Soccer gave away the golden goose to other sports at high school

[blam]

Once upon a time, many many years ago, I was at Oceanside for a soccer tournament for the very first time. It was a sunny Saturday morning. The parking lots were filled. So many American kids were playing soccer. And I thought to myself, man...if this continues, soccer will be the number 1 sport in America in less than 20 years...so many kids love soccer and are actually playing it. Compare that to American football where there just aren't many players playing football. Looks like football has a bleak future..I envisioned American football on life support....the same way I saw tennis.

Many years passed and then my kids went to high school.

Then came the first stab...Soccer at high school is a winter sport.

Soccer at high school is a winter sport!!!!????
That means spectators have to stand in the freezing cold?
How do you expect marching bands to come to the games to cheer the local soccer team in the winter?
How do you expect cheerleaders to come and cheer on the soccer team?
How do you expect parents to come cheer their kids? Wrapped in blankets???? And yes! I saw parents coming wrapped in blankets!

The next stab came when one day, my kids who never showed any interest in American football said they were going to watch their high school team play football. Obviously they were going for the social aspects of it. Neither of them had watched a football game on TV (not even superbowl) or shown any interest when they were young. At school, marching bands were there, cheerleaders were there, the crowds were there....like a phoenix rising from the ashes, American football is back!

The question then is what happened to soccer? Why did it get relegated? It got killed the instance it became a winter sport. Soccer needs to be a fall sport or a spring sport. We need to bring on the marching bands, the cheerleaders and the crowds to the games. There needs to be more pom pom.

Some of you may think its impossible but take a bigger picture. In the rest of the world, we also have a game very similar to American football called rugby. And when it comes to soccer vs rugby, soccer wins by a HUGE margin.

 

[LouSag]

Once upon a time, many many years ago, I was at Oceanside for a soccer tournament for the very first time. It was a sunny Saturday morning. The parking lots were filled. So many American kids were playing soccer. And I thought to myself, man...if this continues, soccer will be the number 1 sport in America in less than 20 years...so many kids love soccer and are actually playing it. Compare that to American football where there just aren't many players playing football. Looks like football has a bleak future..I envisioned American football on life support....the same way I saw tennis.

Many years passed and then my kids went to high school.

Then came the first stab...Soccer at high school is a winter sport.

Soccer at high school is a winter sport!!!!????
That means spectators have to stand in the freezing cold?
How do you expect marching bands to come to the games to cheer the local soccer team in the winter?
How do you expect cheerleaders to come and cheer on the soccer team?
How do you expect parents to come cheer their kids? Wrapped in blankets???? And yes! I saw parents coming wrapped in blankets!

The next stab came when one day, my kids who never showed any interest in American football said they were going to watch their high school team play football. Obviously they were going for the social aspects of it. Neither of them had watched a football game on TV (not even superbowl) or shown any interest when they were young. At school, marching bands were there, cheerleaders were there, the crowds were there....like a phoenix rising from the ashes, American football is back!

The question then is what happened to soccer? Why did it get relegated? It got killed the instance it became a winter sport. Soccer needs to be a fall sport or a spring sport. We need to bring on the marching bands, the cheerleaders and the crowds to the games. There needs to be more pom pom.

Some of you may think its impossible but take a bigger picture. In the rest of the world, we also have a game very similar to American football called rugby. And when it comes to soccer vs rugby, soccer wins by a HUGE margin.

Have you ever watched a HS soccer game…the quality of play is awful.

 

[crush]

Have you ever watched a HS soccer game…the quality of play is awful.

I have watched HS Soccer for four years. First off, the quality of play is different for each league. Awful is a complete put down on all the players who play HSS. Secondly and lastly, your post is awful!!! Hey Blam, this happens every year about HSS so get used to it. I love watching kids play for their HS team and yes, Winter soccer is lame!!!

 

[Grace T.]

Once upon a time, many many years ago, I was at Oceanside for a soccer tournament for the very first time. It was a sunny Saturday morning. The parking lots were filled. So many American kids were playing soccer. And I thought to myself, man...if this continues, soccer will be the number 1 sport in America in less than 20 years...so many kids love soccer and are actually playing it. Compare that to American football where there just aren't many players playing football. Looks like football has a bleak future..I envisioned American football on life support....the same way I saw tennis.

Many years passed and then my kids went to high school.

Then came the first stab...Soccer at high school is a winter sport.

