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Obviously, you can divide based on a different criteria (such as level of play) but it WILL NEVER HAPPEN in this state because the SCHSL stands for all sports and wants to keep all sports equal across the board. What happens in one sport, will have to happen in all sports.. So unless all sports begin moving teams and grouping them based on ability and level of play it won't happen in soccer...

Now that is a reason I can believe, but I still don't agree with it. I don't think you should do something because you've always done it that way. You should improve it if you can.

However, that's a perfect world. Unfortuantely, you're probably right that it won't happen. But it's actually a shame because I think it would give more kids a chance to win championships while still providing an incentive to keep moving up. The better "Hoosier" story would be how a AA team won the top tier state championship. As it stands today, that can never happen.

Coach P,

Now THAT is a reason I can REALLY believe!

cbdcoach,

It does happen, in football. They divide 4A into 2 groups. If team 16's power ranking is too low, the 17th team becomes a "big school" and teh 16th team is out.

And we could argue until we are blue in the face as to how much money football ACTUALLY makes. BUT the fact is that it does happen in other sports.

Not being a revenue sport isn't a good reason not to improve, but it probably IS the reason.

However, it's shortsighted. Perhaps if each sport was tweaked to create better competitiveness, the revenue would rise across the board. Would it match football? I would bet against it. But I'd also bet that creating competitive soccer matches would result in a revenue rise.

All of the discussion about creating new regions so teams can face competition on their level has a flaw.

It's a quick fix.

High school soccer is not a revenue sport, thus regions won't be re-aligned for soccer, whereas for football they will.

But club soccer is a revenue sport in a way. It costs money to play. Lots of money. Schools with a lower poverty index have more kids that can afford to play club; thus, more often than not these schools are better at soccer year in, year out.

High school football doesn't cost $500 to $2000 dollars to play in the off-season if a player wants to be the best on his high school team. He simply hits the weight room, trains, goes to summer and spring drills, works hard, and gets better. Little to no cost incurred.

Thus in high school football, a less-affluent school can be successful against a more affluent school. They can be consistently successful.

If inexpensive, high level club soccer training was available to every kid that really wanted to play, at every school with a high poverty index, you would see a big change in the powers that be in South Carolina High School Soccer. Teams that had never been soccer powers would become very competitive within a short time, the playing field would be leveled throughout the state in most classifications, AAAA down to A, and the argument of realignment for soccer would become a moot point.

I wish the US was like other countries and soccer WAS our national sport. It is not. Football is. Football is cheap and affordable to inner city, poor, and affluent kids alike. Thus more people can identify with it, it draws crowds, it makes money.

If CLUB football existed, and cost $2000 dollars, and out of season soccer training was free, this argument would be reversed. Soccer WOULD be our national sport. And crowds would number in the thousands, they would fill stadiums, while football crowds would dwindle to a two bleacher, handful of dedicated parents, who had invested countless years and countless thousands to see their child succeed.

Kevin and Kyle (and I'm sure others) have a done a great job in the West Columbia area with the CRSA club, by making it very affordable and thus getting a lot of kids participating year round that otherwise would not.

It takes deep pockets for a school in south carolina to be ELITE in soccer. Deep pockets fund the strongest clubs (CESA, CUFC, Bridge), because parents that can pay make sure their kids get the training they need to be the best.

If club were free, or cost little to nothing, the landscape would change. I doubt that will happen, and I doubt South Carolina will realign anything for soccer.

Great commentary, Ryan.

Tonight we play a team with a great, very nice coach who is a gentleman, and kids who are really first class. Several of them had the advantage of "life" which they didn't ask for, they received, and in the case of the kids from Greenville and Coach Raimond - they have handled with class and dignity. These kids are good, but they don't rub it in your face, they don't trash talk, they aren't dirty. They are blessed, and good.

My fun is taking a group of kids with nothing and letting them build something. Doesn't matter how much time, where the clubs are, my kids live in trailers and with one parent and most of the time the best meal they get is the pregame meal that I or one of our wonderful parents provide. We do have a few parents who are in the sweet spot of life, and they step up and are really cool. We have kids with nothing, who love soccer. That's what I like.

Get rid of the rules. Quit bureacratically destroying the fun. Let them play. Wherever. Whenever. With whomever.

Think about it - what adult has the "right" to tell kids they can't PLAY?