Anonymous wrote:This is a ridiculous post - high school soccer is incredibly hard for kids to make.

Anonymous wrote:This is a ridiculous post - high school soccer is incredibly hard for kids to make.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The more I look at how high schools handle their programs, the more I feel like I’m seeing recreational soccer for teens.

Go watch the top 10 teams in the DMV plate each other then report back. These teams are not rec soccer level. They are made up for MLS (yes- even the mighty do play Hs soccer) ECNL, and other RL players.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/10/29/boys-soccer-top-10/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hmmm...interesting discussion.

My son played club soccer (classic level in VA) and also HS soccer. His HS soccer experience was really disappointing due to the coach's ineptitude. Just poor play, organization on the field, favoritism with time, etc.

He had a couple of friends on the local boys ECNL team who wanted to play their senior year and didn't last the entire season because it was so bad. One is playing at a Sun Belt D1 program now and the other at a local DIII school as freshman in college.

There are some HS boys programs locally here that are better, but it's still not great.

My daughter, freshman ECNL player, choose not to play HS - her ECNL club field a combined "Super Cup" team and played other local girls ECNL clubs and even a few younger ECNL boys squads. Much better experience compared to public HS girls soccer for her.

Now, there are a few privates that have good coaching and good squads overall, but that's the exception rather than the rule.

Which high school in VA was so bad?

https://www.maxpreps.com/va/soccer/24-25/division/visaa-di/rankings/1/?mobile=1&statedivisionid=4153afb7-591e-4ab1-a538-b1e0477c9ea3

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The more I look at how high schools handle their programs, the more I feel like I’m seeing recreational soccer for teens.

What are you looking at?

I saw last night a game between Whitman and Churchill where every single player out there was playing high club soccer. MLS Next, ECNL, E64, EDP regular.

They all moved the ball around, they all had technical skills.

The entire rosters in both teams were almost all seniors and juniors.

The JVs are stacked too. If you see a varsity team with only one or no freshmen and maybe one or two sophomores - and all of those are MLS Next or ECNL (not ECNL-RL!), then you know you are facing a great team.

If varsity has like 5+ underclassman playing regular travel (Bethesda C or Potomac B or lower), they are just trying to build for next year or the year after that (or just don’t know what they are doing)

No team is winning a state championship with underclassmen. You need size, strength, and speed of seniors to win. Seen too many freshmen and sophomores getting career ending injuries playing on varsity. It’s just rough sometimes and they don’t have the size or stength.

It's way more than size.

You are clueless

Man I’m old school but after watching that game you need size (not height) but you need to beef up a bit and work on athletic part as well. It was technical but very physical. I saw some viscous tackles out there where if the guy had been some lightweight kid he would have been broken in half

You are the equivalent of the "old school" American football coaches that think players should be able to tackle head down and spear opponents. Don't let the kids that become paralyzed change your thinking.

When players are getting hurt playing a game this is a blinking red light that something is wrong.

Overly physical play is the hallmark of less skilled players. They get frustrated when more skilled players get around them and lash out to try and compensate. This is the main reason really good teams don't want to play bad teams. It's not worth the effort it takes to run up the score if your opponent is just going to cheap shot to get you out of the game.

Anonymous wrote:Last year's VA high school championship game had 6 D1 commits, so this thread is stupid.

Anonymous wrote:Last year's VA high school championship game had 6 D1 commits, so this thread is stupid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But what about Glenelg?

Genuine question...is anyone actually scouted through high school soccer? Are there even talented players only doing high school soccer and not club as well?

Teh most talented kids do not play HS - they dont want to get hurt by some field hockey kid from another team trying outside back for the first time.

This is absolutely not true. I would bet 90+% of ECNL boys play and 75% of MLS Next kids. Some DC United players risk repercussions and play against their coaches instructions. They all LOVE playing HS.

Anonymous wrote:I guess this is why all the Clubs have 19U teams.

Anonymous wrote:The more I look at how high schools handle their programs, the more I feel like I’m seeing recreational soccer for teens.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those club soccer elitists, you must support calendar year-based teams. No reason for school year teams when club players come from large geographic areas.

Yes. I do.