High School Soccer

[Unregistered]

No, I'm not a thorns lover and I think their DA propaganda is really close to used car BS.

But

High school soccer is one of the biggest risks a player goes through every year. For serious players, and no I don't mean 10k a year Ecnl now I think I'm elite even though logic would say I'm being fooled or screwed, but serious players who know they will play in college and want to achieve the highest soccer school available. Serious players should consider not playing high school soccer.

1. Game schedule is utterly a disaster waiting to happen. 3 full games in a week and sometimes 4 spaced out throughout the week with training every day... In no top soccer country along with top level programs in the states would ever say that is correct. Football plays one game a week with about 19 minutes of action while soccer will have anywhere from 60-70 minutes not including when the all is out.

2. Players are going through physical development. Boys and girls are more succesptable to injury during this time. Everything is imbalanced. But hey, why not throw on a few more preseason games simply because the AD thinks it's cool.

3. High school coaches aren't your top level coaches in many cases. Many including some great resume coaches don't spent enough time or know much about injury prevention. Some rely on the players to do it and create it.

4. Rediculous preseason workout plans that are meant to break players muscles down..

Fix even a few of those and the benefit of high school soccer is worth not doing a program that says you can't because they are "serious"

[Unregistered]

No, I'm not a thorns lover and I think their DA propaganda is really close to used car BS.

But

High school soccer is one of the biggest risks a player goes through every year. For serious players, and no I don't mean 10k a year Ecnl now I think I'm elite even though logic would say I'm being fooled or screwed, but serious players who know they will play in college and want to achieve the highest soccer school available. Serious players should consider not playing high school soccer.

1. Game schedule is utterly a disaster waiting to happen. 3 full games in a week and sometimes 4 spaced out throughout the week with training every day... In no top soccer country along with top level programs in the states would ever say that is correct. Football plays one game a week with about 19 minutes of action while soccer will have anywhere from 60-70 minutes not including when the all is out.

2. Players are going through physical development. Boys and girls are more succesptable to injury during this time. Everything is imbalanced. But hey, why not throw on a few more preseason games simply because the AD thinks it's cool.

3. High school coaches aren't your top level coaches in many cases. Many including some great resume coaches don't spent enough time or know much about injury prevention. Some rely on the players to do it and create it.

4. Rediculous preseason workout plans that are meant to break players muscles down..

Fix even a few of those and the benefit of high school soccer is worth not doing a program that says you can't because they are "serious"

Sherwood > everybody.
Scoreboard Sunset

[Unregistered]

No, I'm not a thorns lover and I think their DA propaganda is really close to used car BS.

But

High school soccer is one of the biggest risks a player goes through every year. For serious players, and no I don't mean 10k a year Ecnl now I think I'm elite even though logic would say I'm being fooled or screwed, but serious players who know they will play in college and want to achieve the highest soccer school available. Serious players should consider not playing high school soccer.

1. Game schedule is utterly a disaster waiting to happen. 3 full games in a week and sometimes 4 spaced out throughout the week with training every day... In no top soccer country along with top level programs in the states would ever say that is correct. Football plays one game a week with about 19 minutes of action while soccer will have anywhere from 60-70 minutes not including when the all is out.

2. Players are going through physical development. Boys and girls are more succesptable to injury during this time. Everything is imbalanced. But hey, why not throw on a few more preseason games simply because the AD thinks it's cool.

3. High school coaches aren't your top level coaches in many cases. Many including some great resume coaches don't spent enough time or know much about injury prevention. Some rely on the players to do it and create it.

4. Rediculous preseason workout plans that are meant to break players muscles down..

Fix even a few of those and the benefit of high school soccer is worth not doing a program that says you can't because they are "serious"

And of course nobody gets injured playing club either.

Yes HS is tough on the body. So is club soccer. So is DA. So is college soccer, which is the goal of 99% of players. Little of it matters if a player really wants to play for their HS teams. There are many other benefits to HS sports that outweigh possible (and debatable) risks.

[Unregistered]

[QUOTE=Unregistered;2031946]And of course nobody gets injured playing club either.

Yes HS is tough on the body. So is club soccer. So is DA. So is college soccer, which is the goal of 99% of players. Little of it matters if a player really wants to play for their HS teams. There are many other benefits to HS sports that outweigh possible (and debatable) risks.[/QUOTE

I don't think you see the OP's intent. If a player really wants to play high school soccer by all means play. However, high school soccer is not set up for a high level player. The training g schedule does not allow them the proper rest. The talent is several levels below boys DA and ECNL. It is a level below club. So you have a few athletic kids on each team that work very hard but can be reckless in a tackle because they just are not at a high skill level or mental level for soccer. This is where the danger really comes in because these players work hard with out the knowledge of how to really play.
But school soccer high school or college are not set up to develop players.

[Unregistered]

And of course nobody gets injured playing club either.

Yes HS is tough on the body. So is club soccer. So is DA. So is college soccer, which is the goal of 99% of players. Little of it matters if a player really wants to play for their HS teams. There are many other benefits to HS sports that outweigh possible (and debatable) risks.

Some of you may remember the college basketball phenom Brittany Griner (Baylor and now in the WNBA). Her college coach said in an interview that when Griner arrived on campus, she rode a long board everywhere. Coach REALLY wanted to tell her to get off that long board, but realized that Griner was a kid and in spite of being one of the most talented kids to play college basketball, she wanted to do kid things. Coach said (I'm paraphrasing) if we take everything away from her but basketball, she will start to hate basketball.

These are kids. Are you going to wrap them in bubble wrap when they step off the field? My DD had a teammate injure herself walking down stairs. Should talented kids only live in one story homes? Let them live their lives.

[Unregistered]

Some of you may remember the college basketball phenom Brittany Griner (Baylor and now in the WNBA). Her college coach said in an interview that when Griner arrived on campus, she rode a long board everywhere. Coach REALLY wanted to tell her to get off that long board, but realized that Griner was a kid and in spite of being one of the most talented kids to play college basketball, she wanted to do kid things. Coach said (I'm paraphrasing) if we take everything away from her but basketball, she will start to hate basketball.

These are kids. Are you going to wrap them in bubble wrap when they step off the field? My DD had a teammate injure herself walking down stairs. Should talented kids only live in one story homes? Let them live their lives.

The coach is spot on there is so much practically and fun created by riding around by long board. It's a mode of transportation. It's not like she is playing pickup basketball in the women's gym vs the coed student body and not playing vs Notre Dame the coming Saturday.

Playing 2 months of HS or playing 2 mos for the NWSL Thorns GDA is really not giving up anything you are still lucky enough to be playing soccer. Just saying.

[Unregistered]

I don't think you see the OP's intent. If a player really wants to play high school soccer by all means play. However, high school soccer is not set up for a high level player.

So high school is perfect for 99.99% of kids then.

[Unregistered]

So high school is perfect for 99.99% of kids then.

Probably more like 90%
The elite will end up in GDA league starting with 03s/04s this year.

[Unregistered]

Do HS teams routinely train their players like distance runners?

You forgot the other obligatory gripe about HS ball--it's failure to use the Laws of the Game (or a version tailored towards youth). There is no buzzer in soccer.