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In 2007, there were 70 boys players named All-State.
In 2008, there were 60 girls players named All-State.
Do you really think there were 70 boys players that really deserved a title that used to be respected? What about 60 girls in 2008?
On Sunday, the Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association board and its sectional coordinators will meet to confirm the official All-State list for the 2009 boys season. They'll decide who should be All-Midwest and put up for All-America honors.
And just as the case has been the past three years, I'm going to give them a little advice - it's time to revamp the All-State system. It's watered down, not fair to programs with more than three standout players and just needs to be reborn, so it doesn't fall into the death title pit of All-Conference.
Do you really think a player cares if he or she makes All-Conference these days compared to how they felt 10 or 20 years ago?
Sorry to be the Grinch, but no they don't.
So how do you fix it?
You need to have conversations, and people need to be honest - as they have been with me during one-on-one conversations - that the system needs to be looked at. The system honors hundreds of players, and it's great from that standpoint.
But there is no way in hell there are 70 All-State players in Illinois this year. There are at least five stars on Neuqua Valley, but I'll bet you we won't see five Neuqua Valley players named to the All-State squad.
If someone tells me different, then you need to put the pop down and come back to reality.
There are a lot of very good players, but All-State should be for the premier players. All-Midwest should be for the studs and All-America players should be reserved for the player you know will be playing at the professional level some day.
Let me put it this way - they don't just put 70 kids into an honors class in high school just to make sure that everyone and every area is taken care of.
But in this case, that's exactly what the IHSSCA continues to do year after year.
- Joe Trost
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Sorry, don't have your email address but did you read the nice jobs the officials did in this regional final?
http://www.thetelegraph.com/sports/marquette-32305-penalty-regional.html?orderby=TimeStampDescending&oncommentsPage=1#slComments
Well as it's now a three class system (or possibly you have not been informed of that ) I would suppose that "All-State" applies to each class. So what's that....? About 24 players per class? Somehow that doesn't seem so unreasonable.
Oh, and by the way Joe ..... my definition of "gutless" is to attack some personally rather to address their arguments. As soon as my kid graduates from high school and there's no longer a problem with repercussions from my comments I'll be perfectly happy to introduce myself to you personally. Possibly we can have a more "in depth" discussion about the meaning of gutless. Have a nice day.
When you break it that way, no that doesn't sound too bad. I can tell you there aren't 24 "All-State" players in Class A this year, and I don't think I can put together 24 "All-State" players from Class A even if I went back five years - and I'm being serious. The reason they are Class A programs is because the size they can pick from is much smaller, meaning the true "All-State" players are few and far between.
With that said, there have been have been some outstanding Class A All-State players.
My main point is that the system needs to be looked at and conversations need to be held. The system can be improved.
Quick question. How does football do the All-State? Do they do it by class or combine all classes? Just curious.
18 All-State players in each class are honored at the state final football games. Remember, football teams have more players to select from.
Who would you have make the decisions on All State selections? You? You don't see anything south of I-80 as your weekly rankings prove. It doesn't matter to you that teams from the Chicago area get beat by unranked teams in the middle to lower counties of the State. So, if you think only Chicago teams are good because they are bigger, then you sure don't follow the games played below I-80. I can only imagine who you would pick for your all State team.....