HS not worth the risk

When my kids were U9 or so, I noticed the first team of most clubs were highly skilled, technical and fit. The second teams were filled with bigger kids, not quite as skilled, but pretty physical.

I think about that when I see high school soccer. Many teams are composed of big strong athletes, but not necessarily great soccer players. I'm sure a few kids have gone to college without playing in clubs, but suspect they are a small minority.

Still, it's kind of fun to play in front of your friends instead of just your parents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If DS started varsity as a freshman, is there a training benefit to playing since he’ll be playing against bigger guys/almost-men? Or risk of injury too high?

My freshman son started varsity this year, and it ended up being a huge benefit.
Playing against bigger/stronger faster every day really upped his game...taught him to play quicker, and more physically.
His club coach noticed the difference and was impressed as well.
Obviously, I was worried about injuries, but it worked out.

That's awesome. And consistent with why most boys stop playing for their HS by their junior year.

Anonymous wrote:If DS started varsity as a freshman, is there a training benefit to playing since he’ll be playing against bigger guys/almost-men? Or risk of injury too high?

My freshman son started varsity this year, and it ended up being a huge benefit.
Playing against bigger/stronger faster every day really upped his game...taught him to play quicker, and more physically.
His club coach noticed the difference and was impressed as well.
Obviously, I was worried about injuries, but it worked out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The DC State tournament is also unfair to some leagues. You have schools that can only take kids who live in specific boundaries or feeder schools in DC (DCPS, Charters, etc.) against teams like SJC that recruit from the entire DMV and even further out. Still fun for everyone involved but the deck is stacked against local public school teams.

Yep. Our school literally has players from all over the DMV- top clubs. They should win everything easily every.single.year. They don't.

Same. Multiple MLSNext players who haven't gotten the waiver to play for the HS. That being said, WCAC is one of the better HS conferences. And for girls, the top club players do play for their high schools. The most recent GC vs SJC girls championship game was iconic.

Big difference between top boys and top girls. The girls don’t play during high school season, mls does. For girls, if you have ECNL players you will do well. For boys some of the boys that aren’t in mls next don’t get a chance to play. The system at least what I see is about seniority and how fast you can run.

If DS started varsity as a freshman, is there a training benefit to playing since he’ll be playing against bigger guys/almost-men? Or risk of injury too high?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The DC State tournament is also unfair to some leagues. You have schools that can only take kids who live in specific boundaries or feeder schools in DC (DCPS, Charters, etc.) against teams like SJC that recruit from the entire DMV and even further out. Still fun for everyone involved but the deck is stacked against local public school teams.

Yep. Our school literally has players from all over the DMV- top clubs. They should win everything easily every.single.year. They don't.

Same. Multiple MLSNext players who haven't gotten the waiver to play for the HS. That being said, WCAC is one of the better HS conferences. And for girls, the top club players do play for their high schools. The most recent GC vs SJC girls championship game was iconic.

Soccer in HS falls under extracurricular and social activity.

Go into it for what it is.

As for the friends part, all the kids that play club soccer connect as friends/acquaintances because of the shared interest, whether on the school team or not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Baltimore seems to be a good bit stronger in terms of HS teams (MIAA) than the DC area - public or private.

Not true.

In the last 3 years, MIAA has had Gatorade national POY (Jacob Murrell - Georgetown’s leading scorer), and 2 ECNL National POYs (Ben Madore- Penn St, Dan Klink-UNC commit). Those 3 went to 3 different MIAA schools. Last year’s Calvert Hall team had 5 D1 players and a 6th who is with FC Cincinnati 2. There isn’t a DC area team that has close to the level of talent of the top MIAA teams.

My bad...thought we were talking girls high school. Very good players from Bmore on the boys side always. Bethesda area pumps out great players every year as well....Gabe Segal (Stanford/NYFC) and Kris Fletcher (Landon/DC United) went straight to pros and doing well, several went Euro at 15...the pipleline is strong in Bethesda areas, but less and less of the boys side play high school unfortunately.

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Risk of injury is too great and there isn't enough time in the day.

^ I meant VA HS games in the spring.