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Post by kevin on Feb 24, 2020 10:49:34 GMT -6
This is a cultural issue more than a pay to play issue. Kids don't have free play anymore. If it isn't on the calendar on the fridge, it isn't happening. Kids are over scheduled and if given the choice of binge watching netflix or playing "pickup" soccer, 90% aren't choosing playing...and for parents this is easier. Bingo. I was at New Orleans City Park last fall and I saw a bunch of kids (including ones in Louisiana Fire jerseys) across the street from some of the soccer fields. They were playing touch football. On the bright side, my neighborhood in Metairie has a lot of Hispanic kids and I see them pretty regularly kicking a soccer ball on some of the dead-end streets. (For the record, I live in Grace King's district.) Yes, there are problems with access to soccer. It's crazy to me that a high school girl in Baton Rouge can't play rec soccer through her parish's recreation department. I've said this before in other threads, but we have to do a better job of getting city/parish rec departments to offer and support soccer. In Jefferson Parish I played almost every sport that JPRD offered (including a couple of years of soccer), and it only cost maybe $3 for insurance and $5 for a t-shirt per season. And there are plenty of issues with pay-to-play, the incessant travel (5 hours each way for a U12 LCSL game? Who needs that?), the talent that slips through the cracks, and so on. But the root cause of the disparities in HS soccer are simply down to soccer's lack of popularity among all socioeconomic and ethnic groups. A poor black kid in New Orleans would rather be Zion or Kamara than some soccer player he's never heard of.
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Post by Tank on Feb 24, 2020 11:17:41 GMT -6
This is a cultural issue more than a pay to play issue. Kids don't have free play anymore. If it isn't on the calendar on the fridge, it isn't happening. Kids are over scheduled and if given the choice of binge watching netflix or playing "pickup" soccer, 90% aren't choosing playing...and for parents this is easier. Our players are more concerned with tailgating at LSU than continuing their soccer careers after high school. The model of players reaching their playing potential in their mid 20's is not applicable in the US for the vast majority. They live out their glory years from 11U-15U and then hold on through the dream of Varsity high school soccer and then fade into the fraternity/sorority backdrop. In my area there are fields and parks everywhere and kids are not playing pick up soccer, even when we try to offer it and organize. Is that because of pay to play? It's free but the kids aren't there because it is not in our cultural priorities...the SEC is in our cultural priorities as well as that new Iphone 11 in their hands. Fortnite Dance moves. Don't forget Fortnite Dance Moves.
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Post by loJic on Feb 24, 2020 13:10:37 GMT -6
This is a cultural issue more than a pay to play issue. Kids don't have free play anymore. If it isn't on the calendar on the fridge, it isn't happening. Kids are over scheduled and if given the choice of binge watching netflix or playing "pickup" soccer, 90% aren't choosing playing...and for parents this is easier. 100% agree with this. Even basketball courts around New Orleans look desolate these days. A shame. Our players are more concerned with tailgating at LSU than continuing their soccer careers after high school. The model of players reaching their playing potential in their mid 20's is not applicable in the US for the vast majority. They live out their glory years from 11U-15U and then hold on through the dream of Varsity high school soccer and then fade into the fraternity/sorority backdrop. In my area there are fields and parks everywhere and kids are not playing pick up soccer, even when we try to offer it and organize. Is that because of pay to play? It's free but the kids aren't there because it is not in our cultural priorities...the SEC is in our cultural priorities as well as that new Iphone 11 in their hands. Lets dissect this a little further. What are Louisiana soccer clubs doing to be a part of the Louisiana culture? How many youth soccer organizations are branding themselves as anything more than just a place for mom and dad to spend their money for you to play soccer? How many are using their U18 or U19 group as a way to showcase the product they're promising? When's the last time you have seen on any Louisiana youth soccer organization's social media platform push for people to gather to come and watch the best they have to offer? "good luck to so and so local high school team that features our players" "good luck to our teams playing in a showcase event 500 miles away" "congrats to our u15 blue team for finishing second in the Crawdad Cup" Where are the post about "Come out to Bayou field to watch our top U18s take on the #1 team in state in a very important LCSL match this Saturday. The Happy Trout food truck will be out selling some delicious food, our concessions will be loaded with refreshments and our halftime show will be an accuracy contest between the home and away team's parents. $5 at the gate, children under 12 get in free." Where is the attempt to sell your product? What are you doing to offer anything at the entertainment level? Sorry folks, but sports are also an entertainment business. If you want people to support the sport you have to give them a reason to other than asking for money so their little Timmy and Sally can play soccer. You have to put a little more effort into retaining kids by offering something other than showing up to training once or twice a week and a game on the weekend. Give people a reason to support your club that doesn't revolve around their child and their money. Put on a show! There are 4.66 million people in Louisiana. If we want to even see 10% of that number become avid soccer fans we have to do more than high school soccer being seen as the pinnacle of the sport in this state. Plain and simple.
