Are the best players playing?

[Welshdragon]

Just wondering are the best players in Nashville and Memphis playing high school soccer or are they playing club ball. Always amazises me that Knoxville teams are the powerhouse teams in High school soccer even being nationally ranked but are they that good when they are playing club ball. Are teams from Knoxville, Diadora, Crush... ranked in the state or region in club ball.

[sauza311420420]

Yeah...the best players r playing...most good club teams call a break during the spring season so that everyone can play high school....and yea, knoxville teams are state and even nationally ranked some in club ball...usually there is a really good team from knoxville, chattanooga, nashville, and memphis in the division 1 state club tournaments...but there is always a team that competes for the championship from knoxville. also u gotta remember that these "national high school soccer rankings" only involve like 6 or 7 states because all the other states play their seasons in the fall or winter.

[titansfan05]

I was just wondering if the people playing school in Knoxville also play club ball together. . I;ve heard that, but I don't know if it's true.

[sauza311420420]

alot do, but alot dont as well...basically there is liek one really good club team in knoxville in each age group...different years have more guys that go to the same school that play together...for instance the bearden guys last year, alot of them played together on the Arsenal who was a really good club team...this year farragut has a lot of juniors i think on the same club team in that age group...I know that my senior year, we were really spread out regarding which high school each club player went to. there were a couple at a bunch of different schools in knoxville. hope that clears it up a little.

[titansfan05]

Yea, unfortunately, that doesn't happen a lot in Middle TN. That's one of the reason why East Tennessee dominates school soccer....there teams play together all the time. No excuses though, they are very good.

[Seldon]

The club teams in Knoxville rank very well in the State and region. The 86 Diadora team were State champs and showed well in the Regionals. The 85 Knoxville Select has been one of the better club teams for the past several years with 2 D-I State championships and a Regional semi-final. The core of the Diadora team consists of players from Farragut and Bearden with some players from other East TN schools. Same with the Select. The difference between the Knoxville area and the Nashville and Memphis areas is that there are fewer competitive teams. The Knoxville teams tend to recruit the best players from the area, depleting the talent pool for other teams.

[donna-muller]

There are several states that actually limit the number of players allowed on a club team to a max of 3 that play together on the same high squads to prevent teams from staying together all year.

 

 

I don't know if this had made a difference with weakening/strengthening club/high school teams, but it would make life very interesting...it would be hard to find enough club teams that would separate the players.

[Irish17]

I think a rule like that would destroy high school soccer in Tennessee.

 

An area like Knoxville isn't big enough (population) for more than one top Div. I team in each older age group. There are a few teams around the state that seem to actually play club together when they aren't in high school, but they are not the dominant club or high school teams. I can tell you that Knoxville's best club team for junior year players, two-time Div. I State Champion TVFC Diadora Impact '86, has players from 10 different schools-not just Bearden and Farragut as people assume. Farragut has 4, Bearden 2, Knox Catholic 2, Knox West 2, Webb, Science Hill, Chattanooga Central, Morristown West, Lenoir City and University High of Johnson City each have 1 Impact player.

 

I'm not positive, but I think the distribution is pretty much the same on the other top (present or former State Champion) Knoxville teams like SMSC Select '85 (mostly seniors) and Knoxville Fire '87 (mostly sophomores).

 

The high school coaches at Farragut, Bearden, Catholic, CAK and Lenoir City do a good job of blending a lot of club players from different aged teams together during high school, but Knoxville's high school teams do not play together, for the most part, during club season.

[takedown3]

There are several home schooled ODP'ers.

[TackerDad]

Irish is right about that rule, and for exactly the right reason.

 

That kind of limit might work in Dallas or Atlanta or St. Louis but not in any Tennessee city. Memphis has trouble sustaining 3 Division 1 club teams in any one age group: 2 85's (MFC and WTFC); 2 86's (Fury and WTFC); 1 86/87 hybrid (MFC 86); 2 87's (Fury and WTFC); 2 1/2 88's (MFC, WTFC and Fury).

 

And, to the original question, the best high school players in Memphis also play club ball and the club players pretty much all play high school. Club teams go "dormant" during high school.

[wmsmphs]

Tackerdad is right on... I played MFC 85 and as we hit U16-U17 we slowly started breaking up. I was lured to Fury 85-played one state tourney and they breakup. Only room for 2 D-I teams in Memphis at U16-18. My brother plays for Fury88(U-15), they are part D-I,part D-II, and 4 U-14's combined just to have a team. They will not survive another year as they cannot compete like this. My brother will need to try for the Dragons88 or he will have no team in a year. That's just the way it is in Memphis. Dragons are the only club that keeps MFC from a monopoly here.

Edited May 26, 2003 by wmsmphs

[jstone14]

Both the Dragons and MFC are quality clubs...wonder why yall are running out of players...because obviously, the players that do decide to play are talented