SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Girls Varsity Soccer Burnout from High School to College Soccer

Coach P,

I think you have done your HW know what you are talking about. The fact that players can't co-register is what makes this sad.

When I played in Aiken County Rec. League, our U-18 team would have 15-16 players (male and female), with probably 8-9 high school players (5 or 6 of whom played club), 3-4 girls who usually played high school and club, and 5-6 non high school, non-club players. The mix of talent, and genders, made the matches and league exciting, because there were so many different factions involved.

Soccer has advanced in SC, and in the US, but I for one would say that it is not as fun as it once was. Pressure exists at every level, high school, club, and national, in a way that it did not before. I think the nation feels it collectively as some "grand desire" to catch up and surpass the rest of the "footballing" powers of the world.

Fifteen years ago I don't remember any of the kids I played with/against being "burnt out" at the high school/club level of soccer; today, there are a handful of kids on every high school team that quit between their 10th-12th grade years because they've played too much high pressure/high stress/high cost soccer.

US, and SC, soccer has made progress, but progress that has ultimately cost us the casual youth player.