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Post by chelsea007 on Feb 24, 2020 13:58:00 GMT -6
No split
The top 8 in each division play in a post season playoff format. The winners of each 8 team playoff is crowned the "Divisional" Champion. Those 4 "Divisional" champions will then play to determine THE Louisiana State Championship.
Thats right...ONE state champ.
ESA, Newman, Vandebilt, St. Louis Catholic, Northlake, BR Episcopal etc. have all fielded squads that had enough talent to win THE state championship over the Division I stalwarts.
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Post by gallstar on Feb 24, 2020 14:38:50 GMT -6
Great conversation and there are many moving parts around this one. No one size shoe will ever make the issues discussed go away. My son was blessed to have a set of wealthy parents that could afford the coaching of some incredible men. They knew plenty about soccer, but more importantly, most knew a bit more about life.
I hope that more from a vast array of backgrounds will get the chances my child has had. Over the past 15 years, I've done a poor job of helping bring my thoughts to life and focused on just my son's journey. That's my challenge to sort through. Itâs easy to stand on the sidelines and cast stones, which is all these board post amounts too. The hard work is found in our actions. Many of these men are coaching their hearts out and making pennies for their time. The best way to appropriately reward them is anybodyâs guess, but they deserve more than they earn.
The real people that need to step up are those parents that can help and maybe were a former collegiate player. Perhaps they can help by gifting their spare time with the less fortunate. That just so happens to be where Gallstar fits in, and I hope to do more. Everyone has a cross to bear, and only a few will answer their calling.
I was blessed to have others beyond my parents pay my way because I was a talented kid. Itâs my turn to pay it back once again because my son's time is over. To each his own, but if you have a gift and the means, you should strongly consider offering it back with no strings. The reward will be when a 33-year-old man that you coached from 11-16 is running a project for you. Even more rewarding is when heâs demonstrating strong values in how he treats his wife and children. Values that he, in part, learned from his coach just as my son has learned from his volunteer Coach Mr. Kyle Carmouche.
Best of luck to all of you in your playoff games. It kills me, but Gallstar will be in Texas until Friday, and Mama g is has put down her honey-do foot. Meaning I might make the Saturday games if I get a little sympathy from her.
