|
Post by rocksccrstar on Jan 20, 2006 22:06:10 GMT -6
Do you think, since the onslaught of Title IX cases in the late eighties-early nineties that made women's soccer a college level sport at numerous southern univerisities (primarily the SEC), that girl's soccer at the high school level has really advanced that much or do you think that the "hype" has died down?
And what do you think fans, parents, players and coaches can do to promote girl's soccer?
|
|
|
Post by PumasFC on Jan 21, 2006 14:19:23 GMT -6
Ther have been some advances in high school, just due to the amount of teams playing. That has given more players a viable option . As far as attendance, is about the same, family and friends are the only ones who support the teams. Don't know if it is because of the close proximity of the schools or because they are rivals in other sports but the inter parish games in Ascension Ph, seem to be well attended by more then the usual group of Moms and Dads. When the playoffs roll around the crowds do go up a little, but that is more because the 'soccer fan' can go watch someone else play besides their own child. One thing that may help quality of play and therefore more interest in high school soccer is the middle schools following the lead of Ascension Ph and having school based soccer teams. If more girls get involved and continue to play. the level of soccer should go up and therefore more people would be willing to come watch. Having the Blowout games does not help. Knowing it is even more than a 'pipe dream' I would suggest some sort of system where the top two or three teams from the second division be promoted up to the first division geographically speaking and the bottom two or three teams drop down a division. the same could be done for the second/third division. This way you eliminate some, not all of these lopsided games. It would be interesting to see Parkview or East Ascension play St Joes, and BRHS twice rather than watching Central and Walker get hammered by those same two teams. Maybe they could step out on the field and compete against Mc Kinnely or Tara, or one of the other DIV teams in the area. Detractors will say teams change every year. My answer is yes they do, and if you get beat up on one year there is a chance the following year you may be able to play against someone you are more competitive agains.
One final thought. One way to promote the game maybe to allow Youth players in for free, make them ball girls/boys. Their parents would have to bring them,which might help your concession sales if you have one. he othe alternative is to not schedule all the games at the same time. This idea of having Friday night games is appealing because it would allow soccer fans to watch more than one girls game per wekend.
|
|
|
Post by tordad on Jan 21, 2006 19:49:14 GMT -6
One thing that I think would help grow the game would be consistant calling by refs. There is such a broad range from ref to ref that you can't help but fell wronged most of the time. There needs to be more effort to make what is a foul in Calcasieu Parish the same in the rest of the state and vise versa.
|
|
|
Post by tordad on Jan 21, 2006 19:50:46 GMT -6
also its not just the girls games getting poor attendance the boys games are thin as well.
|
|
|
Post by rocksccrstar on Jan 21, 2006 20:54:02 GMT -6
Girl's soccer will always have a place in the hearts of parents and players, but do you think it gets enough promotion from the News, LHSAA or the high schools. And if you answer is no, how can this be changed?
|
|
|
Post by sosoplayer24 on Jan 21, 2006 21:06:08 GMT -6
Great ideas by all but the best way to build high school programs is through the rec programs. Get the kids involved early and keep them playing. Rec coaches need to improve and parents need to get involved. Volunteer and keep the kids having fun. A strong rec program can feed the high schools and improve the level of play for everyone. There will always be the schools that are strong every year but the level of play can improve. Girls soccer is getting better all over the state and it's a great thing to see. These kids all came from club ball and are playing year-around soccer. I honestly believe that most schools listed in the top 10 to 15 on this board every week can thank the local rec or premier programs for the talent they are blessed with. They can also thank the dedicated parents that support these programs and the volunteer parents that work to keep the local programs going. Just my opinion. Any thoughts on this subject?
