This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
I don't think it will matter. Most of the upper tier clubs won't allow their kids to play HS if the seasons conflict.
Agree with this take. Playing hockey we had multiple club/travel options aswell as high-school. I don't rember anyone doing both, or wanting to. If you had the skills to play AAA or AA travel that's what you did. More games, higher level of competition, bigger pool of teams/tournaments to play vs high-school. Players would come from across the country and internationally to play on the AAA team and there wasn't any overlap until after the season during summer leagues and camps. If Illinois is like Michigan i don't see this making much of a difference outside of rare cases unless I'm missing something.
When I coached in CA, CIF didn't allow you to play ANY non-sanctioned leagues during the HS season. Teams were not allowed to scrimmage club or international teams and if a player played club or rec league they would be ineligible for the season.
This is an IHSA (the governing board for HS sports in Illinois) rule barring a HS athlete from playing the same sport during HS season outside of HS. Not a choice of the clubs.
I get the conflict but I think more and more if given a choice athletes are skipping HS and playing the club if forced to make that choice due to many sports having a better recruitment opportunity through club than HS. Which is better... choosing not to play the HS sport at all or doing both and missing some conflicting times?
Even if it's a different sport? We used to have volleyball clubs playing the same time as HS basketball season, and the clubs wouldn't allow their kids to play hoop. Same with soccer.
I think that the specific sport will change the dynamics a bit from another sport. For example, football is a HS dominated sport with clubs going to JR High and stopping. You would play on two teams even if you could. I don't think hockey is a IHSA sanctioned sport and I am not familiar with it at all really but I would figure that hockey would be closer to football than say volleyball on probably not doing both even if given the choice. Sports like basketball and volleyball, you easily could and maybe would want to play both for exposure and recruitment. Right now in Illinois, that isn't sn option.
This is from the IHSA side with the rule that athletes can not play the same sanctioned sport during the IHSA season. No rule for other sports. I am sure some clubs have those rules wanting to dominate the kids time but right now they really do not have the choice at all in Illinois
I am not sure if football is under threat. It may be but I haven't seen any signs. In fact, and local club for a town next door just folded and the kids are scrambling to get into other options which our Catholic elementary/Jr High is one if they happen to go to a couple of schools that feed into our football program or their CCD. Then the elite programs across the country are all HS too. I think it would be hard to get a program going for a number of reasons. Other sports are much, much, much easier.
Agree the specific sport matters. If future opportunities and scholarships are the goal for a young athlete they'll want to choose the highest competition and exposure given to a specific sport. If that's high-school like football, or club like hockey then that's what they'll want. The ability to play in croosover leagues seems logical, but the sport and ability level should dictate where everyone ends up.
In Illinois girls vball is fall and basketball is winter. They placed flag football in full so my daughter will not get a chance to play in HS. Vball is probably one of the biggest sports for wanting both HS and club. Club is huge but HS is also still thriving.
Definitely picking club sports and I wish clubs were more understanding. My son wants to play both club and HS and imagine many kids would love to do both as well. I think many parents and clubs are delusion on their kids actual prospects.
Football is exception. It is really a HS sport and not moved to club.
My son plays year round club soccer. In fall he plays both HS soccer and club soccer. HS soccer does take a back sit to club but most HS games are during the week while club games and tournaments are weekend affairs. He will miss club practices for HS games but other conflicts club wins out. HS coaches get annoyed but at the same time they want club players on their team if they want to win.
This is my feeling as well.
20-30 years ago club sports were not nearly what they are today and it was probably in that time frame that recruiting for most (all?) sports was still primarily out of HS for college. Here in Illinois it isn't allowed so I can't say how it would or would not work. I can say for the basketball teams I have coached for elementary/Jr High I have had players that played both our school team and then a club team. My players prioritized our school team (it was their decision without any discussion from me) and since 3-4 of those boys played on the same club, the club would work around our game schedule. Last year, I only had one player on the team that played that club team. Since it was only one player they did not really work around our schedule like in the past bit it still worked out. He missed one tournament for club due to our playoffs. He didn't miss any of our season game or playoffs (missed a couple of tournament games which was fine). Practice wise, here and there he would be late to ours or their practice. The biggest concern for me was workload. There were times he would have played 4-6 games over a weekend from Friday to Sunday as it would not be unusual for us to have at least two games and then the club would be in a tournament.
Football is the one sport that I really can not see HS being threatened by club. It would be too hard to get a program up and find other non-HS club teams to play. You aren't going to have players playing both to transition either.
When I was in high school there were two very strong local club teams and the HS was excited that many of us would play together on their team. We were all looking forward to it. Then they hired a coach we all hated so most of us chose to play on the same club team instead. We were not allowed to do both, but there wouldn't have been time anyway.
This is spot on.
Curious where you are and what league he's playing in? My son (graduates in two weeks) played ECNL and USYS National League and it was never an issue because they try pretty hard to not conflict with HS seasons. For example here soccer is a fall sport in HS so both ECNL and USYS seasons are spring based. I know in other regions (like the south) where HS soccer is more winter/spring based the leagues play a split fall/late spring schedule. A few showcases could conflict if a kids school team was making a run deep in the state playoffs into November but that is just a kid here and there. Our club as a rule just had light, no contact training on Sunday's during the HS season although I imagine some others may want more. MLS Next is obviously different in they aren't allowed to play school soccer unless required as part of a private school.
I am in NYC and the big league here is the Cosmopolitan Junior Soccer League (which is part of the USYS National League). His team/club make it work but a number of the clubs forbid kids from playing HS soccer. Issue is even bigger in the suburbs then NYC itself.
This is 100% true. The more kids that come the more money they get. This isn't every organization out there but I would say it's well over 50% and I wouldn't be surprised if it was around 75-80% of them.
Definitely sounds like these clubs are feeding people a line of bull. USYS National Leagues North-Atlantic Conference which covers NY plays a spring season (https://system.gotsport.com/org_event/events/36040/schedules?group=344991). I checked the game history for NY Hota Bavarian (NY East USYS State Champion and went to the USYS National Championship last year) they didn't play any games from July 25th to November 29th. Stony Brook who currently leads Premier 1 didn't play any games between July 2nd and November 22nd. Now I have no idea if they are forcing kids to train and not play HS but they aren't playing in any official games or tournaments. ECNL's New England division which covers NY plays Dec to May (https://theecnl.com/sports/2023/8/8/ECNLB_0808235510.aspx). Now I know here in PA we have some regional fall leagues but 95% of the kids playing in those are kids that didn't make their HS team but still want to play in the fall.
All well and good until some 200 lb fast kid in a private school w/o football runs over your club goalie and shatters his leg.
Looks like things have changed
That's really interesting. The best club teams used to play most of the year. Looks like they have significantly paried that back.
These teams play year round and definitely practice year round. There is a fall league in NYC. There are fall leagues in suburbs as well.
