Club Play Helps High School Play

[WellRead]

    O.K., Shark, here it is. Yes, club play definitely accelerates players abilities in high school soccer. As I stated last year it would be great to see the local clubs - Gulf Coast, BYSC, Orange County, Hardin County, etc. - develop the young player. Next they should guide those girls AND boys with above average potential and the desire to play better soccer to one centralized select or elite club in the area that could train and develop them to meet their highest potential. That would include the ability to play and truly compete with Super 2 and Div. I teams from across the Trinity River.

    For those already in high school, join a 3 v 3 or 7 v 7 summer tourney this summer. Keep your foot on that ball! Get on a club team with your fellow teammates this fall. Develop your soccer skills with organized, competitive training and game play. If someone who knows soccer encourages you to tryout for a Div. I club in the Bayou City (Houston), go!. If you make a team and can afford the time and money, train and play with them. You'll be glad you did.

  In the meantime, don't forget to encourage younger brothers, sisters, cousins, etc., to begin to play soccer. Advertise your club at the local festivals this spring. (That's what little league football does!) Be out there in person signing up kids to play soccer! You'd be surprised how many young kids look up to the high school soccer players and "want to play soccer just like you when I get older!" After all, the Golden Triangle area needs a strong base of new players to feed the high school soccer ranks of the future.

    Alright, time for someone else to take over. Oh, my congratulations to the Lady Bulldogs on a great season! Good luck to the Lady Raiders this week!

[sharkfutbol]

Thanks  ;D and let people understand the notion that it is expensive and travel is outrageous.  If you play locally and your games are in Houston you travel once a weekend six hours round trip game included. If your playing on a Houston Club team then travel and training expenses along with travel does get costly but locally shouldnt be.  If your playing on a team with friends that has qualified to play Super 2 or Div 1 then you are getting some great quality time wiht friends and parents,  rather than gripe about the travel.  Be thankful for the time  your getting to spend with your kids as they are growing up and getting out before long. A captive audience with your teenagers and some good conversation time haha. High School Coaches shoiuld encourage someone to get a team for your high school players to play on.  Get some high school players to work with younger teams coaches in the area.  Then you will have those little kids wanting to come to the high school games locally and watch their assistant"coach" player.  It used to be great and fun. Our club team had some of the best rivalry and SOCCER games against club team from Lumerton and West Brook , Kelly and Orange back in the day.  It was good fun and made high school games entertaining.  Many more people in the stands when Ned and PnG used to play.  The cost is miminal and you dont have to have the great expensive unifroms .  My club team travels to Houston Tournament in august and maybe.. maybe but not likely one other. Only because of school priorities andor vacations and working as they get older. Our high school kids will not even practice for club , but just play their games on Saturday in Beaumont.  The practice they will get is in soccer PE at school .  So its a win win situation.  Thanks Wellread.... 

[bullets13]

in dallas, some of the elite clubs will NOT ALLOW their players to partcipate in high school soccer.  what do y'all think about that?

[Guest setxgal]

When my daughter got hurt and had to have surgery this past week, I actually had some people (more than one, which will remain anonymous) tell me that I was messing up letting her play in HS if I wanted her to play in college and that her only chance of a scholarship was to be seen playing in club....any thoughts on that???

[FriendswoodFan]

I disagree that you are messing up.  But, it is true that college coaches watch club, not school, soccer, and talk to club trainers, not school coaches.  There are rare exceptions, but I do mean rare.  FHS goes to the top HS tournaments, and there are rarely any college coaches/scouts.  FHS players go to tournaments with their club teams, and college coaches/scouts are all over the place.

[sharkfutbol]

the fact of the matter is.... in high school you have a better chance of getting injured against the less skilled teams players that only play in high school.  Schedule good quality teams and the injuries go way down as skilled players usually dont hack or hurt another player.  And for that matter, injuries occur all over the place, with most occuring around the house.  Your kids can get hurt playing volleyball at the beach,  skiiing skimboarding or  in a church league.  Very few club trainers ask their players not to play high school except for the new academy league teams which are paying their players ways into the league and uniforms but not their travel.  A group of club players in dallas were asked to make a choice and the group all already had their colleges picked and scholarships offered so they told the academy adios.  The fact is college coaches wont worry about high school games only because the talent is spread across so so many teams.  They do have a few high school tournaments that have some colleges attend but not likely.  I have known for a fact that many times I have had college coaches come and watch a high school game because they were available to watch then instead of while club is goingon during the fall when their college season is going on.  With that said.  College coaches very rarely go to a game at a tournament to just so happen see a guy or gal. They go usually because the players have been contacted or contacted a college and they will be at the same place at the same time.  Soccer doesnt just travel looking for players as their budget doesnt allow..  They look for certain people that have credentials and then hunt those players out.  I have helped many players go to college and working with several now. 

