To Club Or Not To Club

So a little something different today than my takes on Main Street and the Local Government Center. 

Tim O’Sullivan writing for the Concord Monitor, has an article on the Concord High School boy’s soccer team. He reports that four players had left the high school program to play for a development team. Last fall U.S. Soccer changed the rules and forced players to choose between their high school team or Development Academy programs. The article identifies three of the players who are returning to play for the high school program.

The big question is why would we force developing athletes to choose between their high school team and a development program. We’re talking about a sport - soccer - which convinces parents that unless their 3 year olds play soccer 12 months a year they won’t have a shot at those Division I college scholarships. 

I’ve got a news flash here, they still won’t get that D-1 scholarship. I’m sure someone else can come up with different statistics but these are the numbers I found. Only 5.5% of boy high school soccer players will play in a D-1 program and only 2% will get a scholarship.

Folks we’re talking about a sport that is played year round. We’re talking about high school sports that have a 12 week season. You mean to tell me that if you play soccer for your high school team for 12 out of 52 weeks that it will ruin your chances of ever playing in college? Please, stop the foolishness.

I have to believe that this starts with a club coach convincing parents who then convince their sons to abandon their friends and their school teams in order to seek the promise of glory at the college level. Here’s a secret. There are no guarantees in this life.

It’s 12 weeks. Here’s what I did when I was coaching high school cross country skiing. A sport that you can’t participate in on snow all year. I sat down with my skiers who belonged to a club program  and their parents and we worked out a schedule that allowed them to place the high school team as their priority. While not neglecting the larger goals of qualifying and performing at a top level at Junior Nationals. Their club coach was also on board with the schedule.

This was great for our high school team. We had two exceptional skiers who our team could model themselves after. In seven years our boys team won 3 division championships and we were runners up twice. 

Now when I do the math and take our top two boys out of the mix we still would have won two championships... on paper. But without our club skiers, there’s no way our other skiers would have been able to ski to such a high level, had they not been able to model our top two boys. That’s why it was so important to have them in our program.

Oh and how did it effect the two boys that were ‘forced’ to ski for their high school team? They were State High School champions. They were National Junior champions. And in college they were both named All Americans.

Now for the sake of full disclosure that was nearly 25 years ago. But here’s the realty. There’s room for both. Top men and women on the U. S. Cross County teams skied for their high school programs. In fact the youngest member of the U.S. women’s team just won a gold medal at this past winters World Championships in the team sprint. Was she on a club? Yes she was. Did she ski for her high school team? Yes she did. She turned 22 last week.

We have a fellow from New Hampshire who was a 10 year ski team veteran, 3 time Olympian and16 time National Champion. He skied for his high school team from a school that has an enrollment of about 25 students. He is still the top distance skier for the U.S. and will be a solid addition for the U.S. in what will be his fourth Olympics.

You can still ski or play soccer at a high level and compete on your high school team. With forward thinking club coaches, your top athletes will not only strengthen the skills of their team mates, but the club coach can enhance the high school coaches skills. For 12 weeks everyone wins.

Listen, until the age of 15 - 16 for boys and 14 - 15 for girls the best development tools are playing in a variety of sports and exposing them to diverse movement activities. Specificity is added gradually from those ages and a full focus on a single sport takes place as the kids are heading off to college.

Clearly this is more about egos then it is about development. This is more about the business of the clubs then it is about improving the odds of playing in college. There are good arguments to be made for some sports that college may not be the best route for achieving the highest level. But bagging a high school team for 12 weeks benefits no one in the long run.

So let’s stop the insanity. Let’s get a grip on reality. Let’s let kids play for their home teams for 12 weeks a year.