Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) is the nonprofit, quasi-governmental entity that manages, supervises, and regulates interscholastic athletics in the state of Oregon, among other things. All public and private high schools who field interscholastic sports teams are members. While some may argue about how well it does its job, it's pretty much accepted that it has the final world on setting the rules, priorities, and procedures for high school (and middle school) sports in this state. Including soccer.
OSAA, unsurprisingly, has an academic focus--what some in the competitive club sports world might call a "rec mentality". It emphasizes things like sportsmanship, scholarship, and fair play over a "win-at-all-costs" model. It doesn't always live up to those expectations (cough Jesuit cough), but it tries. It views the development of student-athletes as "whole persons" to be more important than teaching them to specialize in a particular sport, or the techniques and tactics thereof. It regards single-minded focus on a single sport as unhealthy--for that reason, participation in high school soccer outside the high school season is very limited--a few (optional) camps here and there, but otherwise athletes are expected to hit the books during that time, or play other sports during the winter and spring seasons.
In that regard, it has always had a bit of an uneasy relationship with club soccer (and competitive club teams in other sports, though I will now focus on soccer for the rest of this post). It tends to regard club soccer as not reflecting the same values. For that reason, and a few others, it strives to greatly limit entanglements between high school soccer and club teams. Players' club affiliations or accomplishments are NEVER acknowledged anywhere on a high school pitch. HS teams may NEVER play against club teams, period. Even scrimmages are prohibited. HS coaches are generally prohibited from coaching any of their players (or potential players) at club--it's generally recommended that if a coach wants to do both, that his HS team and his club team should be geographically far apart, or that he should only coach younger kids in club, or that if he coaches boys in high school, he should coach girls in club, etc. It gets messy quickly if a player shows up to a high school tryout who the coach (including assistant coaches) coaches on a club team.
That said, high school and club soccer have co-existed for years, in part because both sides of this divide respect and honor the temporal boundary of the high school and club seasons. As one of my kid's coach put it, "between August and November, you belong to your high school. The rest of the year, you belong to us". Our club's HS-age teams shut down when HS tryout start, and don't pick up again until after the state finals are done. (Or at least until the playoffs are underway, and most kids on the team have been eliminated--and even then, those still playing are expected to finish their HS season before coming back).
Oregon has, at times, had various "academy" teams in non-OYSA travel leagues that either respected the high school season, or disallowed participating in high school sports for its members. Timbers Academy, a full-time professional academy team for boys that travels quite a bit and trains year-round, still is in the latter category. As TA is on the "professional" path in the sport, and is generally offering players free training, nobody really has a problem with this state of affairs. Other attempts by travel clubs to restrict participation in high school sports (such as the GDA) have generally failed, with many athletes choosing high school over the club team. In some ways, the market has spoken--if it's a true, professional academy, kids will gladly give up high school soccer to play there. If it's just another pay-to-play club branding itself as an "academy", but not offering any substantial difference in amount or quality of training, or being free to players, not so much. For most kids, high school/club soccer will be the pinnacle of their playing careers. A few will make a college team. Players who actually turn pro, are black swans.
And this state of affairs--this compromise--has endured for decades. Unless you're in a full-time academy (and don't play prep sports at all).... from August to November you belong to high school. The rest of the year, to your club.
Until recently--one local youth club has joined a travel league, one that is not regulated by OYSA (thebody overseeing youth club soccer in the state), that has its primary season at the same time as the state high school season. It is portraying this double-dipping as a competitive advantage, and devaluing high school soccer as a result. In addition, it is greatly aggravating the injury risk to players in this club. Since it positions itself as an elite-level club, and includes quite a few top local players, no local high school coach has been willing to put his foot down and limit the minutes of players who are making weekend jaunts up to Seattle.
If this keeps up, expect the other clubs to do the same--to start having their own training, their own travel, etc. during the high school season. Expect more injuries, tired players, suffering grades, and such as kids are gang-pressed into ever more hectic training and travel schedules, trying to keep up with the Jones's, thinking that their future participation in high level competitive soccer depends on running in this increasingly hectic rat race.
Coaches, schools, and athletic directors, unwilling to lose top-level talent, have been unwilling to intervene. Parents, often with stars in their eyes, are listening to the siren songs of unscrupulous club coaches, telling them to have a cigar and asking which one is Pink. And kids, egged on by their peers, not knowing enough about their own bodies, and thinking they are indestructible, are signing up for this nonsense, wondering why they are so damn tired, and thinking that it's because they aren't tough enough and need to train more to get fit.
