Ask any club coach who coaches HS soccer. They’ll tell you it’s awful. Perhaps you are a coach who disagrees. I talk with many coaches, especially on the girls side that all say the same.
They joke that they have to train kids how to play soccer again after the HS break. I’ve heard this from coaches that have had teams in the CIF and Southern Section finals.
Is it fun, yes? There’s great team spirit and inner city pride. It’s also fun playing against club teammates in a different setting. Is it good? No. First of all, you’re missing most of the high level talent. Ask any strong player playing HS; they may love it, but they know it’s not good.
I always like to compare HS Soccer like NT Soccer. The Nationals Teams don’t really get to choose their players. It’s who they get and maybe a transfer here and there(nationalities switch). So, sometimes you get the US playing against Haiti, or Bermuda, etc. And those teams dont stand the chance, and the players risk getting injured because of the level of the opposition. But then you have teams like France, who play against Italy, Spain, Germany, England... better opposition and better level. HS is the same. We are lucky to be in a good area. I’m not the HS coach. But in this school 17 out of the 18 players play club, they have a coach who coaches club, and the teams they play against are similar, even better. We played against teams who had college commits in their squads. Again, not as bad as you might think. It just depends where you’re at. I do have heard that club coaches have had to teach again their system of play, but that’s more on the line of “teaching my system, the way our club plays” rather than teaching them how to control a ball, etc.