Soccer at high school is a winter sport!!!!????
That means spectators have to stand in the freezing cold?
How do you expect marching bands to come to the games to cheer the local soccer team in the winter?
How do you expect cheerleaders to come and cheer on the soccer team?
How do you expect parents to come cheer their kids? Wrapped in blankets???? And yes! I saw parents coming wrapped in blankets!

The next stab came when one day, my kids who never showed any interest in American football said they were going to watch their high school team play football. Obviously they were going for the social aspects of it. Neither of them had watched a football game on TV (not even superbowl) or shown any interest when they were young. At school, marching bands were there, cheerleaders were there, the crowds were there....like a phoenix rising from the ashes, American football is back!

The question then is what happened to soccer? Why did it get relegated? It got killed the instance it became a winter sport. Soccer needs to be a fall sport or a spring sport. We need to bring on the marching bands, the cheerleaders and the crowds to the games. There needs to be more pom pom.

Some of you may think its impossible but take a bigger picture. In the rest of the world, we also have a game very similar to American football called rugby. And when it comes to soccer vs rugby, soccer wins by a HUGE margin.

I don’t really know how you move it. the issue isn’t getting athletes (soccer right now is up against basketball). The main issue is field space. In fall the football players have it. In the spring it’s lacrosse (which shares with track and field). You could switch lacrosse and soccer, but that runs up against some powerful interest groups since lacrosse is an upper middle class sport that gets ivy looks

As to the quality of soccer it’s always going to remain poor in schools while the quality is dispersed. You won’t have it aggregated unless college recruiting comes to the high schools. But then like football you would have people looking for scholarships shop the best schools. That said, even poor football schools enjoy their pomp and circumstance…they just accept they are in the ayso of football for the fun of it

 

[Grace T.]

I don’t really know how you move it. the issue isn’t getting athletes (soccer right now is up against basketball). The main issue is field space. In fall the football players have it. In the spring it’s lacrosse (which shares with track and field). You could switch lacrosse and soccer, but that runs up against some powerful interest groups since lacrosse is an upper middle class sport that gets ivy looks

As to the quality of soccer it’s always going to remain poor in schools while the quality is dispersed. You won’t have it aggregated unless college recruiting comes to the high schools. But then like football you would have people looking for scholarships shop the best schools. That said, even poor football schools enjoy their pomp and circumstance…they just accept they are in the ayso of football for the fun of it

Ps “San Dimas High School Football rules!”

 

[crush]

As to the quality of soccer it’s always going to remain poor in schools while the quality is dispersed.

Your starting to sound a lot like Debbie Downer if I were to be honest with you Grace T.

 

[Grace T.]

Your starting to sound a lot like Debbie Downer if I were to be honest with you Grace T.

I am, arent I?!?

Ps never hire someone who went to law school for your great idea project. Law school teaches you to find all the problems in things. They’ll wreck it before it’s off the launch pad. If we had lawyers on the moon project we’d still be arguing over whether it’s even a good idea to go.

 

[crush]

I am, arent I?!?

Ps never hire someone who went to law school for your great idea project. Law school teaches you to find all the problems in things. They’ll wreck it before it’s off the launch pad. If we had lawyers on the moon project we’d still be arguing over whether it’s even a good idea to go.

Take this test and I'll give you some truth about yourself. I am 100% the ideas guy. I gave one asshole a million dollar ideas and he cut my legs. His reason? He said I only came up with the ideas and not much use after that.

The Enneagram Personality Test

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[dk_b]

The OP is really on to something. And indirectly related to Grace T’s point, we might as well jettison the urban schools like the one my kids attend. I mean, with 6 soccer teams (frosh, JV and varsity on for girls and boys) and two football teams but only one field (not uncommon in a setting like ours), we don’t need to worry about THOSE folks gumming up our beloved Beautiful Game, right?

As I’ve said many times on this board, HS soccer is a winter sport for a small minority of states - 5 or 6 - while the rest play in a near even split between fall and spring. Might want to study how that goes for them and make sure you look at the schools in Chicago or Philly or Boston in addition to suburbs and other places with more space and the ability to accommodate all the teams that need to practice.

over the years, my kids have played HS soccer in front of big crowds and no crowds. Have played teams with rosters full of players who have or will go on to play college and others who come out to play because they want an activity to feel like HS student for a couple of non-school hours each day (instead of going to jobs, taking care of sibs, grans, etc). Strong players don’t play for the soccer but for the intangibles with some soccer mixed in. Among my older daughter’s club teammates who played HS soccer and are now playing in college (most of them), I have never heard regrets about having made the choice to play HS (and some were on teams that barely won a game). That’s true for my kid - she loved the experience. And there is no way our HS could support its sports program without soccer continuing to be in winter. And our school is not alone. And even if it were moved, as it is in most other states, little of the OP’s lament would be changed.

