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Former Maine South boys soccer coach Tim Spiegel, who played at Northern Illinois and is still an assistant at Maine South, sent me an article from Greenpitch.com on Monday. Here is the portion Spiegel highlighted:
"It used to be that if you lived in a city or town, you followed that team, no matter its size or success," Argentine football fan Dominic Argullo said. "Not any more. You probably have more Manchester United fans in New York than you do United States fans. Actually, you'd probably have more Manchester United fans in London than you do West Ham fans. There is something wrong with that. I follow Cordoba and Argentina because that is who I am. These Americans with their Chelsea uniforms don't have a clue."
Spiegel was pointing out an image problem with soccer in America, while also comparing the lack of allegiance to what is going on with high school soccer.
"The last part of the article hit home with me," Spiegel said. "This has been a major beef with my kids for some time now, as they just don’t feel it is cool to support U.S. Soccer or the Chicago Fire. If the (quote above) is true, it may be the ultimate downfall to IHSA soccer (quality wise) if clubs get their way because there is little allegiance to high school soccer."
When you think about it, the quote is sort of true. With most of today's high school soccer players, the allegiance to represent their local community high school isn't as strong as it was 10 or 20 years ago. In a way, it's not cool for some of the best soccer players to play high school.
Some people might not like to hear or read that, but sit back and think about it. Every year, how many high school players rip on the high school game? Yes, you still have those great kids who get it - the crowds, the student bodies, the rivals, etc. And it's great to listen to the stars of the past talk about how great it was to win a state title for their high school.
Remember, most club coaches played high school and they'll tell you they turned out all right.
But how do you convince a 14- or 15-year-old kid, who was has played club his or her entire life, that high school is the route to go? I remember former Sandburg and Northwestern star Katie Hertz tell me the stories of how she used to ball run for the Sandburg boys soccer team in 1993, when the Eagles became the first south suburban school to win a state crown. She told me how cool it was, and how she dreamed of being on that field one day.
Let's be honest folks - how many young kids in the surrounding area are dreaming of playing for their local high school? I know future high football players are dreaming of playing for their high school one day. It's cool.
Soccer players should feel the same way, but we all know that's not true these days.
That's something the IHSA and IHSSCA needs to fix. If they don't care, who will?
- Joe Trost
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Why support "soccer" when there is real football just a click away.
Joe: These are great topics and I continue to read them with interest. Keep writing. I like the edge with which you write. Sarcastic and pithy. I might be naive but what do you propose the IHSA do to make it "cool" to play for your high school soccer team?
TROST RESPONDS: It's called marketing. The soccer community needs to rally and help, too. Look at Nike and adidas - where do they go first? Club. You had countless football, basketball and even volleyball games broadcasted this year via the IHSA. Where was soccer? Christ, volleyball was broadcasted on radio. One reason the Pepsi Showdown was created was because coaches and players complain about not having a true seeded tournament. People have always run old fashion, round-robin tournaments. The IHSA hasn't done anything new for soccer. But again, the IHSA doesn't care about things like that. It's a numbers thing, not quality.
I think you're comments are based on incorrect assumptions , at least in my experience . I believe the majority of high school players WANT to play for their high school , but are smart enough to realise that the coaching standard is not comparative . Both my sons play or have played varsity soccer for their school, and prefer to play high school . Their friendships are formed there , and I strongly feel that there is a stronger bond on a high school team than at club , because of those friendships .
Marketing is definitely something we need to focus more support on MLS and the US MNT , but I wouldn't be too concerned that US fans support EPL , La Liga or Serie A teams . This is a global game now .
What we need to do is force IHSA and the school districts to up the quality of the soccer product at the high school level so that it makes SENSE for players to play there and not at their club.
The quality of coaching and reffing needs to dramatically improve at the IHSA level. Referees get a 100 question (multiple choice) open book test. That's it. To qualify as a HS coach you simply need to take what is essentially a first aid course. I know from experience because I have done both. Math teachers pretending to be soccer coaches hurts the game. But probably most importantly, if you want quality players to play high school soccer, then you need to get the college coaches to recruit at those games. Don't get me wrong, college coaches do attend some HS games but it is almost exclusively after they have decided which kids they want to recruit. Club soccer and club tournaments is where college coaches do their recruiting. Like Trost said - marketing! Quality players, quality coaches, quality marketing - that's what you get at the club level. That's why IHSA soccer is in the current state it is in. Compare the HS soccer rosters to the club soccer rosters and the percentage of players who go on to play college soccer - there is no comparison.