Club Sports vs High School Sports

[kepdawg]

Have any of your schools run into conflicts between club sports and school sports?

Does your school have rules regarding participation in club sports?

[leecofans]

I can only speak for girl's sports, but as far as volleyball and softball go, our varsity coaches encourage it. In fact, if there is a player not playing select in the off season, they will pass along tryout information and/or call coaches looking for teams for the girls.

[kepdawg]

Originally posted by leecofans
I can only speak for girl's sports, but as far as volleyball and softball go, our varsity coaches encourage it. In fact, if there is a player not playing select in the off season, they will pass along tryout information and/or call coaches looking for teams for the girls.

Have they lost any girls that chose to play club sports instead of schools sports?

[leecofans]

Not that I'm aware of, but I was reading on a softball board that they are having that happen in larger schools. I do know that the College Look tourneys for select softball have been talked about as being a better recruiting opportunity than high school performances (in general).

[Phil C]

A lot of high school's don't have girls' soccer so some of them are in clubs.

[kepdawg]

Originally posted by Phil C
A lot of high school's don't have girls' soccer so some of them are in clubs.

I have a friend who falls into this scenario.

[kepdawg]

Originally posted by leecofans
Not that I'm aware of, but I was reading on a softball board that they are having that happen in larger schools. I do know that the College Look tourneys for select softball have been talked about as being a better recruiting opportunity than high school performances (in general).

I wasn't sure how big of an issue it would be at the lower classifications.

I brought this up because I read that Melissa Henderson, last year's Girl's Soccer Gatorade National Player of the Year, is not going to be playing for her high school, Richardson Berkner, this year. She was the first player to win player of the year as a junior. She is playing on the National Under 20 team and a club team instead.

[leecofans]

That's really a shame - what a letdown to her high school teammates. :(

I know that Schulenberg has a national recruit, Allison McNeal, who is committed to Nebraska to play volleyball. This girl plays on the National Junior Team, her club team, AND her high school team. Their team advanced to the State Semis this year, where they were beaten by Poth. You have to wonder if they would have gotten that far without her. Lexington had a similar situation with Texas Tech commit, Amanda Dowdy. She led her team to the exact same position in the playoffs before taking a loss in 5 to Big Sandy Harmony. I know that they definitely wouldn't have advanced without her. She also managed to juggle both club and school play.

I don't know anything about soccer, but the advantage to playing club volleyball and softball is that their seasons don't have to overlap school play. Club volleyball tournaments don't start until after the State Playoffs. Softball tournaments overlap, but the College Look ones are typically during the fall - before high school season starts.

[wyliegrad04]

coming from a tennis background, I've heard/seen/know of people that chose to strictly play USTA tennis instead of UIL/for their school ...

I don't think it happens that often, but it does happen. Or they only play individuals and not team tennis.

[Reds fan]

Speaking of softball, the "select" sports vs high school sports is an issue in many ways. If you look at the better 5A softball programs select ball is encouraged and almost a prerequisite. As school size gets smaller, competition for spots on a team is less stiff. For a lot of 3A schools it sure seems that select ball is frowned on by the schools and it is hard to understand the reasoning. You would think the high schools would want to help in as many ways as possible to get a kid seen so they have a chance at a scholarship.

As far as recruiting in softball, colleges do very little if any recruiting based on watching high school ball for various reasons, the biggest being NCAA softball is played at the same time, NCAA mandated dead periods, quiet periods, and then for the top 64 programs in the country the NCAA tourney has begun as the best high school teams enter their playoff period.

Almost all 18U and 18 Gold select softball teams do not play while high school is playing to allow the girls to play for their high schools. There is no need anyway as college coaches rely so heavily on summer exposure tournaments and the Fall 4 week window of exposure tournaments to see the players they are interested in. Colleges don't just "discover" an unknown talent in high school, they are watching kids in select ball that have done their homework, written to schools they are intersted in and worked very hard to get the colleges interested.

[gatordaze]

Another factor in small schools is proximity to club teams. My daughter plays Club Vball and she has girls on her team that are from Bonham. They have to travel from Bonham to Frisco 2X per week for practice. 2 hours + round trip is a big parental commitment.

[3aSoftball4Mom]

Speaking for girl's sports only:
For us, each coach encourages their players to play in their own sport, outside of school. Playing Club & Select sports is the best way for these kids to gain experience and our coaches know that.