 

[crush]

The OP is really on to something. And indirectly related to Grace T’s point, we might as well jettison the urban schools like the one my kids attend. I mean, with 6 soccer teams (frosh, JV and varsity on for girls and boys) and two football teams but only one field (not uncommon in a setting like ours), we don’t need to worry about THOSE folks gumming up our beloved Beautiful Game, right?

As I’ve said many times on this board, HS soccer is a winter sport for a small minority of states - 5 or 6 - while the rest play in a near even split between fall and spring. Might want to study how that goes for them and make sure you look at the schools in Chicago or Philly or Boston in addition to suburbs and other places with more space and the ability to accommodate all the teams that need to practice.

over the years, my kids have played HS soccer in front of big crowds and no crowds. Have played teams with rosters full of players who have or will go on to play college and others who come out to play because they want an activity to feel like HS student for a couple of non-school hours each day (instead of going to jobs, taking care of sibs, grans, etc). Strong players don’t play for the soccer but for the intangibles with some soccer mixed in. Among my older daughter’s club teammates who played HS soccer and are now playing in college (most of them), I have never heard regrets about having made the choice to play HS (and some were on teams that barely won a game). That’s true for my kid - she loved the experience. And there is no way our HS could support its sports program without soccer continuing to be in winter. And our school is not alone. And even if it were moved, as it is in most other states, little of the OP’s lament would be changed.

Thank God it wasn't awful for your dds career. This crowd of parents have brainwashed with so much Kool Aid from coaches who teach parents that HSS is awful! Some dads also have their hands in the club soccer money jar.

 

[Carlsbad7]

The easy fix for making soccer more appealing to HS is to do Futsal on the indoor basketball courts against other schools.

And have cheerleaders

 

[crush]

The easy fix for making soccer more appealing to HS is to do Futsal on the indoor basketball courts against other schools.

And have cheerleaders

I like that idea idea 100% as a add on to bringing soccer back to the high schools as a sport for all. We need to share the world's #1 sport and hss is a place where it is free to share ((minus spirit pack and some fun times to raise sum funds for the program from local businesses)). Everyone in the schools boundaries can tryout for the team. I have some super great ideas regarding how travel soccer and HSS can play and work together. I really see a day when no dad will have to come on a youth soccer board and shout to the masses how "awful" HSS is and how no one passes the rock in hss. We can fix this you guys and come together. BTW, I was at a showcase and not all the soccer was elite, just saying. Let's be fair. I did see some really great soccer players and saw teams all fired up for the chance to play in front of college coaches. I also see some great HSS teams that pass from the back and move the ball around, like in the movie Hoosiers and i also see some teams that play kickball and are way to physical. The refs need to make yellow cards a norm until somepne gets red and more reds and then quits.

 

[Grace T.]

The easy fix for making soccer more appealing to HS is to do Futsal on the indoor basketball courts against other schools.

And have cheerleaders

The problem with soccer/futsal and cheer (and it’s the same for basketball) is that it’s a lot harder to structure the cheers. You know in football when your side is on offense and when you need to cheer then on. You know when there’s a break in play and can do your own thing to impress the crowd. Basketball at least has the time outs and quarter breaks. It’s why some schools use the dance teams for basketball: gives you 3-4 minutes to execute 3-4 dance routines. The cheerleaders don’t like showing up just to Pom Pom wave.

 

[crush]

The problem with soccer/futsal and cheer (and it’s the same for basketball) is that it’s a lot harder to structure the cheers. You know in football when your side is on offense and when you need to cheer then on. You know when there’s a break in play and can do your own thing to impress the crowd. Basketball at least has the time outs and quarter breaks. It’s why some schools use the dance teams for basketball: gives you 3-4 minutes to execute 3-4 dance routines. The cheerleaders don’t like showing up just to Pom Pom wave.

Not only have you become "Debbie Downer" and "Negative Nancy", you are now sounding like "Problem Penny" who doesn want to solve the problems of today? Have you quit? Are you throwing in the towel at the 11th hour?

 

[Carlsbad7]

The problem with soccer/futsal and cheer (and it’s the same for basketball) is that it’s a lot harder to structure the cheers. You know in football when your side is on offense and when you need to cheer then on. You know when there’s a break in play and can do your own thing to impress the crowd. Basketball at least has the time outs and quarter breaks. It’s why some schools use the dance teams for basketball: gives you 3-4 minutes to execute 3-4 dance routines. The cheerleaders don’t like showing up just to Pom Pom wave.

