I don't know if this is the kind of "publicity" soccer wants, but
this is the first of a five part series in the Fayetteville newspaper about the conflict
between club and high school soccer arising during the first year of official high
school sanctioning for the sport. The AAA refers to the Arkansas Activities Association,
the governing body of high school athletics. The Fayetteville Comets are a select
club, whose Director of Coaching, Samir Haj, is also the president of the Arkansas
State Soccer Association. The newspaper web site is www.nwarktimes.com
Editors note: This is the first of a five-part series titled "Forced to Choose."
The series is examining the Arkansas Activities Association's policy of not allowing
players to play both high school and club soccer in the spring and the effects of
that policy on the Fayetteville High School and Arkansas Comets soccer teams.
By ERIK STINNETT - Times Sports Writer
For two springs, the Fayetteville High School boys and girls soccer teams and the
Arkansas Comets soccer club enjoyed an amicable relationship.
Several players competed for both the Comets and Bulldogs or Lady Bulldogs, and coaches
from both sides did their best to adjust to the sharing situation. Scheduling of
practices, games and tournaments, for example, was done with careful consideration
so as to cause the least amount of interference as possible between the two sides.
In August 1996, however, school administrators from across the state voted to make
soccer an official Arkansas Activities Association sport beginning in the 1998 spring
season. While the decision may have seemed like an overwhelming victory for the sport
at the time, one major effect of the decision is causing plenty of turmoil in Fayetteville
this winter.
The point of friction is the AAA rule that allows high school players to practice
with a non-school team during the high school season but does not allow them to play
in any games or tournaments as a member of a non-school team.
That means high school-aged soccer players in Fayetteville have to choose to play
for either the Comets or Fayetteville High School this spring.
And where amicable feelings once existed between the Comets and the Fayetteville
High School soccer program, now there is a rivalry. Both sides want what's best for
the players now and in the long run, but now that they have been pitted against one
another, each side believes their path is best.
Roger Callahan, AAA assistant executive director and the man in charge of high school
soccer in Arkansas, said the rule forcing athletes to choose applies to all high
school sports, not just soccer, and the philosophy behind it is two-fold.
"One is the amount of time taken away from school work by playing on two different
teams, and the other is a kid having to adapt to two different coaching philosophies,"
Callahan explained. "Those are the two reasons."
It's a rule that Callahan is quick to point out does not solely originate with the
AAA.
"All we do is what the schools want," Callahan said. "It's what they
voted in. And it's the same thing for softball and baseball and all those sports."
But should soccer, which some believe to be an under-developed sport in Arkansas,
be treated differently than other sports and allowed to function under a simultaneous
high school/club system? Callahan doesn't think so.
"I think we've had an excellent club program over the years," he said.
"I think (soccer) is very well developed. And I think it shows in that we have
41 teams the first year, and that's excellent. That's more than we expected ... I
think soccer's well established."
And while Callahan acknowledges that both club and high school have played vital
roles in the development of soccer in Arkansas, he believes high school soccer is
a unique and valuable activity that all players need to take advantage of in the
spring.
"Having the opportunity to represent your school is a great benefit," he
said.
Some players, however, see club soccer as being a greater benefit, especially in
the area of gaining exposure for a possible college scholarship.
"I have no idea about college scholarships," Callahan said. "The colleges
do that. I'd say if a kid's a good player, he'll get a scholarship no matter who
he plays for. Colleges tend to try and get the best they can get."
And even though high school teams, such as Fayetteville, might lose players to a
club, such as the Comets, Callahan remains convinced that those choosing to play
high school are making the right choice.
"We simply have the activity, and those who choose to participate are going
to be able to participate in a very rich learning experience by being a member of
the school team," he said. "I think that's a lot to say to be able to represent
your school."
Editors Note: This is the second article of a five-part series titled "Forced
to Choose." The series is examining the Arkansas Activities Association's policy
of not allowing players to play both high school and club soccer in the spring and
the effects of that policy on the Fayetteville High School and Arkansas Comets soccer
teams.
By ERIK STINNETT - Times Sports Writer
As far as Samir Haj is concerned, Arkansas' main pipeline to high-level soccer doesn't
run through a forced-to-choose policy nor does it run through the high school ranks.
"I've always been a supporter of high school soccer," said Haj, founder
and current director of coaching for the Arkansas Comets soccer club. "I think
it's a very good thing. It gives the kids a lot of things that they don't get from
club soccer, which is school identification, social aspects, community pride, all
that stuff. And I think it's very important for the kids' development.
