Is it the one where pats coaches are coaching there this year? The Tartans?
quality of HS soccer compared to club
- Thread starter lancer
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Kante
PREMIER
not sure. just heard thru this forum a while back and glanced at the roster to confirm. forget which school.
outside!
DA
No, that would not make sense for many reasons. Field space being the biggest one.
Kante
PREMIER
(Obvious question) Because most schools share fields with football and soccer?
outside!
DA
Yes. They also share fields with field hockey and possibly lacrosse.
Kante
PREMIER
if fields weren't an issues, what would be the other objection(s)?
And rugby and track and marching band.
With a kid who is a freshman this year- I am amazed at how much the sports facilities at our school are used. Seems that during weekday league or weekend scrimmage soccer games that there is always something going on with all fields.
The pool is always in use. Boys and girls basketball is always there. Baseball and softball fields are being used. The “spare” open field has lacrosse or a soccer team on it. The weight room is always packed. And I’m sure the coaches would appreciate a weekend off by not having games on Saturdays. They don’t get paid enough to make it a 6 day a week job.
The pool is always in use. Boys and girls basketball is always there. Baseball and softball fields are being used. The “spare” open field has lacrosse or a soccer team on it. The weight room is always packed. And I’m sure the coaches would appreciate a weekend off by not having games on Saturdays. They don’t get paid enough to make it a 6 day a week job.
Kante
PREMIER
On pay, absolutely fair point re; current pay structure. Looks like most coaches get about $10-$15k w/ no benies
Point would be to pay coaches for their time. So the hours would be 16 hours per week (4 days -m thru r - practice m-r 2hrs x 2 teams (JV and Varsity) plus two games on Saturday (3 hours per game x 2 games). Doing the math, 22 hours per week w/ teacher's break during summer. Assumes also that coaches put in similar prep as teachers do for class prep for practices, games, video analysis etc.
Would be reasonable to pay someone who did those hours a full time teacher's salary plus benies. In CA, this would average to about $60k+ salary plus another 20% for health insurance etc, and then same professional development that teachers' get. i.e. essentially make soccer coaches full time teachers.
What are the other objections to this? Genuinely asking.
Cost
For private schools with financial capabilities, nothing.
For public schools, it it not financially possible. Their finances are mostly dedicated to improving test scores. Not sure if a booster club would be able to finance it, but taxpayers are unwilling to. I would be willing to but I have a vested interested.
I want to clarify the pay structure. A good portion of the high school coaches are walk ons - they have other jobs or are club coaches. Only the head coach position is provided a stipend by the district and this varies by district. The other coaches on staff are paid off of the booster club and team donations. In california at a public school all sports are donation based and parents are donating less and less. One JV coach that I know makes a generous $3,300 a season. This includes all practices (and the boys practice through breaks and have tournaments over christmas break), all games, and hours of communicating with the parents.
The coaches are doing it because they love it - not because of the pay.
The coaches are doing it because they love it - not because of the pay.
Kante
PREMIER
Agreed. The thought would be to comp the coaches, so that at lease the head coaches could dedicate themselves rather than having it be a side gig.
This, am sure, is raising the red flag ... (easy guys) ... but would think that could be current coach pay from the districts could be supplemented by the state. If head coaches receive an average of $12k (being conservative) then CA provides another $60k per coach to supplement. There's 3,162 public high schools in CA, so it's about $400m (again, easy guys), which sounds like a lot but is less than .2% of the total CA budget.
other than field availability and $, are the other objections? Genuinely asking those folks who are more familiar w/ high school soccer.
outside!
DA
Are you suggesting that HS soccer replace club soccer for HS aged players?
Kante
PREMIER
interesting. have seen the local JV and frosh teams actually play higher "quality" soccer imo than the Varsity. not sure if this is a function of player personnel (varsity has a really good, strong fast difference making striker...) or just different coaches. All the teams have players from the local clubs, most of whom can play high "quality" soccer if allowed.
Why would CA or any other state want to do this?
Kante
PREMIER
thinking out loud again. Maybe at the Varsity level, the player athleticism (size and speed) outpaces their skill.
At Varsity matches, the field seems like shrinks. Maybe the players' don't have the skill to play fast enough to play around an equally big/fast opponent.
Kante
PREMIER
would be like first five, but to help high school kids stay on college track. all high schools require minimum gpa and other standards to play sports.
so, every grade would have 40 to 50 students who would be required to maintain a certain high level, so it works out to an additional $1,333 per student being spent per year on a defined group of students to help them get to college.
other programs to support students to get/stay on college track exist but not sure how the costs/effectiveness would compare.
Are these numbers specific to boys high school soccer coaches only? Or do they apply to all sports, both genders, and all levels (JV, FR, & Varsity)? If they only include boy's soccer, we're gonna need a little more from Fort Knox. Although, .2% seems small, it is a large amount when you have thousands of things to finance.
I like the idea of bringing club soccer back to high school because it opens up access to all and would make the quality of high school soccer better.