I have no dog in the fight, but the awards/Recognition for the Arizona 5A Sonoran Region are ridiculous. To the winner go the spoils, but if one team was as good as claimed (with even all their Bench players making 1st and 2nd team) then they probably should have been able to score a goal in their quarterfinal match-up, and make it to the final four of 5A.
High School
- Thread starter Singh
- Start date
I think the number of players at a given level is based on where the team finished. So top team get X slots, second best gets Y slots etc. From there the coaches vote.
I believe that region only has 4 teams. I do know the regions/divisions meet and vote, so if you have a coach who is not agressive or not vocal, then you can have a team suffer.
I think the real information will come out when the 5a conference tallies come out.
Here in So Cal, at least in my daughters league, last place team gets 1 First team all league player, 5th gets 2, 4th 3, so the first place team gets 6 players. Same for second team all league. Crazy since the 1st place team might have have two great future college players and a bunch of average players for the rest of the roster.
for what its worth here is the AIA's policy, nothing about number of spots per rank
one other thing to remember though (@LMULions) is that the coach for this team is Tony Torres, an FC tucson coach. Many of those girls are club players at FC tucson as well, so there is likely some nepotism as well. The coach of the 06 ODP team was an FC tuscon coach, and guess where many of the players come from?
Thank you for the link to the AIA rules, I had been wondering how that was determined, more officially.
Some nepotism I understand, but placing 15 of your players on the first two teams to just a handful of players from the other 3 teams in the Region is ridiculous. It's not fair to the kids who play at the other 3 schools, where the coaches are likely teachers and have more important things to do than argue with or push back against a professional soccer coach. Those ratios aren't defensible if he had an undefeated team, and the other teams won a combined two games. His team wasn't undefeated, and wasn't good enough to make it to the Conference semifinals even.
Some nepotism I understand, but placing 15 of your players on the first two teams to just a handful of players from the other 3 teams in the Region is ridiculous. It's not fair to the kids who play at the other 3 schools, where the coaches are likely teachers and have more important things to do than argue with or push back against a professional soccer coach. Those ratios aren't defensible if he had an undefeated team, and the other teams won a combined two games. His team wasn't undefeated, and wasn't good enough to make it to the Conference semifinals even.
whatithink
GOLD
I doubt that would be fair to BF & Salpointe. It might be interesting to see Chap & Xavier go, but seeing how Xavier powered through the playoffs, I don't think that would be close.
FlintDempsey
BRONZE
I have been in two all-region meetings. It has been the 1st place team's AD that ran the meeting. So the 1st place team and whatever other team's coach who is really loud/vocal/persistent are going to get the most players recognized. With Forwards they tend to talk about goals/assists but for the rest of the players it is just nominating the player and talking about them. Coaches will take trade offs (your player can be DEF and my player can be MID). It is not a straightforward process and that's OK. If you want to guarantee that your player gets appropriately recognized, win your league (or have them score a million goals).
FlintDempsey
BRONZE
Also a short defense of HS soccer. To some soccer supporters only the highest levels of soccer matter (i.e. pro=EPL/Champions League etc., youth=ECNL(girls)/MLS Next (boys)). However if your idea is to grow the base and the love of the game then HS soccer can play a major role. I am an assistant HS coach (3A HS Soccer rules! - imagine it in the Bill & Ted football player cadence). We had a roster of 22 player this season. Only 5 of them play soccer outside of the 3.5 month HS window (Nov-Feb). Some of them used to play, some of them have never played. However, by the end of the season you see them sporting pro kits, talking about who/what they watched over the weekend, and following the national teams. Will these exact players become soccer superstars? Heavens no....but maybe their kids will. Also, I am a soccer junkie - assistant HS coach (did I mention that 3A HS soccer rules!), club coach (APL), and ref almost weekly (every league under the bright AZ sun). Do terrible things happen in HS soccer - yes (refer to Coronado vs Cortez). However about every 2 months or so I see something just as bad in club soccer. People can be idiots no matter what level they play in or what level they spectate at.
Thank you for the insight. This is really cool to hear how hings happen.
Xavier was going to roll who ever was put in front of them. That team was incredibly stacked.
FlintDempsey
BRONZE
High school soccer tryouts start this Monday! I am fired up. It is such a different game (club vs HS), but both have their pros and cons. Also lots of realignment for the 2024-2026 block (AIA added a Winter 2A conference which will divide up the current 3A/2A/1A). 3A soccer rules!
Big difference Flint with club vs HS. I watched 4 years of high octane D1 Varsity Soccer. Pros and Cons but so much fun. Enjoy the times.
would you mind sharing a little more about the realignment...My daughter is in 3A and it seems the same as last year
FlintDempsey
BRONZE
No changes for this year, but the re-alignment will happen in the 2024-2026 block. Winter HS soccer is currently all the 3A/2A/1A together. In the new block there will be a 3A conference and then a separate 2A/1A conference. On the girls side, the best programs will still be in 3A, but on the boys side the 2x defending state champion (PHX Country Day ) is 2A.
FlintDempsey
BRONZE
There are some wild scores in 3A HS soccer: 21-0, 16-0, etc. There is a mercy rule of leading by 8 goals or more after 60 minutes. There needs to be a double mercy rule that the game just ends after a certain score regardless of the time remaining. In HS football if you win 70-0 you will be all over the news media/social media as the biggest jerks in the world. There are plenty of big time news articles written about this every year. In HS soccer however it is apparently OK to win 112-0 (equivalent of 16-0, 1 goal = 1 TD). There is NO benefit to anyone when a game gets past 8-0 (unless it is to pad your stats).
Crismon will eventually get out of 3A, they are a newer school and as that community grows they will be bigger. The team that went 21 0 should have pulled back, there is no need to rub kids face in it. Most kids at the 3A level have very little soccer experinece, and its a good way to make them hate the sport. I support the philosophy "that if you don't want to be embarrassed do something about it", but after 8-0 in soccer at this level its egregious
Rankings for girls (you can link to boys from there)
azpreps365.com
6A Girls Soccer Rankings | AZPreps365
azpreps365.com