Franklinnoble
05-13-2003, 11:52 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47317-2003May12.html
Loosening Their School Ties
Club Soccer Team's Players Voted Not to Play for High Schools
By Brian Straus
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, May 13, 2003; Page D01
Ian Taylor is a 6-foot-2, 195-pound high school junior who plays soccer with skill and subtlety that belie his size. He's a Division I college prospect and the best soccer player at Jefferson High School.
When Jefferson -- the No. 2 team in The Post's spring rankings -- plays home games in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County, Taylor isn't in uniform. Often he can be found in the bleachers, analyzing the game and exchanging tactical observations with parents.
As of this year, Taylor plays soccer only for his travel team, Reston Football Club '85. Late last summer, he and his RFC '85 teammates voted unanimously to leave their high school teams and devote themselves to RFC and its coach and founder, Todd Hitt. The RFC '85 roster has changed a bit in the intervening months, but 12 players who attend Northern Virginia public high schools remain.
None plays high school soccer, even though most of them would be varsity stars.
"Playing high school soccer wasn't going to help me," Taylor said. "I think most of the things in high school are more short-term. This is more long-term. I view it as a mature decision to give up all the short-term stuff for the long-term stuff."
The "long-term stuff" RFC '85 players say they are gaining include better training, more skilled teammates and opponents, a spot on a winning team and, most importantly, a better shot at a college scholarship. College and high school coaches, including some who lost players to RFC '85 this spring, say the players may not realize what they're missing.
High school soccer "is an educational situation," said Osbourn Park Coach Larry Nemerow, the 2001 All-Met Coach of the Year. "It's more than just how to trap the ball and make the pass. It's how you play on a team, be responsible, reap the rewards. I'm not convinced you get as good an experience with stuff like [club soccer]."
High school-aged athletes in many sports are pulled at one point or another between their club and scholastic teams. In soccer, tension between school and club teams is more prevalent because club teams play year-round, and many travel across the country for games.
"Even for a sport like swimming, which can be a joke at the high school level, those [club swimmers] want to represent their school," said veteran Langley boys' soccer coach Bob Murray, who lost three players to RFC '85. "There's a reason they try to do both."
RFC '85 players chose not to try both after what they considered a disappointing club season last spring. Even though the team won tournaments in five states, players said they felt the quality of play had suffered as they missed club practices for high school commitments or exhausted themselves trying to play on both teams.
When they started to think of the opportunities that could be available this spring -- prestigious showcase tournaments attended by college coaches -- discussion among RFC '85 players increased.
"I said 'You guys need to make the decision,' " Hitt said. "We don't advocate either way. We don't have a position as a club."
The players voted in the basement of Hitt's Arlington home. The players and other coaches who know Hitt say the coach did not coerce them to quit their high school teams.
The team they chose was founded in June 2001, when Hitt was hired to lead the Reston Raptors. Hitt -- a former Yorktown High player and coach who was a four-year letterman at Virginia in the mid-1980s -- renamed the team and made it the flagship for a club that now boasts six boys' teams and one girls' team. The teams follow the same basic training principles and play an ambitious, travel-heavy schedule. RFC '85, for instance, flew to Boston May 3-4 for a game with Harvard's varsity men's team.
For Hitt and fellow coach Richie Burke -- also head girls' coach at National Cathedral School, which plays in the fall -- RFC is a full-time job. And families pay between $8,000 to $10,000 per year to play, one parent said.
"That's the downside," said Bob Chaves, whose son, Chris, is an RFC '85 midfielder and a junior at Loudoun County High. "It's just one of those things we fell into. It wasn't so expensive before. Todd came up with some big plans."
The players say it's all worth it, and the simplest reason they can point to is this: They're winning. In March, the team won Richmond's prestigious Jefferson Cup, and in April, RFC '85 was the runner-up at the Dallas Cup, which attracts teams from across the United States, Latin America and Europe.
Taylor and Oakton High junior Ben Gaffey left well-regarded high school programs, but most quit teams that in recent seasons were not championship contenders, such as Westfield, South Lakes and Falls Church. RFC '85 was 21-5-3 through its last match in Dallas.
"Why would you play high school and do worse?" Gaffey said.
More important than the wins are the skills being developing under Hitt, the players say.
"I believe that more is expected of me by all of my teammates on this team than I would ever have in high school," Chris Chaves said. "If you go down and look at our practices, which is really where you're going to get better, you don't really get anything from high school."
Said Todd West, a former Lake Braddock High coach who is the head men's coach at American University: "From a soccer standpoint, I absolutely agree with being with better players, better tournaments, against better teams on better fields. What Todd Hitt is doing is professionalizing the game, which is a good thing."