However, If you have a two or three sport student, which most smaller schools have and a lot of times are required to do so, it becomes difficult to do both.

My daughter has always played Tournament SB and Club VB.
We have found it hard and almost impossible to play fall softball while she is playing school VB. And club VB while she plays school SB.

First, neither coach wants to see her get hurt in the other sport, nor can the school afford to lose a valuable player (especially because of the fewer #s in athletes) and vica versa. Second, you have to deal with conflicts in schedules. and school sports ALWAYS comes first. Your club folks don't like that and neither does my check book.

But school must come first. That is the way it should be and I wouldn't want it any other way.


Reds fan
For a lot of 3A schools it sure seems that select ball is frowned on by the schools and it is hard to understand the reasoning. You would think the high schools would want to help in as many ways as possible to get a kid seen so they have a chance at a scholarship

From my experience, I think the only reason it is frowned upon by 3a schools is like I said above. Getting hurt and conflicts in schedules.
Let's face it, coaching is their livelyhood, it's what puts food on the table. That is the most important thing to them. Yes, there are a few chosen few that want their players to get scholarships, but they are few and far between.

[Reds fan]

Originally posted by 3aSoftball4Mom
Speaking for girl's sports only:
For us, each coach encourages their players to play in their own sport, outside of school. Playing Club & Select sports is the best way for these kids to gain experience and our coaches know that.

However, If you have a two or three sport student, which most smaller schools have and a lot of times are required to do so, it becomes difficult to do both.

My daughter has always played Tournament SB and Club VB.
We have found it hard and almost impossible to play fall softball while she is playing school VB. And club VB while she plays school SB.

First, neither coach wants to see her get hurt in the other sport, nor can the school afford to lose a valuable player (especially because of the fewer #s in athletes) and vica versa. Second, you have to deal with conflicts in schedules. and school sports ALWAYS comes first. Your club folks don't like that and neither does my check book.

But school must come first. That is the way it should be and I wouldn't want it any other way.



From my experience, I think the only reason it is frowned upon by 3a schools is like I said above. Getting hurt and conflicts in schedules.
Let's face it, coaching is their livelyhood, it's what puts food on the table. That is the most important thing to them. Yes, there are a few chosen few that want their players to get scholarships, but they are few and far between.

Hang on a second, teaching is their way of putting food on the table! Softball coaches only earn a stipend compared to their teaching salaries (which most would agree are too low already). No doubt school should come first, thus the name student-athlete. But when a kid is good enough, has the desire, the heart and wants to play summer and fall ball to earn a scholarship, why would the schools athletic department frown on that?

[3aSoftball4Mom]

Originally posted by Reds fan
Hang on a second, teaching is their way of putting food on the table! Softball coaches only earn a stipend compared to their teaching salaries (which most would agree are too low already). No doubt school should come first, thus the name student-athlete. But when a kid is good enough, has the desire, the heart and wants to play summer and fall ball to earn a scholarship, why would the schools athletic department frown on that?

No you hang on...

This isn't a debate over how coaches make a living. and not all coaches are teachers. I'm not trying to get in an argument here. I gave that for an example that some don't care and I didn't say I agreed with it!!!! or liked it..... I simply stated the facts that I know and have heard about over the years.
If you will noice I said a few do care. SOME of the coaches don't care.

Why would they frown upon a kid that is good enough, has the desire, the heart and wants to play summer and fall ball to earn a scholarship??? They shouldn't frown upon it. Not at all....in fact, you would think that they would encourage it.
If you will notice, I was talking about my area.. I said that our coaches love for their athletes to participate in the SAME sport outside of school that the coach is coaching in school!!!

And if you will go back & read my post, I DID NOT say summer sports. I will spell it out.....Our coaches do not care for an athlete to play in a club or select sport that they are not coaching and are not playing in school at the time.

I didn't say I made the rules or swayed their minds to think this way. I was answering the question originaly asked in this thread.
Have any of your schools run into conflicts between club sports and school sports?
Yes we have. it's not fair and it's not right, but it is what it is.

[Reds fan]

Easy Mom, the only part of your post that was referred to was your statement that:

"Let's face it, coaching is their livelyhood, it's what puts food on the table. That is the most important thing to them."

No intention of starting a debate here on how coaches make a living as you infer. The resistance to club sports from some AD's of small schools is very real. Agreed, most coaches of the individual sport don't mind but they have little room to fight the AD.