Chass,

Sorry about not being specific as to keeping my point focused on an individual player vs. team being able to make an impact. I still think neither an individual nor a team can make an impact at the highest level without club training.

Meredith,
I think I looked at a different link on the poverty index, but I know Swansea is able to do a lot with what they have. I interviewed for the HS English position at Swansea High in 2002, but was not that interested once I found out there was no girls soccer program. 6 years later they have a competitive squad, thanks in large part to LLSC, which I'm sure a number of your girls play for, and I imagine play together, too.

I would also imagine that LLSC does a good job in keeping club costs down, which is another big draw for the girls. It's hard to talk a girl who comes from a low income demographic into convincing her family to pay at least $600 dollars to play club. The lower the cost, breaking up payments, and offering scholarships to players, etc. are all ways of getting kids to participate.

I also imagine it benefits Swansea to have a somewhat local club where there girls can play together, as opposed to having them try out for Lexington or CUFC initially. It is hard to convince girls to try out for a club that is made up mostly of players from schools that your girls lose to by a large margin on a yearly basis. Not only are your kids intimidated, but the players from stronger schools can be condescending initially. Given time, the girls make new friends, and realize they can compete at a higher level, and it works wonders for their mentality at the high school level when facing the aforementioned schools.

In 2008, Westside Varsity Girls had 6/15 (1 Challenge, 4 Classic, 1 Rec) girls who played club the previous fall season, and 11/15 that had at least played club at some level before. In 2009, Westside Varsity should have 10 girls who played club soccer in the fall of 08 (2 Challenge, 8 Classic) and 13 that have at least played club at the classic level before, plus 5-6 on the JV team that played club soccer in the fall of 08. It will be interesting to see if the rise in numbers affects how competitive we are against teams that were stronger than us in 2008.

Last edited by Ryan Roseberry; 05/27/08 03:55 PM.