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

I never have and think that just because 4A is bigger does not mean it is better! Check out the first week of scrimmages:

4A VS. 4A
Hillcrest 1-2 Wren

4A DEF. 3A
Lancaster 8-6 Chester

4A TIED 2A
Summerville 2-2 Bishop England

4A DEF. SCISA
Spring Valley 1-0 Ben Lippen

3A DEF 4A
Brookland-Cayce 2-1 White Knoll
Chapin 4-1 Greenwood
Dreher 2-0 Blythewood
JL Mann 3-0 Byrnes

2A DEF. 4A
Wade Hampton-H 3-1 Colleton County

SCISA DEF. 4A
Pinewood Prep 2-0 West Ashley

IND. DEF. SCISA
Heathwood Hall 0-2 Providence Athletic Club

I believe size definitely matters in US due to size of country. Bigger schools are in big population centers so there are more numbers and the probability of having better soccer players goes way up. Population centers have more middle/upper middle class and therefore more kids who play in soccer clubs around these population areas due to costs associated with club soccer and availability of good soccer clubs in these areas.

Making the club comparison, just look at the top clubs around - CSA, CASL, Concorde, etc. These are all around large population centers. Just ask the DoC's of SC clubs if these larger clubs have advantages due to size. Compare the percentage of kids playing club soccer in Westminister to Columbia, Charleston, Greenville, or even Rock Hill.

This is not to say that a smaller school can not have some good years with an "unusual" number of talented soccer players and I will even say that in some years they could compete with their larger school brethren. Also, some (and I mean a few) better smaller school programs can beat larger schools that have little soccer tradition, but I do not think you can use these few examples to make an overall generalization.

If you took the top 5 (preseason) schools from each classification and they all played each other, I do not think the 1A or 2A schools would pull off too many favorable results maybe with the exception of some of the private schools.

The private school results are a bit misleading also. Private schools tend to be around big population centers (Pinewood Prep, Bishop England, Cardinal Newman, Christ Church, etc) and if you can afford to send your child to private school, having your child play club soccer is probably not that big of an additional burden and since you are in a big population center, you have the resource available. The private schools can also afford to pay for some talented coaches not only through salary, but can also offer their children scholarships to attend highly respectable academic institutions. So, while these schools are small, they have a concentration of talent and an advantage of coaching that is not typical of similar size public schools that will tend to be in rural areas. If you look at the preseason rankings (and even past year results), Bishop England is atop 2A and Christ Church and Southside Christian are atop 1A. I am not even sure it is fair that these schools are allowed to play in the smaller public school classifications. They should all just have to play in SCISA.

Sorry for the long winded post

Well the schools that recruit and cheat like Southern Cal sports like the private schools in 1A and 2A have a obvious advantage...there size doesnt matter. The bigger schools that don't win have subpar coaching. Better get your stacks up and re-up and cheat to win.

Also consider that those scores were scrimmage games..

How about foreign exchange students, like when a coach puts a plea on the website for them to be housed? Does that have an effect on the team?

Personally I don't see a problem with trying to get the parents of your program to host foreign exchange students. The only thing is there is no guarantee that those players will pan out the way that the coach wants, so it isn't necessary an advantage and is certainly nothing you want to build your team around. For me, it's like a college football program who recruits to many JUCO players, nothing but a quick fix.
As far as the effects, the team is still going to have to go through training regardless, but those exchange students might be able to impact the other kids in the program and visa versa.
A problem with foreign exchange students is that they usually have not gone through actual training. Just something to think about.

In my experience with exchange students it seems most (NOT ALL) are more academic than athletic.

Oh sure. I would agree they are here for academic reasons first - doubt many are coming to the United States for exposure to our great soccer atmosphere. But to say they have not gone through actual training of some type I find hard to believe.