Interesting points.
Ironic that statistics point in favor of Kozlowski. You and I both know that if Nation Ford didn't split from Fort Mill, Katie Kozlowski would have never even dreamed of playing high school soccer. Great basketball player, recruited to play soccer just so NF could field a varsity team. Ends up leading the region in scoring as a "first-year" junior. Great story.
As for picking the teams, the difference between All-Region and All-Area is that All-Area takes in the newspaper's circulation area. Coaches pick All-Region and the number of spots per team are generally allotted based on how your team finishes in the region. Generally, all coaches respond and nominate players (or a player) for the All-Region team.
The All-Area team is done by the sportswriter at The Herald. He e-mails each coach and asks them to submit nominees. They can generally submit whoever they want. If the coach doesn't respond, the kid doesn't make the team.
The problem with this is that the coaches never come together to discuss the nominees. If the coach of High School A fails to nominate his (or her) best player, and the coaches of High Schools B, C & D think that the snubbed player deserves to be on the team.....they have no say. These coaches don't even see the All-Area team until it is published.