All the Best Gallstar
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Post by istina on Feb 24, 2020 15:04:30 GMT -6
This is a cultural issue more than a pay to play issue. Kids don't have free play anymore. If it isn't on the calendar on the fridge, it isn't happening. Kids are over scheduled and if given the choice of binge watching netflix or playing "pickup" soccer, 90% aren't choosing playing...and for parents this is easier. 100% agree with this. Even basketball courts around New Orleans look desolate these days. A shame. Our players are more concerned with tailgating at LSU than continuing their soccer careers after high school. The model of players reaching their playing potential in their mid 20's is not applicable in the US for the vast majority. They live out their glory years from 11U-15U and then hold on through the dream of Varsity high school soccer and then fade into the fraternity/sorority backdrop. In my area there are fields and parks everywhere and kids are not playing pick up soccer, even when we try to offer it and organize. Is that because of pay to play? It's free but the kids aren't there because it is not in our cultural priorities...the SEC is in our cultural priorities as well as that new Iphone 11 in their hands. Lets dissect this a little further. What are Louisiana soccer clubs doing to be a part of the Louisiana culture? How many youth soccer organizations are branding themselves as anything more than just a place for mom and dad to spend their money for you to play soccer? How many are using their U18 or U19 group as a way to showcase the product they're promising? When's the last time you have seen on any Louisiana youth soccer organization's social media platform push for people to gather to come and watch the best they have to offer? "good luck to so and so local high school team that features our players" "good luck to our teams playing in a showcase event 500 miles away" "congrats to our u15 blue team for finishing second in the Crawdad Cup" Where are the post about "Come out to Bayou field to watch our top U18s take on the #1 team in state in a very important LCSL match this Saturday. The Happy Trout food truck will be out selling some delicious food, our concessions will be loaded with refreshments and our halftime show will be an accuracy contest between the home and away team's parents. $5 at the gate, children under 12 get in free." Where is the attempt to sell your product? What are you doing to offer anything at the entertainment level? Sorry folks, but sports are also an entertainment business. If you want people to support the sport you have to give them a reason to other than asking for money so their little Timmy and Sally can play soccer. You have to put a little more effort into retaining kids by offering something other than showing up to training once or twice a week and a game on the weekend. Give people a reason to support your club that doesn't revolve around their child and their money. Put on a show! There are 4.66 million people in Louisiana. If we want to even see 10% of that number become avid soccer fans we have to do more than high school soccer being seen as the pinnacle of the sport in this state. Plain and simple. How many parents do not make it to their kids games after their child starts driving? You talk about getting the community to go to games, when it is difficult to get the parents to go. As to why they do not market the kids playing H.S. soccer from their club is a mystery. Maybe it has something to do with the club not in season and their coaches busy with school teams. Only the Clubs themselves can answer this question. As for getting people to watch big games, again, I refer back to the difficulty in having the players parents go to games. I cannot begin to count the number of times parents miss soccer to watch or attend an LSU football game. Then there are the ones listening/watching the LSU games while at the soccer match and not even paying attention. Now, there are also those parents who have to work on the weekends or travel for their jobs. This state, like most others, have little concern for soccer. Some kids even play multiple sports for the recreation district and guess which practice they almost always miss, yah, it's not football, basketball or baseball. When soccer clubs condone this behavior, what makes you think parents will take it seriously when the clubs don't? You want to know when the climate will change regarding soccer? When ESPN, NBC Sports, FOX Sports et.al. start taking US soccer seriously. Yes, MLS games are telecast, but are they promoted like football or basketball? As someone in an earlier post stated, follow the $$$$.
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Post by kahnman on Feb 24, 2020 16:17:09 GMT -6
A lot of these things are true and some of them are real problems. Not many of them have anything to do with 2 groups competing for 1 state championship with different eligibility guidelines. That disparity has led to a huge advantage which has been ignored by LHSAA and is a travesty.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2020 19:47:04 GMT -6
First, I do not favor a public/private split. As a player I wanted to beat the best and feel good knowing I did. As a coach, I want the same. Secondly, for everyone frustrated with St Paulâs; meet me at chimes and we can vent together. Pretty much 90% of that team lives in my school district. Most of that team plays at the club that I coach at. Now Iâm just a poor free coach that coaches wreck ball and loves coaching dearly, but getting paid to do what I love is the American Dream after all. Maybe one day. Third, most high school players donât play ball after highschool. So if you had a choice to sign up for St. Paulâs, sit the bench and win a title or play for the local Highschool and fight for every chance and nothing is guaranteed. Most kids take the easy way. I coach a kid that is on their 8th grade squad and he loves saying that he will have more state titles than I will. The local kids here just believe that they will win by switching to St. Paulâs. And as long as they do, more will follow. Only way in my opinion for St. Paulâs to be dethroned is for FHS, MHS, CHS, Lakeshore to get their act together. None of these public highschools value soccer. Lakeshore has the best chance being they are in a different division. MHS is trying to rebuild and to rebrand. We greatly improved from last season but left so much on the table. Just imagine how different this argument would be if half the talent stayed at MHS and not switched to St Paulâs after Jr High. Now Iâm a new young coach. Canât promise anything but we are trying like hell to chance the culture and make public schools just as attractive as those great private schools I have to compete with. St. Paulâs, Christ E., HHS, Northlake, PJP. And all of them had great years. The rebranding seemed to go swimmingly in the first round.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2020 19:48:58 GMT -6
A lot of these things are true and some of them are real problems. Not many of them have anything to do with 2 groups competing for 1 state championship with different eligibility guidelines. That disparity has led to a huge advantage which has been ignored by LHSAA and is a travesty. Read some of your posts in here. Weâre all sorry your sons team got beat by a private school and he didnât get the trophy he deserved.
