HS soccer has a lot of problems, but I think that is the biggest advantage it provides, allowing players to compete outside their age group. I played varsity soccer as a Freshman and Sophmore and it was definitely a good experience regularly playing and training with guys who were bigger, faster, and more experienced than me. Club soccer tends to keep players in a pretty tight-age band.
To make matters worse, DA is now getting rid of multi-age groups so by next year everyone will be playing in just their birth year. The older kids get, it's important that they learn how to break into a lineup and not always be an instant starter. Having a multi-age group, forces the younger players to step up in other ways since their physical advantages are diminished.
One of the major problems in the last ten years for our young players that went overseas is that they didn't know how to break into lineups. Heck, not only overseas, even in our domestic leagues. American young players tend to languish on the bench or on reserve teams because they don't know how to fight to take someone's spot if they don't have an ingrained overwhelming advantage. It's why you don't see most American players becoming starters until 24-25 years old. A good 4-5 years behind the rest of the world. There are a lot of reasons for this, but I definitely feel we do a poor job of challenging elite players in America. When a kid is an "Impact" player, they're usually put in positions to maximize team victories, not challenge or encourage individual growth. I've seen kids who were permanent starters from u8 to u16 and then struggle in adulthood when they try to go to the next level because they never learned how to play effectively coming off the bench, which is completely different than being a starter.
Anybody who's played professionally will tell you they had to learn how to fight to get on a match day roster, fight to get in the sub rotation, fight to be the first sub, fight to get in the starting lineup, fight to hold on to starting spot, and to fight to regain starting spot after an injury. I'd say the top 33% of our SoCal players have almost zero experience dealing with those mental battles. And the few times their playing time drops below 80%, both the kid and parents are crying about it and want to jump ship immediately. So by the time they're 18-19 years-old, they may have very good abilities but they're not mentally strong and they can't break into a team that has 7-10 year veterans.
This is why I think HS Soccer can in certain situations have some use for 9-11th graders. Obviously a lot depends on the local talent pool, but it can give young players a chance to play with and against players who have a lot more relative experience and physicality. If College Soccer wasn't so archaic, players could benefit more from the multiage band as well.
Another upside to HS Soccer is that it helps grow the game from a culture standpoint when you have the top local players playing for their HS. it brings more awareness and excitement to the community. Instead now there's a big chunk of top players who are locked away out of sight and who their local community never really gets to identify with.
