>>[ntheno] There seems to be a bias among high school coaches, in general, very strongly against Club soccer in this state.<<
I don't know of any high school coaches who are biased against youth club soccer. I do see a case-by-case situation in which different high school coaches allow participation in club spring events.
>>I feel that this is a power struggle from the high school coaches because they, in general, know that coaching wise they can't offer the same quality of coaching to their high school teams. Thus, it appears to be easier to puff out their chests and try to make life miserable for the players that participate in Club and Club sponsored events.<<
Let's take this from the high school coach's perspective. Their job is to represent the team, not the individual player. Thus, when a player wants to blow off a practice or a game, the coach has to be concerned with the team first and the individual player second. From the player/parent perspective, it's about the individual first and the team second. It's these two perspectives that can put a high school coach and a player/parent at odds.
Do certain high school coaches handle this situation better than others in trying on a case-by-case basis to optimize the good of the team and the good of the individual? Absolutely.
So what does a player/parent do if they feel that their coach is "unfair?" There are three options: talk the coach into your position, accept the coach's decision, or quit. That's it.
What I like about this is that this is typically the option in the "real world" of employment when you have a boss with whom you disagree. Helping the player understand that these are the only three options, and then helping the player deal with the situation, is pretty much all that you can do.
While it's easy to see both sides of this, I'll state one strong opinion -- this is the reason we need clubs in South Carolina offering a full range of spring events -- so that players (and parents of players) have options.