|
|
|
Post by imthebackseatcoach on Jan 21, 2006 22:45:48 GMT -6
I agree with SoSoPlayer24 on the rec program. Our coach is non-faculty, which allows him to coach his girls as a rec team. This was our first year to play soccer all year, rec and high school, and we can definitely see a difference, as can anyone who has seen the article on Tioga and scores we are posting. We actually coach 5 teams between the two of us and other parents, starting at age 5, all future players for Tioga. A ground roots feeder program has to help any school. We also promote soccer any way we get a chance and we get tremendous help from Crossroads Soccer Association, the rec program in this area. Football, baseball and basketball still draw larger crowds and make "the real money" but the more kids you can draw in early the more parents you have to help promote the game.
|
|
|
Post by smellycheese on Jan 22, 2006 1:24:21 GMT -6
in monroe, both players from boys and girls teams in the area were interviewed by the newspaper and had pictures taken i guess trying to promote and tell people about high school soccer
|
|
|
Post by reccos110 on Jan 22, 2006 18:35:05 GMT -6
One way to promote high school soccer is to better promote the players. Premier, rec, and div1 coaches and high school coaches need to work together to promote all of the players. Players wanting to play at the next level (college) need to be allowed to play for their high schools and attend the college exposure tournaments with no repercussions. High School coaches should support this activity and try to encourage as many college coaches as possible to also attend high school tournaments. Then you will get more exposure for the players! It would seem the more girls/boys in Louisiana signing with colleges in soccer would attract more newspaper coverage of the sport.
|
|
|
Post by vilnius68 on Jan 22, 2006 21:29:09 GMT -6
One problem is when the sport is played. I've been to games when the temperatures were below freezing. This is not the season for outdoor soccer. Also soccer in Shreveport/Bossier gets short shrift when compared with basketball and football. Once in a while if there is no big district b-ball battle, you'll see an article. Let's say you have a night with games at Tinsley, Caddo Soccer, and Cargill. The Times will only cover one game at best. During HS football, you'll have games at twenty venues, and they all get covered.
|
|
|
Post by northshorefan on Jan 22, 2006 22:01:12 GMT -6
Vilnius68 makes an excellent point. This is a tough time of the year to play. Fortunately this winter has been relatively mild.
Another problem is for the small schools is having to make players choose between soccer and basketball. If soccer was moved to the spring, I think we could have more girls playing as well as better coverage.
I also know that we would get a lot of negative feedback from the Louisiana Soccer Assocation for club ball for this.
What time of the year do some of the other states play soccer?
|
|
|
Post by PumasFC on Jan 23, 2006 8:17:54 GMT -6
Louisiana is one of a very small handful of states where Soccer is a winter sport. Think AL plays in the Spring, but most play in the Fall. If High School soccer were to move to the Spring or Fall here some accomidation would have to be made to allow these players to play with their club teams be it Premier, Div I or Rec. Because Otherwise the players would have to choose one or the other. As far as promoting the games: in Baton Rouge there has been a tremendous increase on the part of The Advocate, That I still feel is a reflection of the someone calling in scores to the paper. Keep up the good work of pushing those of you that have, we are slowly getting the word out.
|
|
|
Post by DL-- I'll be back next year on Jan 23, 2006 8:24:48 GMT -6
The only thing that I could see becomming a problem with movin the High School Season to the fall or the spring (besides the pickin club or high school) would be for the multi-sport athletes.
|
|
|
Post by Mung on Jan 23, 2006 8:52:46 GMT -6
The only thing that I could see becomming a problem with movin the High School Season to the fall or the spring (besides the pickin club or high school) would be for the multi-sport athletes. That and where do you play? We play in the football stadium, which is in use in the fall and late spring by football. Plus, this year and years past some of our top players are softball stars. Also, the school season falls nicely in between the fall and spring rec seasons.
