Impactdad22

Thoughts from a casual observer... BA and BGA are WAY down this year as they each lost quite a few skilled seniors. Ravenwood is deep (at least 12 seniors) with mostly all travel players and very physical. Just my 2 cents worth.

Ensworth 9 Hillwood 1

Ensworth - 1 CPA - 1

Ensworth 1 CPA 1

Ensworth 1 Ravenwood 1

Ensworth 5 BGA 3

Agreed. College coaches recruit from travel teams. High school ball provides an opportunity to play for your school, have fun and enjoy the rivalries with your peers. If one wants the opportunity to possibly play at the next level, playing for a travel team (and preferably a good one) is essential.

Ensworth 2 JP II 2

Ensworth 5 St. Cecelia 2

Ensworth 3 MLK 0

Father Ryan 1 Ensworth 0

Ensworth beat Page 5-1 last night and plays Father Ryan on Thursday

Ensworth 2 USN 1 8/14 Ensworth 5 Hume Fogg 0 8/16

Ensworth plays Davidson Academy on Friday, the 10th.

Ensworth - 2 GPS - 3 Ensworth - 1 Harpeth Hall - 0

Ensworth (who beat 2010 AAA State Finalists - Franklin High School!! ) has 4 pre-season games: 08/11/2011 v. Page 5:30 (Home) 08/15/2011 v. Hendersonville 5:30 (Home) 08/16/2011 v. DCA 5:00 (Home) 08/18/2011 v. MLK 5:00 (Home)

I appreciate the response, but don't think I ever mentioned that the girls should treat high school soccer like a Rec league and not try to win. I am sure every athlete at the high school level sets a goal to ultimately play in the State Championship and wants to give their best effort to achieve that goal. The competition is awesome and this past season has been very exciting!! However, it seems it is often the PARENTS that do all the complaining about the competition being unfair or having to play against the big schools, or playing in a pasture instead of some super stadium and so on. At the end of the day, it is 11 girls on one side and 11 on the other trying to score more than their opponents! It doesn't matter who or where they play. The girls CAN be competitive and still have fun at the same time. As my daughter has participated in both high school and travel ball, my comments regarding travel and ODP come simply from my observations of both. It is my understanding, that a substantial majority of college players come from the travel/ODP path. The competition at that level is amazing and understandably much greater. Playing against the top teams from Texas, North Carolina, Michigan and Georgia is a little different than playing against the top AAA, AA-A and Division II teams in Tennessee. Nonetheless, my daughter loves playing soccer at all levels, is very competitive in her play and actually has FUN doing it!!

It is quite amusing reading the back and forth arguments in this thread regarding this "crisis" in high school girls soccer. The public v. private, club v. non-club, rich v. poor, catholic v. other religions, 1 state champion v. 4 state champions and other scenarios could go on and on. There are sooooo many factors (including puberty, boys, homework, injuries, friends, family, etc...) to consider when playing any high school sport and parents get all wrapped up in the drama and forget that these girls are just out there, having fun and playing their hearts out in hopes to play as long as they can during the season. Does it really matter who has the best facility or how far some team has to travel or who has the most money?? Really? What about having a really good coach that can provide leadership and get the best out of their players? My daughter plays for Ensworth, a Division II private school that did not make the State tournament this year. That's ok. According to this Coach T website, they had the toughest schedule of any team (AAA, AA, Division I and Division II) in the State and they enjoyed the competition! They played all the Williamson County PUBLIC schools loaded with travel players (beat AAA State Finalist, Franklin 1-0; tied AAA State Semi-Finalist Ravenwood 0-0; tied Independence and lost to Brentwood 0-1). They also tied 2 of the AA State Semi-Finalists, Page and CPA. Not to mention they had to play Baylor, JPII, BGA, Father Ryan, Brentwood Academy and so on in their division. Our so-called "rich" school had roughly 4 travel players that started and 2 of those were freshmen! We might have done somewhat better (although they did an amazing job) had we not had 4 girls go out with concussions and lose our goal keeper for the season in the second game with a shoulder injury. They played public, private, big and little schools and to them, it did not matter. They showed up and played whoever was on the other end of the field. I never heard any of the girls say it was not "fair" to play a certain team. Let the girls enjoy the competition at the high school level. For those girls that want to play at the next level, travel ball and ODP is where they will get the attention. Most coaches and parents know that fact. Just my two cents worth from a proud parent!

No "Week 7" Rankings???????

Thanks for your rankings!! FYI... Ensworth beat Franklin yesterday 1-0.

Interesting that in Div. 2-AA you have JPII ranked #3, Father Ryan ranked #4 and BGA ranked #8 when they all 3 have losses. I know Ensworth beat Father Ryan in their opening game 1-0. Just curious where the ranking info comes from? Thanks!