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Post by kahnman on Feb 24, 2020 19:56:55 GMT -6
A lot of these things are true and some of them are real problems. Not many of them have anything to do with 2 groups competing for 1 state championship with different eligibility guidelines. That disparity has led to a huge advantage which has been ignored by LHSAA and is a travesty. Read some of your posts in here. Weâre all sorry your sons team got beat by a private school and he didnât get the trophy he deserved. I question your reading comprehension. I have no sons. I did mention a daughter. I have been involved in La high school soccer for over 25 years, in several different roles at all levels of success. My opinions arenât based on what i think anybody deserves. Trust me, there is nobody that believes in working for what you get more than me. I firmly believe there is no reason to get outworked. When the rules are so different that no level of work can bring success, i do indeed question them.
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Post by drogba on Feb 24, 2020 20:31:24 GMT -6
I think travel and cost associated with club right now is a drag on participation. I have seen the pay what you can model but when you donât pay anything easy for parents and players to say they are not traveling 6 or more hours round trip to play a game. Also have managed a model where raised 5 to 6 k in donations and limited cost to about 300 a season per player. Almost all of the money in this model went to coach. Worked well but again travel is expensive. Recently more playground but as I find players and approach them I have parents who have children that would receive scholarships ask about travel and turn down the opportunity. It wasnât too long ago where managers would have schedule meetings prior to season and make their own schedule and would play in state tournament at their choosing. I believe from a numbers standpoint that approach would draw more players and would eliminate much of the travel. It also enables smaller clubs to exist in a more regional environment.
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Post by d on Feb 24, 2020 22:02:07 GMT -6
I have read this thread... Public / Private... for the past several years. I say now what Iâve said from the beginning. The bottom line... because of the different rules and guidelines that govern and create the differences between Public and Private schools the field will never be level. Itâs really not even a debatable. Just open the LHSAA website, go to the playoff archives and count the number of Public school champions. Itâs pretty overwhelming.
The argument of âto be the best, beat the bestâ is ridiculous and not much of an argument. Again, go to the LHSAA website and the playoff archives and count the semi-final teams, the quarterfinal teams. Yes, there are some but the percentage is really one-sided.
I coach a High School team and have for almost 30 years (the same one), I have over 300 wins and my team has made a couple quarters and a semi-final. I am and the players from those teams are very proud of those accomplishments but if organized and done fairly it could have and should have been more.
The saddest thing is that it could be done and it wouldnât be that hard. Just as bad is that the excuses and arguments for not splitting the playoffs are weak and not based on the obvious facts that are staring us in the face.
Just my humble opinion..
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Post by lovenorthshoresoccer on Feb 25, 2020 22:01:28 GMT -6
In west St Tammany, as is true in a lot of South Louisiana, many kids are in private school, including a large parochial school system. These kids start in those schools in kindergarten or younger and stay there through high school. Archbishop Hannan, St. Paulâs and SSA are fed by three large pre-k through 7 schools and at least 2 or 3 more private schools that have historically fed most of their students to those highschools. While there are a few kids who come from public school junior highs, for the most part the kids at those schools started their education in private school with no intention or plan to go anywhere else. So any suggestion that these schools have somehow taken students that rightfully belong to a public school simply because of where they live is ludicrous. I have little doubt that if you purused the rosters of any of those schools, you would find them populated with players who have attended private schools all their lives, whose parents attended private schools, often those same schools and who never considered public an option.