"However, I don't think that kids can get everything they want out of that,
especially in Arkansas at this stage of development, because we are not to the level
where we have good high school programs to where we can attract college coaches to
the area, where they can come in and recruit at high school games like they do in
basketball and other sports. So I feel just by that nature by making the kids choose,
we are limiting their opportunities."
Haj believes if the AAA had put more thought into its decision, it would have realized
it was making a mistake by applying the rule to soccer. He feels soccer has been
unjustly lumped together with other sports under the forced-to-choose umbrella with
no regard for soccer's past history or its current developmental status in comparison
with other states.
"It would be a great rule if soccer was at the same level as football and basketball,"
Haj said. "But it's not. I think people need to be flexible and they need to
be dynamic in terms of what can we do to benefit the student-athlete. And I don't
think the student athlete is what they had in mind when they developed that rule
concerning soccer. It might work for football, it might work for basketball, but
certainly not for soccer."
Haj feels there's enough room in the spring for players to benefit from both the
high school and club brands of soccer simultaneously.
"I just feel like, yes, the kids can play high school soccer within a certain
period, which I will agree with," he said. "Yes, the kids probably need
to play high school if they have high school activities scheduled. But if the kids
don't have any high school activities scheduled, I think they should be allowed to
go and display their talent elsewhere so they can further themselves and have opportunities
for college scholarships, because at this stage of the soccer development in Arkansas,
that opportunity is not available to them through high school soccer.
"I feel like the best solution would be some sort of a compromise to where the
kids will have a primary high school season with some breaks to where the kids can
go to showcase tournaments to further their development."
As of now, though, such a compromise is not under consideration by the AAA. Instead,
it's decision time for local soccer players, and where the forced-to-choose rule
has affected Haj and the Comets most is on the girls side. All but one of the under-18
Comets girls opted to play high school this spring, and the one exception, Anna Sanders,
decided to move to Georgia to continue her career.
The trend was almost completely reversed, however, on the boys side as nearly all
the under-17 Comets picked club over high school. Haj said guest players will be
added to the team to fill the holes left by the few players who chose to play high
school.
While Haj said he understands and supports those who chose to play high school over
club, if a choice has to be made between the two brands of soccer, he feels strongly
that club soccer best provides players with the needed training and development to
reach the next level.
"At this stage of development, I think the club definitely has the upper hand,"
Haj said. "I'm not trying to degrade the high school program or put it down,
I just don't think the high school programs are developed enough to attract that
kind of attention.
"And then second, the high school games and the high school season is structured
to a one-game situation to where as a club tournament you can attract 30 to 40 teams.
That will give you - multiply that times 20. Now you have an option of going to a
showcase tournament to look at 600 kids ... as opposed to coming to a high school
game and looking at two or three players. So for a lot of colleges, it makes economical
sense for them to send a coach or a coach to use his money or his budgetary money
for recruiting to go to a showcase tournament as opposed to going to a single high
school game."
Haj added that the prime time for college coaches to attend these showcase tournaments
is in the spring, when the fall collegiate season is complete.
"And (spring) is the season when the kids are playing high school," Haj
said. "So if they cannot go out and show during the spring season, it would
be very difficult for them to be shown some other time."
Editors Note: This is the third article of a five-part series titled "Forced
to Choose." The series is examining the Arkansas Activities Association's policy
of not allowing players to play both high school and club soccer in the spring and
the effects of that policy on the Fayetteville High School and Arkansas Comets soccer
teams.
By ERIK STINNETT - Times Sports Writer
With the forced-to-choose policy now in place and his Bulldog team weakened with
the loss of eight key players, FHS coach Joe Thoma points to disregard and disillusionment
as the main culprits - disregard for the forewarnings of the rule and disillusionment
of what it takes to earn a college scholarship.
According to Thoma, the current dilemma in Arkansas soccer should come as no surprise
to a lot of people, people who knew all along that with the Arkansas Activities Association's
sanctioning of soccer would come the forced-to-choose policy.
"It's just sad that the kids are put in this position and then that it's blamed
on people who don't have any control over it, because the AAA rules were known going
into it what was going to pretty much happen," Thoma said. "And the kids
knew that, because I kept them informed at the meetings, and I told the parents at
last year's parents meeting, and everybody knew. So it wasn't like they went in blind
and said, 'Oh no, look at this rule.'"
But while the rule is now in place, there's still a possibility that it doesn't have
to stay in place.
