Figure I will weigh in on the subject since I have both played for a private school and started a program in a 1A/2A community.
I cannot speak for all the private schools (especially the Greenville and Charleston areas) but when I attended Ben Lippen (2003-2006) there were NO special offers made to athletes to attend our school... None. In fact, only a handful of my teammates ever played club soccer - we, like all public schools, had to make do with what we had. Now, unlike BE, St. Joes, and CC, we played in SCISA - not because we felt it was the "correct" thing to do since we were a tuition school... but because overall (football, baseball, basketball) we couldn't compete within the 1A/2A SCHSL ranks. I personally would have loved to compete in the SCHSL while attending BLS, that's why we scheduled teams like AC Flora, Dreher, Dutch Fork, Irmo, etc. during my time there - because we felt we could compete and wanted to play at the highest level possible. I applaud the private schools that are able to be competitive and successful across the board in the HSL and I don't feel that we can hold their decision to compete at the highest level against them. Should they (based off of skill) be moved to a higher classification? Yes, of course; but they don’t get to make that decision – their attendance numbers do that for them. SIDE NOTE: That’s why I think relegation / promotion system should be used!
Now, onto my next point: I knew going into starting the program at Calhoun County (450 students, NO recreational / youth program “close”) that IF we ever made it deep into playoffs we would face the likes of CC, St. Joes, and BE (moved from 1A to 2A during second year of program) – and I had no problem with that. I didn’t start the program expecting to come out of the gate and win championships or expecting to compete with the likes of the dominant 1A/2A teams. I started the program (and hope it continues) to give the CC community something other than Basketball / Football to experience – to allow for the kids to be a part of something new. I know the Blackville coach and he takes the same approach as me when faced with a GIANT… plan for success but don’t lose sight of learning through the experience. The win for Blackville was only being down 2-0 at half in the state final; just like the win for CC vs. Magnet was going 12 minutes without being scored on (my kids were ecstatic to not be the biggest win of the season for AM).
Sorry for the long post… the main point is this: Don’t crucify the private schools for where the SCHSL attendance #’s place them and don’t feel “sorry” for the little guys… we take the defeats in stride, hoping to learn from them and build because of them.