[bullets13]

my sister is looking into colleges right now, and almost all of the contact that she's had with coaches has been through her club team.  that being said, she's playing a 3rd round playoff game tuesday night, and she's more excited about that than any accomplishment she's had with a club team (she's on a 5A team from the dallas area, so it's a nice accomplishment to make it this far)

[sharkfutbol]

There are loads of soccer scholarships available for  girls that want to play....  Go for it...  The higher your SAT scores the better for recruiting.  They can get you more academic money and not use lots of scholarship money.  That last part is especially important for boys.

[tinker21]

scholarships are out there but the player must be willing to go...more than 100 miles from home!  kids around here have a hard time with this concept OR maybe it's the parents who don't want their children that far away from home...really, it's true! you have to want to play wherever the opportunity presents itself...McNeese and U of H are the close by, but it's tough to get a look from them even though SE TX is in their backyard.  several JC's, like Hill and Navarro have good programs and those are stepping stones to the 4 year schools.  AND athletic money is not as readily available as some may believe.  the academic money is usually coupled with a bit of athletic scholarship dollars. FULL RIDES are few and far between....that's a fact!

[raideroldtimer]

When my daughter got hurt and had to have surgery this past week, I actually had some people (more than one, which will remain anonymous) tell me that I was messing up letting her play in HS if I wanted her to play in college and that her only chance of a scholarship was to be seen playing in club....any thoughts on that???

I'm not sure I agree with that, I think the college recruiters are still going to come watch them play in the high school games, mainly because not only can they see them there, but also they can speak with there coaches who interact with them throughout their school day and find out what kind of person they really are, i.e. grades, work ethic, etc..

[SFA]

The only time I have ever seen a college coach at a high school game was for the Klien Highschool Showcase of Champions.  There were a number of D3 coaches there and a couple of years ago the US Military Academy coach was there.  Sorry raider, but soccer is a finacially poor sport in college.  They are not coming to Lumberton to see one maybe 2 prospects play when they can go to a college showcase tournment or the Dallas Cup and see hundreds of better players at one place than they would ever see at a high school game.  To see the difference, go watch young Mr. Poole's club team play.  They are one of the best U-17's in the state.

[sharkfutbol]

SFA hit the nail on the head.  Poole team is ranked one in the nation. 

[Rebel2]

Have a friend who lives in Forney, about 25 miles east of Dallas.  His daughter is a Div 1 player who was 1st team all district as a freshmen.  She did not play for Forney this year to keep it from conflicting her club team. Her goal is to get a soccer scholarship and through research by her father my friend, decided this was the best route to go.  More comments?

[bullets13]

Have a friend who lives in Forney, about 25 miles east of Dallas.  His daughter is a Div 1 player who was 1st team all district as a freshmen.  She did not play for Forney this year to keep it from conflicting her club team. Her goal is to get a soccer scholarship and through research by her father my friend, decided this was the best route to go.  More comments?

having played HS, club, and college soccer, my only comment would be that i enjoyed HS soccer more than the other two.  she might be angling towards a scholarship, but in my opinion she's really missing out by not playing for her high school team.

[Rebel2]

I agree.  Are missing out on a lot of good times in high school in hopes of getting scholarship.  Is there room for both?

  More comments?

[sharkfutbol]

I think you can do both.  The 9th grader has probably not really made her mind up as much as their parents have made their mind up.  The kids grow up and when they are in around eleventh grade usually know if they want to go on and play. 

[bullets13]

there's definitely room for both.  if a player is good enough to get a scholarship, he/she will get it regardless of whether or not they play HS soccer.  i don't see how an extra 50 or so practices and 20 or so games a year is going to hurt a player's scholarship chances. 

[domino]

Regarding college coaches and where they look for prospective players....when a team plays in the club system, the team is ranked and placed with similar competition based on their past results.  So you usually have pretty good competition for your team's level of play,sometimes too hard, sometimes a little too easy, but rarely the kind of mismatches that are seen in high school UIL districts.  It would be hard for a college coach to tell if an outstanding player is that outstanding if they are defending or attacking against a much weaker team.  Also, since soccer is such  a team sport, a high school team with a few outstanding players may not showcase those players as well.  An outstanding midfielder may cross over and over to a forward that fumbles...or other scenarios, you understand what I mean. 