"This is just speculation, but if somebody wanted to challenge it in court,
I don't think the AAA has a leg to stand on," said Thoma, who cited a similar
situation in Texas, in which parents brought down a forced-to-choose decree in court.
As of now, however, the losses to the Arkansas Comets on the boys side have left
Thoma perplexed in regards to the reasoning behind the players' decisions.
"What they've decided to do is go to like two tournaments, what they call showcase
tournaments - which there's these showcase tournaments all year long, and then they're
going to play in the men's league up in Rogers on Sunday afternoons," Thoma
said of his former players. "Evidently, they're going to try to pick up like
a couple other guys or something to make a full team and go down to these tournaments.
They went to Tampa, and they didn't have their full team and they got beat pretty
good. College coaches aren't going to come watch games where you're getting thrashed,
and they're certainly not going to come watch you play in the men's league in Rogers
... But the thing I just questioned everybody with is was it worth it to go to two
tournaments - or even one tournament, I think it really is - and then play in the
men's league on Sunday afternoons to not play for your high school. And evidently,
they think that that's what's going to get them their scholarship."
Thoma, of course, disagrees with such a notion.
"I told them that the kids that are going to get scholarships are going to get
them whether they go to these two tournaments or not because they're going to be
on the all-region team or (college coaches) are going to see them at regionals when
the Comets win state probably and go to wherever regionals are, and there will be
a ton of college coaches there," he said. "So they're going to get their
exposure.
"I keep telling them, 'Look guys, the way to get scholarships is you write these
schools and you tell them 'Here's my name, here's my stats, I want to play for you
because this, this and this, here's my references,' and then you write this guy again
and again.' And they're thinking that these people are going to come up to them and
say, 'Hey, here's your scholarship.' And it doesn't happen that way."
Instead of gaining an advantage in the quest for a college scholarship, Thoma believes
the players who chose not to play high school soccer are in reality throwing away
a legitimate run at a state title.
"I feel sorry for them because I think in a few years they're going to look
back and say, 'Gee, I wish I would have played high school soccer,' because they
have a unique chance. Returning that many kids, we'd probably be the No. 1-ranked
team in the state - Pulaski Academy may disagree with that. Certainly, we'd be either
the first or second-ranked team in the state, and we'd definitely have a shot to
win the regionals and go to the state championship with that particular group of
kids, and not to say that we still don't."
The entire situation has certainly left a bitter taste in Thoma's mouth.
"It's kind of put me between a rock and a hard place," he said. "I
thought we had an understanding with the club coaches up here ... This spring, what
we all thought was going to happen, I say we all - the high school coaches, was that
the kids would still be on the Comets, that they would practice together on the weekends,
even though they couldn't play, but starting Feb. 9 they could still practice together
when we didn't practice and then we would have them during the week. And like in
the past what we've done is taken a day off, like since I have the boys and girls,
I'd give the boys, say Tuesday off, and they'd go to Comets practice and then the
girls would have off Thursday and they would go to Comets practice. So we've always
worked with them ... to avoid conflicts. That's the thing, I just felt like we were
stabbed in the back at the last minute."
Editor's note: This is the fourth article of a five-part series titled "Forced
to Choose." The series is examining the Arkansas Activities Association's policy
of not allowing players to play both high school and club soccer in the spring and
the effects of that policy on the Fayetteville High School and Arkansas Comets soccer
teams. By
ERIK STINNETT-Times Sports Writer
While both Anthony Delao and Ben Tabor seem to agree that exposure is the main difference
between playing high school soccer and club soccer, they've decided to take different
roads in regards to their individual decisions.
Delao, a senior at Fayetteville High School, has opted to play for the Arkansas Comets
this spring, while Tabor, an FHS junior, has decided to suit up for the Bulldogs.
Tabor will, however, play one more tournament with the Comets later this month before
joining the high school squad.
"I guess I just decided to have fun for the high school season, which doesn't
last that long," Tabor said. "And we're still going to get to go to a couple
of tournaments. We already went to one in Tampa for classic, and we're going to Austin
on Jan. 29, and so a lot of college coaches are going to see us there. So, I guess
I thought that was enough exposure. I'm just going to take a break from traveling
so much and everything."
Delao, meanwhile, isn't looking for a break from the traveling and certainly doesn't
want a break from the exposure.
"I chose club because of the exposure to college coaches and stuff like that,"
Delao said. "I wanted to play both, but since they made us choose, then since
club gives us more exposure to the college coaches, I chose club."
