Select / HS soccer overload? Advice?

Hello,
Curious for those of you that had DD's that went into 9th grade HS soccer and play Select.
Were they able to handle playing the two AND have time for their homework without being
stressed out or having to stay up late on a regular basis to get schoolwork done?

Thanks for the input.

My DD's club team has actually taken a break from practice since December. Allowing her to concentrate on school and school soccer. It has worked out well, but we will see when we start club practice again this week.

Hersoccerdad wrote:Hello,
Curious for those of you that had DD's that went into 9th grade HS soccer and play Select.
Were they able to handle playing the two AND have time for their homework without being
stressed out or having to stay up late on a regular basis to get schoolwork done?

Thanks for the input.

Yes, if they are athletic enough and smart enough.

No sure what the concern is with staying up late to get schoolwork done?

Lefty wrote:

Hersoccerdad wrote:Hello,
Curious for those of you that had DD's that went into 9th grade HS soccer and play Select.
Were they able to handle playing the two AND have time for their homework without being
stressed out or having to stay up late on a regular basis to get schoolwork done?

Thanks for the input.

Yes, if they are athletic enough and smart enough.

No sure what the concern is with staying up late to get schoolwork done?

She is. Heard another parent saying their dd wouldn’t get to bed till 1 or 2 sometimes because of homework. Didn’t know if that was because of so much soccer and school or maybe just a time mgmt thing.

No, that sound about right. One late night game a week plus select practice and in my DD case early morning high school practices with a academics work load that was extremely tuff made for some late nights , early mornings, and studying most of the weekends. staying up late is to get work done is not a concern, but fatigue and overtraining should be.

Watch out for ACL tears, due to over-use..

Related Post:
https://www.txsoccer.net/t5936-how-to-reduce-the-risk-of-anterior-cruciate-ligament-injuries-of-the-knee#76064

18thLaw wrote:Watch out for ACL tears, due to over-use..

Related Post:
https://www.txsoccer.net/t5936-how-to-reduce-the-risk-of-anterior-cruciate-ligament-injuries-of-the-knee#76064

Unfortunately, an ACL tear has almost become a right of passage for a female soccer player that wants to play at a high level these days.

I have concluded that unless your HS team is full of select players. Dont play your DD.

HS coaches are the worse. the majority (not saying all are bad) of these coaches are teachers with no soccer experience, worse than rec coaches. Just making the extra money. I think they tried to take care of player but they dont know how. Just to give you an example, our HS coaches did little to no warms during this season during the lowest of temperatures. At several of the half time games, instead of going into the locker room, as punishment, the coach kept the girls outside. As soon as the time start they headed straight on to the field. Our HS has had 2 DD with ACL tears but no blame toward the coaches.

A lot of people want to lay blame on HS soccer, but in my experience, I haven't seen anything that suggests that HS soccer is any more or less dangerous than club soccer.

Between my DD, her HS teammates, her Club teammates, and other acquaintances, I can easily rattle off at least 20 names of girls' soccer players I personally know, who've torn an ACL between the ages of 12-18. The only real common denominator is that they were all competitive club soccer players. Of those, only ~50% tore their ACL while actually playing/practicing soccer, and I can think of only 2 that tore theirs during a HS game/practice. I think soccer contributed to all of these in some major way, but I don't think you can make a blanket statement and say HS soccer and HS coaches bear more blame than others.

Based on my observation, conversations with doctors, published literature, etc., I believe the common consensus is that a combination of female anatomy, sports-specialization, and over-training are the primary culprits. For soccer and b-ball players, it comes down to over-development of the quads relative to the VMO's, hamstrings, and hip flexors, and too much focus on strength over flexibility.

Keep Believing that. I was on the same page as you for a while.
But you are pointing out the big factor...over-training - HS coaches train every day. Sprinting, running, lifting. Little to no appropriate warm-up routing and stretching. Factor in the dec-mar weather and its a disaster.

How is HS different than DA? Doesn't DA train everyday as well? Weather doesn't bother me.. A lot can be said about huge injuries sustained in 110 degree weather in August when the muscles give out and ACLs pop like popcorn. 100% agree that all coaches (Club, HS, Rec) need to be certified in proper warm up process especially for women. The female anatomy and the widening of the hips thru puberty puts a lot of strain on the knees and women need a specific warm up routine to engage the quads and hamies.

FCsoccer1 wrote:Keep Believing that.  I was on the same page as you for a while.  
But you are pointing out the big factor...over-training - HS coaches train every day. Sprinting, running, lifting.  Little to no appropriate warm-up routing and stretching.  Factor in the dec-mar weather and its a disaster.

My contention goes towards your blanket statement that "HS Coaches are the worse (worst)" and the "majority" are bad. I'm not going to argue with you about your HS coach - he/she may have no clue and may be as bad as you say. My experience is different from yours. Now, part of that could be that my kid plays for a 6A school with a coach who has a long-time soccer background, and I've been predominantly watching Plano ISD, Lewisville ISD, McKinney ISD, Allen, Southlake, Prosper, Highland Park, Wakeland, Keller, Byron Nelson, Guyer, etc., over the past 4 years. So I'm generally watching games where the overwhelming majority of the kids on the pitch are competitive club players at the LHGCL level and above, and most of the coaches have legitimate soccer backgrounds, and many are also competitive club coaches. Most of the HS games I've watched are on the level of LHGCL D1/D2 games, and are about as physical as one of those games, but nowhere near as physical as most of the ECNL games I've watched.

Now, I know there are some 6A schools and districts that are far less competitive than what I've generally watched, and I honestly can't speak for most 5A and 4A schools and districts, so other's experiences may be very different from mine. My whole point is that your sweeping generalization regarding HS soccer in DFW is inaccurate, especially as it relates to injuries in general, and ACL injuries specifically. You need to qualify your statement to your specific school, district, or division (4A/5A/6A).

It looks like the one thing we definitely agree on is over-training. Add HS to year-round club with most of the kids exclusively playing soccer by the time they are teenagers (and the ones who aren't are usually doing double-duty between soccer and another sport instead of taking time off from one sport to focus on another like most of us did as kids), and you have a recipe for over-use injuries.

I think school ball is great take advantage and enjoy rooting for your local school team. I expect a NTX squad to.win it this year in several classes.

BENDMEOVER wrote:I think school ball is great take advantage and enjoy rooting for your local school team. I expect a NTX squad to.win it this year in several classes.

Girls' 6A Region I is going to be an absolute Battle Royale this year.

Guyer v. Hebron in Round 1, with the winner likely seeing Richardson Pearce in Round 2
Marcus v Byron Nelson in Round 1, with the winner likely seeing Mansfield in Round 2
Then the 2 survivors of those meet in Round 3, so no matter what, only 1 of those 6 teams will make it past Round 3 this year.  

If the other side of the bracket goes chalk, you'll have Southlake Carroll v Coppell in Round 3, which frankly could end up being the real state championship game.  

Whoever comes out of Region 1 will be seriously battle tested, but hopefully not too worn out or injured.

Couple of girls teams got their playoff runs cut short in heartbreaking fashion last night.

Guyer scores with 10 seconds left in regulation to beat Hebron 1-0.

Plano West beat Sachse in the 10th round of PK’s

More time for those girls to focus on homework now I guess.