soccer year round? or if everyone is so busy trying to find excuses why this or that team can't be competitive and the classifications are unfair - set it up in divisions based on past season's performance or playoff seedings like club soccer. On the other hand shouldn't high school soccer be about pride to play for your highschool against your typical rivals? Some schools have make ups for great soccer teams, some schools have players that make a great baseball team or track team. Often at least in a smaller school, they don't have all in a given season, maybe in a larger school size does help in having strong teams in all three simultaneous sports. Now that would be an interesting statistic to look at. What schools have been state champions in soccer, baseball, and track in the same season?

The really small private schools are not playing in SCISA nor are they playing in 1A or 2A, so I do not understand how this comment pertains? The original comment was that the private schools playing in 1A and 2A should play in SCISA. This is an opinion I have as it pertains to soccer simply because these private schools, being in large population centers as compared to the rural schools of 1A and 2A have inherent advantages (mentioned in earlier post) over the rural schools in 1A and 2A. The number of state soccer titles won by private schools in 1A and 2A over the past 7 years bear this out.

BTW: Approved foreign exchange students listed by school are on the www.SCHSL.org web site. At first glance, I did not see any private schools listed. I would assume if they play in 1A or 2A, even if they are private, they would be reported, but I do not know this for sure.

DirtyMone,
The response on private schools wasn't so much directed at your comments but that of wackoflack.. You actually make valid points except the range of enrolled students at private schools still would cover 2 to 3 high school divisions. Isn't Bishop England on the verge of being bumped to 3A? I thought someone had posted numbers a way back and it showed Bishop England had more students than some of the schools in 3A? Maybe they are one of the biggest schools in 2A so that contributes to their success along with being in a large population center. Haven't most of the state champions been near/in a large population center = Greenville, Columbia, Charleston? Also,where would you make some of the charter schools play like Greenville Tech? Would all charter schools have to play in SCISA because they too are in large population centers with inherent advantages and options of pulling students from a wide geographic area? So my opinion to the thread's question - size of school does matter but there can also be other mitigating factors such as location, school tradition, spirit, coaching, and any given year's roster of player's talent. Everyone has seen a better team on paper or a large school lose to a spirited underdog rival or a small school spirited team. The underdog may have less soccer pedigree (club players) or come from a rural area or have small enrollment but in that given game have more high school pride and/or fighting spirit. But usually these games are called upsets.

A rich school like Bishop England, Christ Church, etc is not on the same level as the teams they beat on a regular basis or who they play in the state championship every year. By rich I mean parents can afford to send their kids to clubs and pay $1,400 to play at a high level from 8 years old to 17 years old. They should be playing in SCISER. I think that would be great Pinewood, The Cards, BE, Christ Church, Southside Christian, and Academic Magnet battling to see who got the juice. BE and Christ Church beating up and playing teams in the state championship that don't have the same color shorts and letters missing from the name of their school on their jersey doesn't quite seem right. Have and Have nots come to mind! Having the SCISER State Championship II aka the 1A Final and watching a bunch of clubbers will put me alseep again. I wanted my money back paying for that! Elitist chime in!!

I think a fair way of keeping private schools in the public school league would be to count each student as 1.5. A school with an enrollment of 800 students would then be looked at as having 1200 students, thus pushing them up a classification. I believe this or another measure similar to it was voted down 3 or years back. From what I understand many 3A and 4A schools voted against it, most likely because they did not want to compete with these private schools.