| How are all these MLSNext players playing high school too? Are they faking “scholarship”? |
| My kid has a Fall HS season and isn’t playing HS this year because of the rule, but more importantly because of the time commitment, school and injury risk. |
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They just lie and sign the waiver:
MLS NEXT players currently registered with an MLS NEXT Club are expected to forego participation in high school soccer. MLS NEXT recognizes, however, that there are certain players who receive financial aid dependent on––or were accepted into a private high school based on––their participation with the high school soccer team. Our HS doesn’t recruit soccer players or “accept” -but it sounds flimsy enough that people will exploit it. |
That’s high junior year —especially with all the travel some of the private schools do. Makes it tough to keep up in AP courses, and then the injury! It’s a lot on the body if you are truly giving 100% to club and HS. |
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For public high schools, I have no idea.
But for private schools, there def are kids who are in certain schools bc of a financial package that includes playing on the team. |
And plenty with rich parents not scholarship playing too. It’s easy for them to bend the rules. |
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60% of my kid’s team are mlsnext. Def not all financial need and the school does not give any $ or die isl entrance for soccer players. I think it’s easy to get around apparently.
No idea of it’s the same with public school. |
| ^special |
| Unless you have a quest for an injured kid from overuse, why go after HS + MLS Next? |
Omg- yes. I had a kid miss his entire recruiting year because of this. Red-shirted Freshmen year of college because it was too late Senior year when healed to be recruited with college rosters of 35 already set. Def not making that mistake with younger siblings. It’s one or the other- club or HS. I will not let them double up in a single season. |
They just don't tell the MLSNext coach. The public school coaches are happy to look the other way because it's not their rule. They want MLSNext kids on their high school team. |
No the coach knows. I think some were there for the first few weeks of tryouts and then quit. |
The exception is not limited to scholarship students; it also includes students who might not have been good enough to be accepted into the private school they attend but were accepted based at least in part on their athletic skill and expectation they would play for the school. |
Does a 17-year-old kid playing for HS + club have more practice/playing time, and more "overuse", than a 17-year-old kid playing for a professional soccer club? How about those kids who attend MLS "academies" (e.g., Philadelphia Union) where the school is integrated into the soccer academy -- do they train less than a kid playing HS + club? |
If you understood quality over quantity and the concept of Training Periodization, you wouldn't even have asked that. |