Possibly a State Soccer Title?

cjhsa · Posts: 23118 Location: Presently in Michigan

My daughter's JV team is 8-1-1 and has outscored their opponents 50-4 on the season. Their only loss came in their opener against a much larger school from a different division.

Here's the kicker. There are several frosh and sophomores currently playing on the varsity squad. I see a varsity state title in the next two years.

When we moved here, we expected our youngest daughter would do well in soccer having been trained professionally in California for several years. We never expected that our older daughter would become the first female to score a hat trick (three goals in one game) for the new school/program, and we certainly didn't expect to possibly be in contention for a state title.

Wow!

mismi · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 10:30 am Post: 3224610 -

That is very exciting cjhsa - I bet your daughter is thrilled too!
Congratulations!

cjhsa · Posts: 23118 Location: Presently in Michigan

Thanks! Yes, she's having a blast!

newsocdad · Posts: 9

cjhsa:

As I am sure you know, HS sports exist to provide opportunities for kids to play with their friends and build connections to their school which, in turn, helps improve kids' academic performance. The also help build and maintain connections with the local community. JV teams are particularly important in fulfilling the participation goal.

As in many if not most states, the success of a HS soccer program at a particular school largely depends on the number and quality of the club players who attend the school relative to their competitors. The short HS season gives HS coaches little time to work on individual player skills. Instead they mostly focus on basic tactics and conditioning as not all of the kids are coming off another sport so fitness can be an issue.

It is not very surprising then that the same schools/communities tend to produce the most competitive teams year after year. And, frankly, the strong teams from the west side of the state have a little easier run to the finals simply because there are fewer strong soccer teams there than on the east side of the state.

If you look at last year's finalists they're fairly typical of the situation. In Div. I (largest schools) you had Novi v Rochester. Novi draws kids from a strong community travel program (Novi Jaguars) and the Livonia Hawks which is one of the top clubs in the country. Rochester likewise has a strong community club program as well as close proximity to the Michigan Gators and Varder travel clubs. I would hazard a guess there is no kid on either high school varsity squad who has not played at least 3 or 4 years of travel soccer and it would not surprise me if every starter was still playing on a club team. Novi has been in the state finals 3 years in a row.

At Div II you had Grand Rapids Forrest Hills Central v Bloomfield Lahser. The club set up in the GR area is a little more unsettled but FHC has kids who play for GR Crew and W. Mich Fire - both decent clubs. FHC was in the finals 2 of the last 3 years and Lahser has been in the finals 2 years in a row. Lahser mostly draws kids from the Bloomfield Force which is a good community club, but in particular the Force had a team that won the club u18 national championship last year so there were several exceptional players on that team who attended Lahser. Most of those kids have graduated now, but Lahser still has a goalie who is committed to UofM and can steal games this year (the back up goalie also has a full ride to a Div I school).

At Div III you have Christian Unity v Flint Powers. Powers draws kids from all over, and there are some okay club teams in the area with Vardar North and GSSC, but they are a bit of surprise over Detroit Country Day which is smack in the middle of an area with lots of clubs (and has been to the finals 5 times in 10 years). Unity Christian (4 years in a row in the finals) I think has made the most of 2 exceptional players who graduate this year. Both will play for MSU next year and 1 is in the national team pool. That kind of talent is hard to deal with at a Div. III level. Unity actually beat Novi last year 1-0 in an exhibition game. Both those girls played for the Bloomfield Force team that won the club national championship even though you are talking about a 2 hour drive each way to practice.

Finally, at Div IV you had K-zoo Christian v Ann Arbor Greenhills. Greenhills is similar to DCD in drawing kids. Ann Arbor has several decent clubs (AA United, AA Arsenal primarily) to draw from and Greenhills gets a good number of experienced club players. K'zoo Christian (and oft finalist K'zoo Hackett) also gets a good number of club players for a school of that size -- drawing from the Kingdom club which does a good job in the area.

Each year it is a little different obvously. If you put a national team level player in a small school environment you can throw the works off (e.g. Unity Christian), but mostly, year after year, it is the schools in areas with good clubs to feed their HS programs that will do well in HS play. A solid JV program is great, and good for the kids. I just may not ultimately mean the varsity should do well next year or the year after.

In the meantime, good luck to your daughter and her team.

cjhsa · Posts: 23118 Location: Presently in Michigan

I know there are tons of variables. I don't put my kid on a pedastal either. She's good, and helps the team, but she's not the best or flashiest player. She does have a heck of a left foot though.

We've played many of those teams you speak of. We tied FHC 1-1 this year and beat Lowell. On the year it's a 77-4 (scoring) drubbing of the opponents and a 12-1-2 record. Very happy to no longer have Unity Christian in our division!!! They are a D3 monster.

cjhsa · Posts: 23118 Location: Presently in Michigan

newsocdad - I should have welcomed you to A2K! Welcome!

Thanks for the great info too!

cjhsa · Posts: 23118 Location: Presently in Michigan

Make that 85-4 on the season. 13-1-2 record.

newsocdad · Posts: 9

Any of the kids playing (well probably mostly watching) varsity in the district games. That is always a good experience.

cjhsa · Posts: 23118 Location: Presently in Michigan

I went back an recalculated. They finished up 14-1-2 and outscored their opponents 100-4. Two of those goals game in the opening 2-1 loss. To only allow two more goals all season is really impressive.

When my daughter was young, she was an an AYSO travelling team in California. We'd drive all over hell, finally get our team together and would be down 3-0 before you could say "****". It's nice to have the cleat on the other foot for a change.

Walter Hinteler · Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 7:16 am Post: 3252022 -

In Germany, we've only national champions from the U17/U16 onwards, both for males and feamales. (Female champions only from 2000 onwards.)

Similar in other European countries. (When my niece played in the Austrain national U 17 and U 18 team, they didn't have such in the late 90's. Started there much later.)