It is time for OSAA to say "enough!". If it wants to keep school sports from being eaten by the big-money sharks and grifters in the club world, it needs to enforce, with teeth, the longstanding agreement it has had with the clubs, and for the physical and mental health of players, make sure that the high school season is kept sacrosanct:
It should be simple: ANY PLAYER WHO PLAYS A CLUB MATCH AT ANY TIME DURING THE HIGH SCHOOL SEASON, IS INELIGIBLE TO PLAY IN ANY HIGH-SCHOOL MATCHES DURING THE FOLLOWING WEEK. That's the minimum rule--if this is abused, my proposal will turn into "ANY PLAYER WHO PLAYS A CLUB MATCH DURING THE HIGH SCHOOL SEASON IS INELIGIBLE FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE HIGH SCHOOL SEASON".
I'll let the lawyers decide on the precise definition of what constitutes a "club match", but we all know what it means.
And, just to make sure there is no misunderstanding: HIGH SCHOOL COACHES ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ENSURING THAT ALL PLAYERS ARE ELIGIBLE UNDER THIS RULE; USE OF INELIGIBLE PLAYERS IS A FORFEIT. "I didn't know Johnny was up in Kirkland last weekend getting beaten down by Crossfire Premier; he told me he was at home studying!" will not be accepted as an excuse. If HS coaches cannot trust players to honestly manage their obligations to both club and school, or if certain clubs pressure them to violate those obligations, then perhaps such players shouldn't be playing prep soccer. Clubs that honor the August-November prep season and shut down, will have no problems with this proposal.
The high school season is for high-school play, and for competition under high-school rules. If kids want to forgo the privilege of playing for hundreds of friends in interscholastic competition for the chance to train with a competitive academy team that offers a better path to the NCAA or the pros (or claims to), great! Nobody prevents them from doing so. And if they want to play club soccer outside the high school season, more power to them! But OSAA needs to understand one thing: the second that one club is allowed to encroach on the high-school season (and use that as a recruiting advantage) and gets away with it, then sooner or later all the clubs will be doing it. And the peace that has existed for decades between the two different models of competition, will be shattered.
OSAA needs to tell the grifters and con-artists who are threatening the stability of the youth soccer ecosystem, and trying to draw all of us into the insane and fruitless arms race of private training, endless travel, and other pointless things that are damaging to the growing bodies of young men and women, to back down:
If you make your kids play during the high school season, that's the only place they will be allowed to play. Make your choice, and choose well. High school players will have the weekend (Sunday, at least) to rest, and will only have to endure the training regimen of one program at a time, not two.
OSAA, unsurprisingly, has an academic focus--what some in the competitive club sports world might call a "rec mentality". It emphasizes things like sportsmanship, scholarship, and fair play over a "win-at-all-costs" model. It doesn't always live up to those expectations (cough Jesuit cough), but it tries. It views the development of student-athletes as "whole persons" to be more important than teaching them to specialize in a particular sport, or the techniques and tactics thereof. It regards single-minded focus on a single sport as unhealthy--for that reason, participation in high school soccer outside the high school season is very limited--a few (optional) camps here and there, but otherwise athletes are expected to hit the books during that time, or play other sports during the winter and spring seasons.
In that regard, it has always had a bit of an uneasy relationship with club soccer (and competitive club teams in other sports, though I will now focus on soccer for the rest of this post). It tends to regard club soccer as not reflecting the same values. For that reason, and a few others, it strives to greatly limit entanglements between high school soccer and club teams. Players' club affiliations or accomplishments are NEVER acknowledged anywhere on a high school pitch. HS teams may NEVER play against club teams, period. Even scrimmages are prohibited. HS coaches are generally prohibited from coaching any of their players (or potential players) at club--it's generally recommended that if a coach wants to do both, that his HS team and his club team should be geographically far apart, or that he should only coach younger kids in club, or that if he coaches boys in high school, he should coach girls in club, etc. It gets messy quickly if a player shows up to a high school tryout who the coach (including assistant coaches) coaches on a club team.
That said, high school and club soccer have co-existed for years, in part because both sides of this divide respect and honor the temporal boundary of the high school and club seasons. As one of my kid's coach put it, "between August and November, you belong to your high school. The rest of the year, you belong to us". Our club's HS-age teams shut down when HS tryout start, and don't pick up again until after the state finals are done. (Or at least until the playoffs are underway, and most kids on the team have been eliminated--and even then, those still playing are expected to finish their HS season before coming back).