So how much exposure do the players think playing high school will give them?
"I'm not sure," Tabor said. "It definitely won't give as much, but
I have no idea if it's going to at all."
And a big reason for high school's lack of exposure, the two players say, is skill
level.
"Comets is much more skillful," Tabor said. "We play tougher competition,
and there are better people that try out for it. It's not just from one school -
like our team's made up from Rogers and Little Rock, and pretty much the best players
in Arkansas are put together for the Comets. In high school, there's not as good
of competition."
Said Delao, "Since the skill level's a little higher than high school, college
coaches tend to look at club a little bit more. I really wanted to play both, but
that's not how it turned out."
But having to choose between the two brands of soccer has actually turned out to
have some benefits, according to Delao.
"I wish I could have played both, but in a way it was better that it wasn't
because then you would end up playing too much, and you're always tired," he
said. "After you decide on which one you're going to do, it really doesn't bother
you as much because then you can sort of figure out what you have to do for school
and stuff like that. At first it sort of bothered everybody in that it made everybody
choose, but then after everybody chose, everybody was fine with the way everybody
thought."
The choice, however, was a difficult one for Tabor, who found himself in the minority.
"It was a tough choice because all of the players from Fayetteville are playing
Comets, and I'm practically the only one from Fayetteville that's playing (high school),"
Tabor said. "But a lot of the Rogers kids are playing high school too."
Tabor, though, still thinks about what kind of a team the Bulldogs could have had
if the rest of his Comets teammates had made the same decision he made.
"I think definitely if they would have played we would have definitely had a
shot at the state championship, and I think we could have won," Tabor said.
The agonizing part of the whole situation, according to Tabor, is that, had it not
been for the AAA rule, local players could have not only made a run at a state title
with the Bulldogs but also made a name for themselves at showcase tournaments as
members of the Comets.
"What Samir wanted to do at first was just go to the Dallas Cup and some other
tournament during the high school season and then the rest of the time just let us
play high school," Tabor said. "So he wasn't wanting us to choose at first,
but then the AAA wouldn't allow that, so we had to choose."
Editor's note: This is the fifth article of a five-part series titled "Forced
to Choose." The series is examining the Arkansas Activities Association's policy
of not allowing players to play both high school and club soccer in the spring and
the effects of that policy on the Fayetteville High School and Arkansas Comets soccer
teams.
By ERIK STINNETT Times Sports Writer
Arkansas women's soccer coach Janet Rayfield and John Brown University men's soccer
coach Bob Gustafson both agree - some sort of resolution allowing players to compete
in both high school and club soccer is needed.
As for the current forced-to-choose situation, Rayfield, who admits that club soccer
at this point in time is ahead of high school soccer, says players should follow
their heart. Gustafson, who says there is more to the decision process than exposure,
advocates playing high school during high school season and club the rest of the
year.
"I'm happy that the state of Arkansas has sanctioned soccer, don't get me wrong,
but I think forbidding them to play both high school and club is not in the best
interest of the students, and I can understand to a certain degree that they don't
want them to get overextended into both, but that's the students' decision,"
Gustafson said. "And I think what will happen is that eventually some parent
or some student will end up, and I think this happened in Texas I believe, suing
the association and saying I should be able to play high school soccer, and you can't
tell me whether I can play on a club team or whatever.'
"What's happened now in Northwest Arkansas is that the Comets are going full
guns, and then you've got all the high school teams trying to field their teams.
And so what I think is going to happen is nobody's going to win on this. Some of
the better players will opt to play high school, and some of the better players will
opt to play club, and so the high school teams won't be as strong as they should
be, the club teams won't be as strong as they should be and I think the kids lose
in the long run. I think they ought to be able to play both."
Rayfield also sees the importance of allowing players the chance to benefit from
both brands of soccer but is quick to add that player burnout is a real danger that
needs to be considered as well.
"To be honest, I don't think that the two have to be mutually exclusive, but
I also think that both factions have to realize that the time and the enthusiasm
that these young high school kids have for the sport is limited, and so, even though
that I don't know that the rule is the right solution, there has to be some sort
of solution where the kids have the opportunity to play for the high school without
getting so many conflicts from club soccer and their
academics," she said. "There's only so many hours in the day, so there
has to be some sort of compromise there where they're able to do both without excessive
demands on them, and I'm not sure exactly what the right answer is. In a lot of areas
they've tried a lot of different things, and I'm not sure anybody has come up with
the ultimate, ideal solution."