If soccer is split I venture to say it will not change the makeup of the teams. The same kids will be on the same teams. There will simply be more trophies. I wonder if The Northshore and Mandeville girls would want to be where they are without being able to say they beat SSA, MCA and Dominican. The Northshore boys were close last year, Dutchtown this year. Perhaps they would have wanted a watered down championship trophy. I canât answer that question. But I would suggest that the road is not as impossible as is suggested. The private schools benefit from the fact that their students also make up a large part of the kids involved in club soccer in this state. In other words, the same parents shelling out the $$ for school are also shelling out the $$ for club soccer and training. With a grass roots effort, couldnât our public school coaches and parents reach into their elementary, middle and junior high schools to generate the same interest and involvement there. Couldnât programs be created if necessary to bring in those kids and offer them training as well?
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Post by gallstar on Feb 25, 2020 22:38:04 GMT -6
Two years in a row, an Ascension Parish public school came within one goal of tying St. Paul in the state semifinal. The championship last year was a spanking of Jesuit who beat Northshore by 1. What would be the problem with two 16 team brackets, one public and one private winner of each playing in the finals? It seems about as simple as anything I can imagine. The Public can compete, but itâs a fragile margin. The reason you see Ascensionâs public schools St. Amant and Dutchtown year after year is because of 3 key reasons:
1) high achieving public schools with no significant privates in the Parish. 2) Significant population growth is due in part to high achieving public schools. 3) Strong middle class economy with low club cost at Ascension Flight.
This formula will work up to a point. In two years, the parish will get a 4th public high school, and talent will be sliced up into 4thsâno school of choice to group talent such as in Lafayette. The area of our talent pool is exclusive to our school's district. Itâs sheer numbers. When you have 24-28 club kids per birth year chopped by four, you're talking about maybe 6 per school per year. This number dwindles even further with some lost to Basketball or girls Etc. St. Amant had 12-13 club level players and 24 total kids between Varsity and JV. St. Paul has 11 senior club players. 12 junior club players. One sophomore club player on varsity. St. Amant started as many as 3 Freshman to field a strong team at various points. Catholic has over 30 Club kids on varsity alone. A freshman team, A JV team, and all have over 20 club kids each. Those kids at Catholic come from 4 or 5 parishes, and 75% of their JV kids would be starters on public teams. We have one parish chopped into four parts. Itâs simple math and a simple solution thatâs been offered. Group 16 that all play by the same rules. Vs. 16 grouped by the same rules and play the two winners.
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Post by kahnman on Feb 26, 2020 7:01:37 GMT -6
Biggest problem I see with 2 groups of 16, particularly in Div I is finding 16 select schools. 4 private made the field of 24 this year, if you add in magnet (I would argue against, as they are locked into 1 parish) you could get 7-8. With their numbers being so low, it is astonishing how many years it is 2 of them in the final.
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Post by gallstar on Feb 26, 2020 7:22:59 GMT -6
Biggest problem I see with 2 groups of 16, particularly in Div I is finding 16 select schools. 4 private made the field of 24 this year, if you add in magnet (I would argue against, as they are locked into 1 parish) you could get 7-8. With their numbers being so low, it is astonishing how many years it is 2 of them in the final. I'm looking at the schools like STM, Holy Cross, Vanderbilt, UHigh, and many others that are being crowned But in part ducking the big boys that theyâve got equal opportunity versus. They'll compete just fine with their own kind of 16. Take the top 16 in the PR from privates and the top 16 from publics. If they don't have 16, they get in what they do have. I think Lafayette, Byrd, Shreve and many others toe the line of being private. Denham, St. Amant and Dutchtown are truly playing by a separate set of rules. 1/3 of their Parish area or a Small area with big results. Thatâs more impressive to me that they make it year after year than a team thatâs cutting down to 12 players per grade year such as the big 4. Jesuit, BM, St. Paul and Catholic should be embarrassed every year they donât make it to the Semis! Uhigh and Vandy both go 17-18 deep as does Holy Cross and STM. All of them have more soccer talent than DT, St. Amant and Denham.