College coaches like West traditionally do much of their recruiting at club tournaments, where they can see scores of elite players in one weekend, and teams like RFC '85 often select tournaments in which to play based upon the number of college coaches who attend. It is rare, but not unheard of, to spot a college coach at a high school game.
"If we were playing high school, we wouldn't have had time to prepare for the Dallas Cup. That's hundreds of college coaches," said Gaffey, adding that RFC coaches' connections help the players, too. "Even though Oakton has been a very good team . . . not many college coaches will be at each game."
College coaches are less enthusiastic about the likelihood that skipping high school soccer would enhance RFC '85's collective college prospects.
"If it's a good enough player, we'll recruit him whether he's playing high school or club or both," Georgetown Coach Keith Tabatznik said.
Maryland Coach Sasho Cirovski echoed Tabatznik's sentiments, adding a note of caution.
"I would be leery [deciding to quit high school soccer] on a misguided notion that every kid is going to get a full scholarship," Cirovski said. "In virtually any top 20 program, there may only be two or three players on a full scholarship, and anywhere from eight to 10 players on a very small or no athletic scholarship."
College coaches also say that there is value in playing high school soccer, because it is structured much like college soccer. At both levels, eligibility to play is tied to academic performance, and players represent an institution whose reputation can be affected by their actions.
"It's more than just yourself," said W.T. Woodson High Coach Richard Broad, who coached at George Mason University for nine seasons. "You have responsibility to people whose lives interact with yours in a variety of ways. . . . When I was recruiting players, I would have been skeptical about someone who didn't play high school soccer, because how would they respond in a similar environment?"
Hitt tries to recreate the off-field camaraderie and community so closely associated with high school sports with team meetings and functions at his home. He also is instituting a community service requirement for all RFC teams, and he stays on top of his players' grades.
"The club gives you avenues," Hitt said. "It's not just soccer."
Still, some coaches say players miss out on something more basic when they decide to not play for their school.
"High school soccer is about your community, your friends being able to watch you," Bell said. "They're losing the opportunity to have their senior night, to get their varsity letter, to be recognized by their friends."
Or, as Tabatznik said, "Part of American culture is playing for your high school."
For RFC '85, those are things of the past.
"Pretty much all the people on this team, we all got the opportunity through our sophomore year, and even our freshman year for some of us," Gaffey said. "I got that experience and I don't believe I'll miss it. Been there, done that."
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
Loosening Their School Ties
Club Soccer Team's Players Voted Not to Play for High Schools
By Brian Straus
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, May 13, 2003; Page D01
Ian Taylor is a 6-foot-2, 195-pound high school junior who plays soccer with skill and subtlety that belie his size. He's a Division I college prospect and the best soccer player at Jefferson High School.
When Jefferson -- the No. 2 team in The Post's spring rankings -- plays home games in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County, Taylor isn't in uniform. Often he can be found in the bleachers, analyzing the game and exchanging tactical observations with parents.
As of this year, Taylor plays soccer only for his travel team, Reston Football Club '85. Late last summer, he and his RFC '85 teammates voted unanimously to leave their high school teams and devote themselves to RFC and its coach and founder, Todd Hitt. The RFC '85 roster has changed a bit in the intervening months, but 12 players who attend Northern Virginia public high schools remain.
None plays high school soccer, even though most of them would be varsity stars.
"Playing high school soccer wasn't going to help me," Taylor said. "I think most of the things in high school are more short-term. This is more long-term. I view it as a mature decision to give up all the short-term stuff for the long-term stuff."
The "long-term stuff" RFC '85 players say they are gaining include better training, more skilled teammates and opponents, a spot on a winning team and, most importantly, a better shot at a college scholarship. College and high school coaches, including some who lost players to RFC '85 this spring, say the players may not realize what they're missing.
High school soccer "is an educational situation," said Osbourn Park Coach Larry Nemerow, the 2001 All-Met Coach of the Year. "It's more than just how to trap the ball and make the pass. It's how you play on a team, be responsible, reap the rewards. I'm not convinced you get as good an experience with stuff like [club soccer]."
High school-aged athletes in many sports are pulled at one point or another between their club and scholastic teams. In soccer, tension between school and club teams is more prevalent because club teams play year-round, and many travel across the country for games.
"Even for a sport like swimming, which can be a joke at the high school level, those [club swimmers] want to represent their school," said veteran Langley boys' soccer coach Bob Murray, who lost three players to RFC '85. "There's a reason they try to do both."
RFC '85 players chose not to try both after what they considered a disappointing club season last spring. Even though the team won tournaments in five states, players said they felt the quality of play had suffered as they missed club practices for high school commitments or exhausted themselves trying to play on both teams.