Until a solution is found, comparisons between the two brands of soccer and their
benefits is almost inevitable. And of course one of the top factors in the decision
for high school-aged players is which brand of soccer offers the best chance for
a college scholarship.
"From an exposure perspective, right now, club soccer is probably used as a
recruiting tool across the country more than high school programs," Rayfield
said. "But that's also, I think, I speak in that way very much from an NCAA
Division I perspective. And what I think a lot of people have to realize is that
that's not the only perspective out there, that there are Division III, Division
II schools that a lot of the programs within the state of Arkansas are going to be
able to use the high school program from a recruiting perspective. But if you're
talking Division I college opportunities, most of those right now are going to come
from the club program because it's just in a later stage of development, and so therefore
the competition level is a little bit higher, and the skill of the players is normally
a little bit higher.
"And it's also true that high school soccer is getting to be better and better
around the country, and Arkansas will get to that point at some point in time. But
until that point in time, the young student athletes have a point in that they are
at the early stages of the growth of high school soccer in this state, and because
of that, taking club soccer away from them does take away some of the competition
and the high level of soccer that they've worked towards and have been striving towards.
But I think they also see that high school soccer is important for soccer to continue
to grow in the state. So it makes it a real conflict."
High school exposure plays a bigger role for Gustafson, who coaches the NAIA-level
Eagles.
"From a college coach's position, I can see players who play club soccer, and
I can see players who play high school soccer," he said. "But here's the
difference, let's say that the Comets have some of the better players in the area.
Where are they going to play their games? Florida? Texas? I'm not going to see them
if they're off playing over there. But I'll go over and watch Fayetteville and Springdale
and Rogers and Mountain Home and Fort Smith. I'll watch all those guys play in the
spring. So I'd say these kids have got to be able to do both, they've got to be able
to play in their local high school so that the local coaches in this area could see
them, and they've got to be able to play on their club teams so that maybe coaches
in other regions could see them play."
But exposure isn't the only factor players should consider, according to Gustafson.
"We've got some good coaches in the high school, and those players are with
those coaches every day, practicing every day," he said. "Now the club
teams generally practice maybe once or twice a week and maybe play a game. So if
I were a player, I would want to play as much as I could and that means probably
at this point the high school.
"What good does it do you if you only practice once a week and then play every
Sunday against really tough competition? You're not going to get much better, just
because you say you're playing a really tough schedule that's not going to make you
that much better of a player. Now if you were practicing five days a week and then
playing really tough competition, I'd say that was great. So if the club teams want
to monopolize these players they've got to be practicing every day of the week, that's
how I feel."
One other factor that Gustafson feels needs to be considered is the long-term effect
of players' decisions on Arkansas soccer.
"If I had to deal with the rule right now, I would say that the best thing is
to let them play high school soccer because we're trying to get high school soccer
off the ground, we're trying to make it comparable with other high school activities,"
Gustafson said. "And if these kids decide, 'I'm going to stay with my club team,'
then they're not giving to the game what they need to give to the game in order to
get if off the ground in Arkansas. Because I'd hate to see the AAA, in a year or
two, say, 'Well, we don't have enough people out for soccer because they're all playing
on their club teams, so we'll just pull back on our sponsorship of soccer in high
school,' and I think that would be a disaster. I think right now, we've got to get
high school soccer going, we've got to get it strong, we've got to get the best coaches
involved, we've got to do a good job. So I hope the club coaches don't start putting
ultimatums down to their players, and I'm not saying that's what happened. I'm just
saying I don't want to see that happen."
Rayfield believes the right decision may not be the same for every player.
"I think a player has to go with their heart almost, in terms of what they feel
like is going to be the best for them, and the best for them can have a lot of different
meanings," she said. "It can be the best in terms of their soccer development,
it can be the best in terms of them being able to enjoy the sport. And maybe there's
something about playing for your high school and playing for your peers that can
really increase the enjoyment that you get out of the sport. So, I think it depends
on what they want out of that season and what they want out of the sport."
A spirit of unity is what Gustafson wants from both sides right now.
"I hope that they can resolve it amicably so that it doesn't hurt either program,"
he said. "I think both programs are good, and they ought not to be fighting
against each other, they ought to be working with each other to develop the best
players, because the club coaches will be happier if they get good high school instruction
and the high school coaches will be happier if they get good club instruction, so
it's bound to benefit both. And then as a college coach, if they both can do a job,
then we're going to get better players."
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