|
|
|
Post by DL-- I'll be back next year on Jan 23, 2006 9:16:40 GMT -6
The only thing that I could see becomming a problem with movin the High School Season to the fall or the spring (besides the pickin club or high school) would be for the multi-sport athletes. That and where do you play? We play in the football stadium, which is in use in the fall and late spring by football. Plus, this year and years past some of our top players are softball stars. Also, the school season falls nicely in between the fall and spring rec seasons. -agree-
|
|
|
Post by applesandpears on Jan 23, 2006 9:36:35 GMT -6
I believe there should be some compromise from the Lhsaa. Even if we are not able to move the soccer season, which seems ridiculous, if we were given as much consideration as say football, basketball, and baseball, as to training. Most school's football fields double as the soccer pitch. It just isn't necessary to practice on them. Soccer should be allowed a longer training period. All you need is a little space somewhere. You can mark out practice areas with cones. You can also check into renting fields, from a local Rec/Div. I club. It's the off-season, they won't be using them. In central Louisiana, we have several schools with new soccer programs. They don't even have fields, but are able to rent fields from our local soccer association, on which to practice and play home games. I think it is ridiculous that so many concessions are made for the traditional American sports, and we are required to throw a soccer team together, and have them ready to play in two weeks.
Of course, the success of any high school team, will depend on the degree to which their players are involved in soccer. There is no way to have a competitive team, with players who only play in high school. Soccer will only grow as much as we are willing to develop soccer, outside of high school programs. We can all see where the most success is being seen, and that is because they have well established soccer programs, and encourage and support playing to the next level. It is slowly but, surely happening statewide. As soccer players, coaches, and fans, we can promote soccer by supporting our local clubs, and encouraging would be players to find a local club program to participate in.
|
|
|
Post by PumasFC on Jan 23, 2006 11:25:44 GMT -6
Applesandpears has it correct. The only thing a football stadium give to a soccer team is a way to control the gate. In BR the teams that don't play in a football stadium and use the BREC facilities lose the ability to charge admission. The up side to that is teams are now playing on much larger pitches, since you don't have the restrictions because of the way football fields are laid out. It is much easier to defend a field that is only 110 x 60 yards at most than one that is 120 x 80 yards. More space means more creative play. Only a few schools in the Baton Rouge area are populated with players that play soccer only, most are athletes that play multiple sports. If we could get more of these part-time soccer players to play outside of the three or so months during the winter, perhaps the quality of the games would go up and therefore attendance may follow. Finally CENLA is a great example of the sport increasing in popularity. While growth is still slow more schools then ever are fielding teams. Now they just have get more experience, to be a force, in the playoffs.
|
|
certacito
Bench Warmer
22 players, 2 goals and a ball. Life is good!
Posts: 21
|
Post by certacito on Jan 23, 2006 13:55:25 GMT -6
High School has advanced indirectly because of College soccer, Coleges look primarily at the Premier and ODP programs for their players. With Louisiana's rules on School vs Club, most Premier players play High School because there is no Club ball in the Winter. This raises the standard of some High Schools, but not all! If the rules on School vs Club was to be removed there would be no reason soccer could be a Spring sport. The other reason is soccer is becoming more popular is that Parents are starting to see the health and fitness side of a physical endurance sport.
|
|
|
Post by applesandpears on Jan 23, 2006 13:57:16 GMT -6
When you are used to driving a ford festiva, a Cadillac Sedan Seville seems more spacious than usual. Small spaces, create more agile players. Professional soccer doesn't all happen on a full sized pitch. Space is limited in smaller countries. We don't need the football fields to practice on. We can do that with a very limited amount of space. Therefore, high school soccer should be allowed more training time, as they can utilize a small area, without special equipment. Oh! except for imagination.
|
|
|
Post by applesandpears on Jan 23, 2006 14:03:45 GMT -6
I can agree with Certacito, but you have to start somewhere. You can't have a premiership program, or players able to make the cut at ODP without some sort of beginning point. Children don't come out of the womb with a soccer ball, in the U.S., like they do in other countries. You have to have some support at the entrance level of soccer. Ideally, all areas of every state would have the opportunities available, for raw talent to develop. It takes some work to start and grow a soccer program. As a soccer convert, I believe it is up to those, that see the beauty and worth of "the game" to promote it at all levels.
|
|