When they started to think of the opportunities that could be available this spring -- prestigious showcase tournaments attended by college coaches -- discussion among RFC '85 players increased.
"I said 'You guys need to make the decision,' " Hitt said. "We don't advocate either way. We don't have a position as a club."
The players voted in the basement of Hitt's Arlington home. The players and other coaches who know Hitt say the coach did not coerce them to quit their high school teams.
The team they chose was founded in June 2001, when Hitt was hired to lead the Reston Raptors. Hitt -- a former Yorktown High player and coach who was a four-year letterman at Virginia in the mid-1980s -- renamed the team and made it the flagship for a club that now boasts six boys' teams and one girls' team. The teams follow the same basic training principles and play an ambitious, travel-heavy schedule. RFC '85, for instance, flew to Boston May 3-4 for a game with Harvard's varsity men's team.
For Hitt and fellow coach Richie Burke -- also head girls' coach at National Cathedral School, which plays in the fall -- RFC is a full-time job. And families pay between $8,000 to $10,000 per year to play, one parent said.
"That's the downside," said Bob Chaves, whose son, Chris, is an RFC '85 midfielder and a junior at Loudoun County High. "It's just one of those things we fell into. It wasn't so expensive before. Todd came up with some big plans."
The players say it's all worth it, and the simplest reason they can point to is this: They're winning. In March, the team won Richmond's prestigious Jefferson Cup, and in April, RFC '85 was the runner-up at the Dallas Cup, which attracts teams from across the United States, Latin America and Europe.
Taylor and Oakton High junior Ben Gaffey left well-regarded high school programs, but most quit teams that in recent seasons were not championship contenders, such as Westfield, South Lakes and Falls Church. RFC '85 was 21-5-3 through its last match in Dallas.
"Why would you play high school and do worse?" Gaffey said.
More important than the wins are the skills being developing under Hitt, the players say.
"I believe that more is expected of me by all of my teammates on this team than I would ever have in high school," Chris Chaves said. "If you go down and look at our practices, which is really where you're going to get better, you don't really get anything from high school."
Said Todd West, a former Lake Braddock High coach who is the head men's coach at American University: "From a soccer standpoint, I absolutely agree with being with better players, better tournaments, against better teams on better fields. What Todd Hitt is doing is professionalizing the game, which is a good thing."
College coaches like West traditionally do much of their recruiting at club tournaments, where they can see scores of elite players in one weekend, and teams like RFC '85 often select tournaments in which to play based upon the number of college coaches who attend. It is rare, but not unheard of, to spot a college coach at a high school game.
"If we were playing high school, we wouldn't have had time to prepare for the Dallas Cup. That's hundreds of college coaches," said Gaffey, adding that RFC coaches' connections help the players, too. "Even though Oakton has been a very good team . . . not many college coaches will be at each game."
College coaches are less enthusiastic about the likelihood that skipping high school soccer would enhance RFC '85's collective college prospects.
"If it's a good enough player, we'll recruit him whether he's playing high school or club or both," Georgetown Coach Keith Tabatznik said.
Maryland Coach Sasho Cirovski echoed Tabatznik's sentiments, adding a note of caution.
"I would be leery [deciding to quit high school soccer] on a misguided notion that every kid is going to get a full scholarship," Cirovski said. "In virtually any top 20 program, there may only be two or three players on a full scholarship, and anywhere from eight to 10 players on a very small or no athletic scholarship."
College coaches also say that there is value in playing high school soccer, because it is structured much like college soccer. At both levels, eligibility to play is tied to academic performance, and players represent an institution whose reputation can be affected by their actions.
"It's more than just yourself," said W.T. Woodson High Coach Richard Broad, who coached at George Mason University for nine seasons. "You have responsibility to people whose lives interact with yours in a variety of ways. . . . When I was recruiting players, I would have been skeptical about someone who didn't play high school soccer, because how would they respond in a similar environment?"
Hitt tries to recreate the off-field camaraderie and community so closely associated with high school sports with team meetings and functions at his home. He also is instituting a community service requirement for all RFC teams, and he stays on top of his players' grades.
"The club gives you avenues," Hitt said. "It's not just soccer."
Still, some coaches say players miss out on something more basic when they decide to not play for their school.
"High school soccer is about your community, your friends being able to watch you," Bell said. "They're losing the opportunity to have their senior night, to get their varsity letter, to be recognized by their friends."
Or, as Tabatznik said, "Part of American culture is playing for your high school."
For RFC '85, those are things of the past.
"Pretty much all the people on this team, we all got the opportunity through our sophomore year, and even our freshman year for some of us," Gaffey said. "I got that experience and I don't believe I'll miss it. Been there, done that."
© 2003 The Washington Post Company