Do You Need Club Soccer to Play High School Soccer (Girls)?

[Woodwork]

I will be answering my own question here, but invite different perspectives. This is for girls. Boys looks different to my eye but any input is welcome for boys, too.

In general, the answer is no. It depends on how robust and competitive the program is, but even the more competitive HS programs have Frosh Soph teams (with juniors and seniors apparently allowed). To play frosh/soph consistent rec-level play and general athleticism is sufficient to make the team. Very rarely, but I have seen at least one HS where F/S was competitive to the point where club was required. To play JV at 95% of the teams it looks to me that a "signature" level is enough to make the team. At least lower level club will help, Silver/Flt 2 or below, for the more competitive JV teams. Anything higher than that is overkill. At 80% of HS programs somewhere between Signature and Flt 2 looks to be good enough to make varsity at some point in HS.

For my kid, the social and personal benefits of playing high school soccer would be there regardless of whether it was F/S or Varsity. The difference is that F/S may be something like this

but Varsity looks more like this

.

 

[paytoplay]

Agree. Good points. Division 1 and 2 high school soccer for freshman girls is dependent on the individual school and the entering class size. Some programs don’t have a freshman team. If not playing at club level, you may not make the cut. I would encourage at least flight 2 just to be safe. That said, I’ve seen a lot of rec players on freshman teams and some even higher. In fact, in my cynical Orange County opinion, I sit there wondering where all the good players are?

 

[Eagle33]

Not really sure if you really comparing different programs or just your HS.
Some HS programs are very competitive and some not at all. Too many factors play into it, such as:
School size
School location
What division
What League
Demographics
Coach (club coach or a teacher)
Coaches connections to club (or not)

 

[rainbow_unicorn]

If your kid really wants to play school soccer then they should play club. AYSO United is a good option as they have local chapters and lower costs while playing year round club soccer. I had a friend ask the same question and I said when it came down to selecting players at tryouts I'm more likely to pick club players over AYSO players that are only touching a soccer ball a few months out of the year.

 

[espola]

If your kid really wants to play school soccer then they should play club. AYSO United is a good option as they have local chapters and lower costs while playing year round club soccer. I had a friend ask the same question and I said when it came down to selecting players at tryouts I'm more likely to pick club players over AYSO players that are only touching a soccer ball a few months out of the year.

if it's a "tryout", aren't you looking at their demonstration of ability? Instead of their resume?

 

[timbuck]

It really depends on each school.
Can a rec-level player make a frosh team? Sure- but they need to be very fast. A HS coach (or even many club coaches) will take the fast kid all day long.
Our HS has a massive amount of players at summer camp/tryouts each year for freshman. They take a pretty decent roster size for each team (V, JV, F/S). I'd say half of the kids that tryout don't get selected.

 

[Woodwork]

It really depends on each school.
Can a rec-level player make a frosh team? Sure- but they need to be very fast. A HS coach (or even many club coaches) will take the fast kid all day long.
Our HS has a massive amount of players at summer camp/tryouts each year for freshman. They take a pretty decent roster size for each team (V, JV, F/S). I'd say half of the kids that tryout don't get selected.

I came across a school like that recently and can think of at least one other. I think this is the exception rather than the rule, though it may seem more common in that region because of demographics as Eagle33 pointed out. E.g., Anaheim, biggest city in OC, has very few girls club teams (OC Surf/Anaheim Surf are not in Anaheim) and their high school girls teams are not very selective from what I've seen.

My DD is at a somewhat competitive school. ECNL was overkill as was playing up an age group at discovery level. We could have gotten the same result, or maybe a better result, playing flight 1 or 2, the main skillset being confidence and direct play (and being tall).

 

[Brav520]

I think some privates put everyone on the team who tryout

 

[Brav520]

my personal opinion is I don't think any high school should be cutting a senior who wants to play, as long as the kid and parent understand playing time will be very very limited for some , and they may not be able to travel with the team at time for road games.

 

[paytoplay]

It really depends on each school.
Can a rec-level player make a frosh team? Sure- but they need to be very fast. A HS coach (or even many club coaches) will take the fast kid all day long.
Our HS has a massive amount of players at summer camp/tryouts each year for freshman. They take a pretty decent roster size for each team (V, JV, F/S). I'd say half of the kids that tryout don't get selected.

And thus we have the growing sport of girls lacrosse.

 

[rainbow_unicorn]

if it's a "tryout", aren't you looking at their demonstration of ability? Instead of their resume?

I don't care about resume. I care about ability and it's obvious (within a few minutes) who has put time into training with a ball. I did select one AYSO Extra player who could probably play at an ECRL/GA level if they wanted to.