good players will find a pathway to college with or without high school soccer.

Any scholastic soccer is usually painful to watch, including D1 college. There are some teams that play a possession game, but mostly it's over the top. I understand why though. The levels of players can be at opposite ends of the spectrum on a HS team, so playing less technical usually wins out, if you just don't have enough kids who can handle the ball under pressure. Also, the non-FIFA substitution rules just reinforce that type of game. Some players excel at that and some don't. The big, fast center forward will more likely benefit from it. The midfielder with great skills ends up watching the ball fly over their head all game. Winning is winning though and that's how you keep a job as manager. I will say that playing in school has a lot of other benefits though, socially and otherwise. I wouldn't necessarily dissuade a kid (unless they are truly elite) from playing it. Is it better quality than U17/18/19 club soccer though? Definitely not.

Anonymous wrote:The simple answer is that no high school, public or private, is going to have any substantive impact on player skill development to support a kid playing in college. Can’t happen. Why? The season is too short. There is zero time to work on skill development. It is really just a pickup game with uniforms.

But - I am still a fan of high school soccer. It can be fun, and it can provide some different things that you don’t get in club. Leadership opportunities being number one. Because of how high school sports work team captains actually have some things to do. And, my daughter actually was recruited out of high school. College coaches all firmly believe they know talent/ability when they see it. Your kid does not have to be playing at Disney. But, they do have to have years of club under the belt to get to that level.

My daughters senior year 7 of the starters on the high school team went on to play in college. But, they had no keeper. A couple of the girls would switch in, and a volleyball player was recruited to help out. That stuff happens in high school, but they had fun.

This is actually incorrect. Normally (not COVID year) a HS team has a 3 month season with 5 practices a week, a few non-conference games, two games against each conference teams and then the conf. tourney. So that's about 60 practices and plenty of games. Plenty of time to positively affect development. I know this first hand from playing both HS soccer and travel back in the day. I learned more from my JV and Varsity HS coaches in four seasons than I did from any of my travel coaches. Granted, I did have the best HS coach in the state (and in the nation) and he also coached national championship travel teams (this is all pre-MLS / ECNL BS). He sent many players on to D1 schools. So, it is very possible. Not saying your kid's HS coach will do this, but there are some out there. Don't give up on HS sports based on some naysayers.

The simple answer is that no high school, public or private, is going to have any substantive impact on player skill development to support a kid playing in college. Can’t happen. Why? The season is too short. There is zero time to work on skill development. It is really just a pickup game with uniforms.

But - I am still a fan of high school soccer. It can be fun, and it can provide some different things that you don’t get in club. Leadership opportunities being number one. Because of how high school sports work team captains actually have some things to do. And, my daughter actually was recruited out of high school. College coaches all firmly believe they know talent/ability when they see it. Your kid does not have to be playing at Disney. But, they do have to have years of club under the belt to get to that level.

My daughters senior year 7 of the starters on the high school team went on to play in college. But, they had no keeper. A couple of the girls would switch in, and a volleyball player was recruited to help out. That stuff happens in high school, but they had fun.

Anonymous wrote:Yea those club coaches are models of the philanthropic. I hear some of them even pay players to play for them they are so generous.

I'll take a club coach coaching club than a club coach coaching high school.

Yea those club coaches are models of the philanthropic. I hear some of them even pay players to play for them they are so generous.

High School soccer coaches are in it for the money and they don't care about development nor the high school experience.