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Post by lovenorthshoresoccer on Feb 26, 2020 10:58:53 GMT -6
Many of us who grew up in south Louisiana in the 70s, 80s and even early 90s remember a time when the private schools struggled mightily against public school competition. There were never any screams of fairness when the big public schools were dominating the privates. In those days, St. Paul and SSA both drew from West and East St. Tammany and even Tangipahoa Parish and still could not compete against the big publics. St. Tammany Parish grew. Tangipahoa and East St. Tammany have private alternatives to St. Paul and SSA. St. Paul and SSA now draw almost exclusively from West St. Tammany with private competition throughout the parish. Because of population growth, however, both the privates and the publics have grown. What was once 2 big public schools, Mandeville and Covington, that once dominated all, are now 4 public schools, but the numbers are still there. And now we have screams of unfairness. Yes the rules are different, but they have always been different; it is interesting that the screams have intensified now that those rules are perceived to benefit the privates.
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Post by straightdummin on Feb 26, 2020 14:41:59 GMT -6
Many of us who grew up in south Louisiana in the 70s, 80s and even early 90s remember a time when the private schools struggled mightily against public school competition. There were never any screams of fairness when the big public schools were dominating the privates. In those days, St. Paul and SSA both drew from West and East St. Tammany and even Tangipahoa Parish and still could not compete against the big publics. St. Tammany Parish grew. Tangipahoa and East St. Tammany have private alternatives to St. Paul and SSA. St. Paul and SSA now draw almost exclusively from West St. Tammany with private competition throughout the parish. Because of population growth, however, both the privates and the publics have grown. What was once 2 big public schools, Mandeville and Covington, that once dominated all, are now 4 public schools, but the numbers are still there. And now we have screams of unfairness. Yes the rules are different, but they have always been different; it is interesting that the screams have intensified now that those rules are perceived to benefit the privates. the LHSAA archives only go back to 2002/03. But, I played in the 90's. Private schools were winning the titles then too. At the time, it was only 3 divisions. You allege that public schools dominated and private schools struggled prior to the 90's. Do you have any proof of this? If so, provide a screen shot or some other evidence. Otherwise, it seems like you are just coming up with "facts" without any support. Also, what you seem to be missing, is the fact that for Division I there are 3 schools that have complete control over the division. If publich schools ever "dominated" prior to 1990, then I would surmise it was due to the fact that "club soccer" was in its infancy in Louisiana and that only public schools with students who played semi-organized soccer outside of high school season had a better chance. Post-90's "club soccer" took off and since it is a pay-to-play system the private schools benefited from their students playing soccer year-round. Unfortunately, the majority of public school kids can't afford to play year-round soccer, except for the more affluent parishes.
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Post by lovenorthshoresoccer on Feb 26, 2020 15:30:45 GMT -6
Many of us who grew up in south Louisiana in the 70s, 80s and even early 90s remember a time when the private schools struggled mightily against public school competition. There were never any screams of fairness when the big public schools were dominating the privates. In those days, St. Paul and SSA both drew from West and East St. Tammany and even Tangipahoa Parish and still could not compete against the big publics. St. Tammany Parish grew. Tangipahoa and East St. Tammany have private alternatives to St. Paul and SSA. St. Paul and SSA now draw almost exclusively from West St. Tammany with private competition throughout the parish. Because of population growth, however, both the privates and the publics have grown. What was once 2 big public schools, Mandeville and Covington, that once dominated all, are now 4 public schools, but the numbers are still there. And now we have screams of unfairness. Yes the rules are different, but they have always been different; it is interesting that the screams have intensified now that those rules are perceived to benefit the privates. the LHSAA archives only go back to 2002/03. But, I played in the 90's. Private schools were winning the titles then too. At the time, it was only 3 divisions. You allege that public schools dominated and private schools struggled prior to the 90's. Do you have any proof of this? If so, provide a screen shot or some other evidence. Otherwise, it seems like you are just coming up with "facts" without any support. Also, what you seem to be missing, is the fact that for Division I there are 3 schools that have complete control over the division. If publich schools ever "dominated" prior to 1990, then I would surmise it was due to the fact that "club soccer" was in its infancy in Louisiana and that only public schools with students who played semi-organized soccer outside of high school season had a better chance. Post-90's "club