I was in the meeting, and I hope I'm reading into your last comment the wrong way, but I promise you that there were no coaches in that room with a "club agenda". We simply looked for, discussed, and selected who we thought were the top 18 players in AAAA. I'll follow Jason Hamil and Kyle's lead and say this (not directed at you or anyone specifically), but it is quite annoying that we as coaches make a 1-2 hour drive on a Sunday morning to "serve" as a member of the selection committee only to get questioned by everyone in the state upset with the process. You absolutely have a right to voice your concerns, but I also have a right to express to everyone questioning the process that we spent a great deal of time deliberating which players we felt should be honored by this selection. I think what you would find is that most of the players selected do play on some of the higher level club teams in the state, but should that really be any big surprise?
On another note, I think Kyle and Kevin do put a lot of thought and effort into the coaches selected to these committees, and I also think they do a great job organizing these meetings because without their direction who knows when/if any of these meetings would take place. I was honored to be a part of the committee and felt obligated to be there, but I do object to anyone who questions the integrity of the fellow coaches that were on the AAAA boy's selection committee. I've been to my fair share of these meetings and this year's was very professional and fair. Of course there are going to be kids that some feel deserved to be on the All-State team, but I think we put too much emphasis sometimes on these awards because people want to complain about the human element involved (which is that it is a selection) instead of teaching our players that it is an extreme honor that they were nominated by their coach or another coach in the first place.
Again, healthy discussion and conversations about this topic are great for our state. But there are a few people who post just to stir the pot, and do not contribute anything positive to SC High School Soccer. I do not post a lot on this board, but I did feel the need to weigh in on this topic.
Congrats to ALL players nominated and named All-State!
Josh Eskew
Dorman Soccer