Oregon has, at times, had various "academy" teams in non-OYSA travel leagues that either respected the high school season, or disallowed participating in high school sports for its members. Timbers Academy, a full-time professional academy team for boys that travels quite a bit and trains year-round, still is in the latter category. As TA is on the "professional" path in the sport, and is generally offering players free training, nobody really has a problem with this state of affairs. Other attempts by travel clubs to restrict participation in high school sports (such as the GDA) have generally failed, with many athletes choosing high school over the club team. In some ways, the market has spoken--if it's a true, professional academy, kids will gladly give up high school soccer to play there. If it's just another pay-to-play club branding itself as an "academy", but not offering any substantial difference in amount or quality of training, or being free to players, not so much. For most kids, high school/club soccer will be the pinnacle of their playing careers. A few will make a college team. Players who actually turn pro, are black swans.
And this state of affairs--this compromise--has endured for decades. Unless you're in a full-time academy (and don't play prep sports at all).... from August to November you belong to high school. The rest of the year, to your club.
Until recently--one local youth club has joined a travel league, one that is not regulated by OYSA (thebody overseeing youth club soccer in the state), that has its primary season at the same time as the state high school season. It is portraying this double-dipping as a competitive advantage, and devaluing high school soccer as a result. In addition, it is greatly aggravating the injury risk to players in this club. Since it positions itself as an elite-level club, and includes quite a few top local players, no local high school coach has been willing to put his foot down and limit the minutes of players who are making weekend jaunts up to Seattle.
If this keeps up, expect the other clubs to do the same--to start having their own training, their own travel, etc. during the high school season. Expect more injuries, tired players, suffering grades, and such as kids are gang-pressed into ever more hectic training and travel schedules, trying to keep up with the Jones's, thinking that their future participation in high level competitive soccer depends on running in this increasingly hectic rat race.
Coaches, schools, and athletic directors, unwilling to lose top-level talent, have been unwilling to intervene. Parents, often with stars in their eyes, are listening to the siren songs of unscrupulous club coaches, telling them to have a cigar and asking which one is Pink. And kids, egged on by their peers, not knowing enough about their own bodies, and thinking they are indestructible, are signing up for this nonsense, wondering why they are so damn tired, and thinking that it's because they aren't tough enough and need to train more to get fit.
It is time for OSAA to say "enough!". If it wants to keep school sports from being eaten by the big-money sharks and grifters in the club world, it needs to enforce, with teeth, the longstanding agreement it has had with the clubs, and for the physical and mental health of players, make sure that the high school season is kept sacrosanct:
It should be simple: ANY PLAYER WHO PLAYS A CLUB MATCH AT ANY TIME DURING THE HIGH SCHOOL SEASON, IS INELIGIBLE TO PLAY IN ANY HIGH-SCHOOL MATCHES DURING THE FOLLOWING WEEK. That's the minimum rule--if this is abused, my proposal will turn into "ANY PLAYER WHO PLAYS A CLUB MATCH DURING THE HIGH SCHOOL SEASON IS INELIGIBLE FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE HIGH SCHOOL SEASON".
I'll let the lawyers decide on the precise definition of what constitutes a "club match", but we all know what it means.
And, just to make sure there is no misunderstanding: HIGH SCHOOL COACHES ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ENSURING THAT ALL PLAYERS ARE ELIGIBLE UNDER THIS RULE; USE OF INELIGIBLE PLAYERS IS A FORFEIT. "I didn't know Johnny was up in Kirkland last weekend getting beaten down by Crossfire Premier; he told me he was at home studying!" will not be accepted as an excuse. If HS coaches cannot trust players to honestly manage their obligations to both club and school, or if certain clubs pressure them to violate those obligations, then perhaps such players shouldn't be playing prep soccer. Clubs that honor the August-November prep season and shut down, will have no problems with this proposal.
The high school season is for high-school play, and for competition under high-school rules. If kids want to forgo the privilege of playing for hundreds of friends in interscholastic competition for the chance to train with a competitive academy team that offers a better path to the NCAA or the pros (or claims to), great! Nobody prevents them from doing so. And if they want to play club soccer outside the high school season, more power to them! But OSAA needs to understand one thing: the second that one club is allowed to encroach on the high-school season (and use that as a recruiting advantage) and gets away with it, then sooner or later all the clubs will be doing it. And the peace that has existed for decades between the two different models of competition, will be shattered.
OSAA needs to tell the grifters and con-artists who are threatening the stability of the youth soccer ecosystem, and trying to draw all of us into the insane and fruitless arms race of private training, endless travel, and other pointless things that are damaging to the growing bodies of young men and women, to back down:
If you make your kids play during the high school season, that's the only place they will be allowed to play. Make your choice, and choose well. High school players will have the weekend (Sunday, at least) to rest, and will only have to endure the training regimen of one program at a time, not two.
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