soccer" took off and since it is a pay-to-play system the private schools benefited from their students playing soccer year-round. Unfortunately, the majority of public school kids can't afford to play year-round soccer, except for the more affluent parishes. I apologize as I forget many on this board forget that soccer does not drive highschool sports in Louisiana. In fact for most outside of our board here, it is an afterthought. In the major sports my statement above is fully supported in history. www.14-0productions.com/boys-basketball.html http://www.14-0productions.com/baseball.html " rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.14-0productions.com/football-champions.html www.14-0productions.com/boys-basketball.html http://www.14-0productions.com/baseball.html What's interesting about that site is that it only includes the sports considered the major sports here in Louisiana. This board does have a history for soccer and it shows that in the 70s, 80s and early 90s, public schools were consistently making the finals, in fact Slidell having 5 championships in that period, the last being 1992, with Mandeville winning it all a few years later. So I stand by my statement and ask that you simply acknowledge that the rules did not change, only the teams winning under those rules. The increasing shouts of unfairness have a direct correlation to the increase in success of the private schools. At least where soccer is concerned, the increase in private school success is also closely tied to the growth of club soccer in Louisiana. As I stated above, the club teams are heavily populated with private school kids. Those kids do not go to private school because of soccer, they just happen to be the population making up much of those club rosters. My suggestion is simply that the public highschool coaches and parents have the ability to change that dynamic which in turn would grow our sport. If our current club soccer options are not viable alternatives, create something that is.
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Post by gallstar on Feb 26, 2020 15:59:59 GMT -6
the LHSAA archives only go back to 2002/03. But, I played in the 90's. Private schools were winning the titles then too. At the time, it was only 3 divisions. You allege that public schools dominated and private schools struggled prior to the 90's. Do you have any proof of this? If so, provide a screen shot or some other evidence. Otherwise, it seems like you are just coming up with "facts" without any support. Also, what you seem to be missing, is the fact that for Division I there are 3 schools that have complete control over the division. If publich schools ever "dominated" prior to 1990, then I would surmise it was due to the fact that "club soccer" was in its infancy in Louisiana and that only public schools with students who played semi-organized soccer outside of high school season had a better chance. Post-90's "club soccer" took off and since it is a pay-to-play system the private schools benefited from their students playing soccer year-round. Unfortunately, the majority of public school kids can't afford to play year-round soccer, except for the more affluent parishes.  I apologize as I forget many on this board forget that soccer does not drive highschool sports in Louisiana. In fact for most outside of our board here, it is an afterthought. In the major sports my statement above is fully supported in history.  www.14-0productions.com/football-champions.html  www.14-0productions.com/boys-basketball.html www.14-0productions.com/baseball.html What's interesting about that site is that it only includes the sports considered the major sports here in Louisiana. This board does have a history for soccer and it shows that in the 70s, 80s and early 90s, public schools were consistently making the finals, in fact Slidell having 5 championships in that period, the last being 1992, with Mandeville winning it all a few years later. So I stand by my statement and ask that you simply acknowledge that the rules did not change, only the teams winning under those rules. The increasing shouts of unfairness have a direct correlation to the increase in success of the private schools. At least where soccer is concerned, the increase in private school success is also closely tied to the growth of club soccer in Louisiana. As I stated above, the club teams are heavily populated with private school kids. Those kids do not go to private school because of soccer, they just happen to be the population making up much of those club rosters. My suggestion is simply that the public highschool coaches and parents have the ability to change that dynamic which in turn would grow our sport. If our current club soccer options are n ot viable alternatives, create something that is.  Iâll answer you with a different flavor. If they had a separate set of rules then I still say unfair. They have a separate set of rules now and I still say unfair. You cannot govern a league competition with varying sets of rules. Thatâs my only argument. If St. Amant can accept kids from Livingston or vice versa or choose their school game on. Until such time the rules are variable and thus someone has an advantage. So to rectify lets group those that wish to fill their teams with the private model in group A and those that wish to group their kids based upon the public model in group B. Group C can be the Magnets. Just group by the same set of rules or not at all.
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