It's only a few weeks into the season, but my kid is absolutely loving her first year of HS ball. We heard all the horror stories of how rough, violent, and unskilled the competition is, how bad the refs are, etc. But after 8-9 games, except for the fact that some of their opponents have been pretty remedial in skill, none of the other observations have held true. I've actually seen way fewer bad fouls. The refs have been about the same level as I've seen in SCDSL and CSL. The competition from school to school is hard to gauge (lots of blowouts) but my kids' school is loaded club players who are really enjoying playing with each other. I'm sure this experience varies greatly from place to place, but both parents and players are really digging it. My only complaint is that I can't get to all the weekday games.