[bullets13]

those are some very good points.

[watash]

It is pretty well established that college coaches primarily recruit from club teams. As FF notes, they can see more of the players who may interest them and watch them play against talent that is superior to most high school teams. They may attend a few high school games to observe a player who interests them if it is local but their travel budgets and time is better utilized going to where the best collection of talent is located such as club tournaments. Typically, the higher the level of play, the more coaches who will attend.

I think it is important for kids(young men and women) to play for their high school. These programs provide some lessons and experiences which can not be gained at the club level. I completely disagree with clubs not allowing or discouraging kids from their high school programs.

On one hand, club players tend to be in better condition and have higher skills which reduces the risk of injury. On the other, the more you play, the more opportunity for injury and it will happen some time. That fact is true of all sports and their are life lessons to be learned from overcoming injury as well. Also, athletes need to be careful about overextending themselves. It is also true that injuries occur more often to a tired athlete with tired legs. Frequently, an athlete may play club and high school soccer as well as other high school sports; again, thereby increasing the risk of putting too much stress on themselves.

To SETXGAL, I would point out that statistically, girls suffer ACL injuries at a rate 7X greater than boys and concussions incurred by girls are something like 10X the rate of those suffered by boys. I quote these figures from the book "Warrior Girls" which I recommend if you have a daughter who is interested in college soccer.

[sharkfutbol]

The ACL injuries in girls is definitely a good stat.  We had a personal trainer come in and work with our soccer team and the first thing he did was explain to the guys the correct form for landing and doing the jumps and so on.  Explaining that most girls naturally land ..... however it was he showed........  and then explained its why that girls have so many more times injuries to their acl then guys.  Its about their established habit and their design.......  but can be remedied to cut down on their injuries...

[RonBurgundy68]

Here is my 2 cents on this... Me and my brother both played club soccer, as well as high school for all 4 years of our high school career... The one thing our coaches in high school stressed, was to keep playing in the offseason somehow, someway... Whether it meant driving to Houston every weekend, or even find a team somewhere here in SETX... Had I not played in the fall and summer on my club team, there is no way possible that I would have been successful as I was, and I'm sure Travis would agree 100%... Since we couldn't afford to be on a team that traveled to Houston every weekend, we had to settle on teams here locally, but atleast we were still out there playing the sport we loved... But about the scholarship thing... For those players that weren't able to be on a top level team, their only hope was to get noticed in high school, which is what had to happen for Travis... Luckily we had found out about the NCSA from somebody, and they did all the work, and because of that, Travis is about to be headed to Mississippi on a scholarship to play for Delta State... What it all boils down to, you're not going to be as good as you can be without playing club soccer, regardless of the level of play... So yes, club play helps high school play in every regard... An even better benefit, is having kids from your high school team, all playing together on the same club team... Vidor's team this year, and the next 2-3 years, ALL of the players played together on the same club team, and with that comes chemistry that might not be able to form without the club experience...

[CoachL]

The only time I have ever seen a college coach at a high school game was for the Klien Highschool Showcase of Champions.  There were a number of D3 coaches there and a couple of years ago the US Military Academy coach was there.  Sorry raider, but soccer is a finacially poor sport in college.  They are not coming to Lumberton to see one maybe 2 prospects play when they can go to a college showcase tournment or the Dallas Cup and see hundreds of better players at one place than they would ever see at a high school game.  To see the difference, go watch young Mr. Poole's club team play.  They are one of the best U-17's in the state.

errr. the Nation!  :o

[SFA]

Club soccer is really where most of college opportunities come from and is really where the best soccer is, however we have had great players from this area move from club to college to the pro under relative obscurity (its not football or basketball).  High school seems to provide the only social and community recognition for the hard work and accomplishments of these players.  I know my kids really enjoy the recognition they get from classmates, teachers, the press on rare occasion, and others during their playoff runs.  You can win a state, regional maybe a national club title nobody cares except for parents and teammates, while these accomplishment are usually tougher to achieve than a district or regional school title.  Last years spindletop girls are great example of this.  It was a great accomplishment making it to the regional finals of the Presidents Cup.  Clearly a more impressive feat than a 3A or 4A district title, but really except for the folks on this board, not much splash.  So high school soccer can really provide some outside positive reinforcement for all the hard work these kids put in.

[socit2ya18]

Any play during the summer/fall will keep you sharp and improve your skills.

Does Nederland have a local club team?  Who do most of those guys play with during the summer?

Thanks,

socit2ya18