It's not really about having a perfect cheer.

Its about getting the girls to watch the boys play. The more you can involve (players, cheerleaders, etc) the more will show up to cheer on their team.

Also just to make things crazy they should let girls play on boys teams. But every goal a girl scores is worth 2.

 

[crush]

It's not really about having a perfect cheer.

Its about getting the girls to watch the boys play. The more you can involve (players, cheerleaders, etc) the more will show up to cheer on their team.

Also just to make things crazy they should let girls play on boys teams. But every goal a girl scores is worth 2.

Excellent ideas bro. Co-ed Futsal and maybe even co-ed soccer on the fields? I love these outside of the box ideas. Male GK one half and female GK another half. 5 girls and five boys. This would be an amazing Friday Night Lights. One game a week a week for 10 weeks and then CIF CO-Ed soccer playoffs.

 

[Grace T.]

Not only have you become "Debbie Downer" and "Negative Nancy", you are now sounding like "Problem Penny" who doesn want to solve the problems of today? Have you quit? Are you throwing in the towel at the 11th hour?

Wawa
Sometimes the answer to “something must be done” is nothing.

It's not really about having a perfect cheer.

Its about getting the girls to watch the boys play. The more you can involve (players, cheerleaders, etc) the more will show up to cheer on their team.

Also just to make things crazy they should let girls play on boys teams. But every goal a girl scores is worth 2.

For the girls it is about the perfect cheer. It’s a sport to then. They aren’t just ornaments but athletes. Your idea would work but you’d have to change futsal to make it work…give lots of time outs. The purists will hate it and ask why we Americans are changing the sport for the same of the cheerleaders but if participation is the goal give room to participate.

Excellent ideas bro. Co-ed Futsal and maybe even co-ed soccer on the fields? I love these outside of the box ideas. Male GK one half and female GK another half. 5 girls and five boys. This would be an amazing Friday Night Lights. One game a week a week for 10 weeks and then CIF CO-Ed soccer playoffs.

This only works if you have the male keeper play with the girls and the female keeper play with the boys. While there are female keepers that can rock out with the boys, average to average, age to age, and level to level…the boy keepers will outplay the girl keepers usually by about 2 years…it’s pretty obvious to anyone who has sat through a coed keeper camp (they’ll usually be 1 or 2 girls in the stronger half of the age group but the weaker half is almost always overwhelmingly female).

 

[crush]

Wawa
Sometimes the answer to “something must be done” is nothing.

I am confused what, "Wawa" means? Please share deeper meaning so I can give my insight. Grace, did you take the test? I want to share what my family is. I love our mix. One is a 1. One is a 3 and one is a 7. The last one is a 9. We each have a very strong versions of each number. This test is spot on. Let me know what number you are and I'll let you know the numbers of each of my family members. I love us so much.

 

[Soccer43]

The easy fix for making soccer more appealing to HS is to do Futsal on the indoor basketball courts against other schools.

And have cheerleaders

First of all - cheerleading for soccer is annoying and distracting from the game. They have to have cheerleaders for football because the game starts and stops with no end to it so you need something to keep you entertained. The first time and maybe the only time I saw cheerleaders at a soccer match was at UCLA and they looked so awkward and out of place like they didn't even want to be there and no one was liking them. They just got in the way of watching the action.

Second of all, I am so sick of people complaining about high school soccer. We have enjoyed high school soccer immensely, so many amazing memories made and still being made. Put on a jacket, buy some gloves, get some hot chocolate and enjoy the game.

 

[Carlsbad7]

Wawa
Sometimes the answer to “something must be done” is nothing.

For the girls it is about the perfect cheer. It’s a sport to then. They aren’t just ornaments but athletes. Your idea would work but you’d have to change futsal to make it work…give lots of time outs. The purists will hate it and ask why we Americans are changing the sport for the same of the cheerleaders but if participation is the goal give room to participate.

This only works if you have the male keeper play with the girls and the female keeper play with the boys. While there are female keepers that can rock out with the boys, average to average, age to age, and level to level…the boy keepers will outplay the girl keepers usually by about 2 years…it’s pretty obvious to anyone who has sat through a coed keeper camp (they’ll usually be 1 or 2 girls in the stronger half of the age group but the weaker half is almost always overwhelmingly female).

The way it would work is every player on the court would be a boy except the pivot / top of the diamond and all the boys would be looking for crosses to the girl.