WAY TO GO!
GOING THE DISTANCE
This issue marks my first anniversary with WSW. Every article I have written has the same thought behind it...to empower you to go out and create the soccer experience you're looking for. ONLY YOU know what you want and ONLY YOU can make it happen. Coaches, teammates, and parents may help you along the way---and they may not---either way, don't wait for a fairy godmother to swoop down from the heavens and do it for you. This month's column describes difficult choices made by teens who live in areas with limited soccer options and perhaps will help you in deciding how to create your own opportunities in soccer.
Impacted by state rules restricting a student from playing high school and club soccer at the same time and limited geographically to girls' club teams whose commitment to development did not mirror their own, three players from Arkansas and Missouri are "going the distance."
Hey WSW Readers!
Major metropolitan areas offer girls a plethora of club soccer teams to choose from. They vary in commitment, coaching, and skill level - making it easier to find the right "fit" and to upgrade or downgrade as your requirements change. But for girls from areas like mine, where there is only one club team available, the right "fit" is difficult to acheive.
Because the pool of available players is small, girls of widely varying abilities and aspirations find themselves on the same team. This sets the stage for failed expectations as the needs of the more ambitious, motivated players come into conflict with players for whom soccer is further down the priority list.
"I believed that I was ready to go to the next level and didn't believe that level could be reached where I was. The competition was very weak [in Arkansas] and there was practically no one for us to play," 16-year-old Anna Sanders, who has dreams of being an impact player for a Division I college program, explains the limitations of her Arkansas club team. "I need to be seen by more college coaches and they are at the big tournaments. My club team was not there and not planning on going."
Anna found her situation further affected by a decision by the Arkansas Activities Association to not allow soccer players to participate in high school and club soccer at the same time. Anna, a junior, realized she would miss opportunities to develop as a team and attend high level club tournaments from February to May. "My whole team was given the choice of playing high school soccer or club soccer, and they all chose high school except me. Then I realized that if they thought this would benefit them more than club, this was not a place where I was going to develop as a player."
Leaving her parents behind, Anna left Arkansas in January and now plays for the Atlanta Lightning. She lives with the team manager and though she misses family and friends, she feels the benefits have been worth it. "I have had the best training of my life. I have begun to develop into the player I have aspired to be."
I left my own Arkansas club team this year and now play for the Oklahoma State Champions, TSC '83, based in Tulsa. The decision of my Arkansas team to play high school over club did not fit with my goals as an individual and as a team. But my biggest motivation for switching is the competition "within" the TSC team. Because of the outstanding level of players on this team, practice is often more competitive than matches with opposing teams and playing time is earned through hard work and not a given for anyone on the team. This tension makes for a dynamic and challenging atmosphere in which to develop as a player.
Instead of moving as Anna did, I make a 4-1/2 hour round trip 3-4 times per week to attend practice and games. As unbelievable as that sounds, I do not have the longest commute on the team. Randi Christenson from Springfield, MO, has a 6 hour round trip!
Mark Kohn, the TSC '83 coach, welcomes "long distance" players to his team, feeling that they can be a significant benefit. To accept a player from another area he must believe that she will have a positive impact on the skill level of the entire team. He notes that players from other areas can bring a healthy change to a group who have played together for a long time, shaking up old patterns and structures.
Kohn believes that a player should change club teams when she feels she isn't getting the level of attention or intensity or the coaching that she needs, and if she's locked into a team geographically she may have to seek a team in a different area to find the options she is seeking. He feels that on a team like TSC '83, "the training sessions are so intense because the best players in the state are mostly on our team. So this player who is coming in from out of town gets the benefit of playing against a high calibre group at practices as well as getting to play with them as teammates in games and therefore their skill level is going to be improve. That's what everyone plays sports for, to improve and have fun. As long as you're not sacrificing the player's fun, it's definitely a positive move for her."
Switching club teams is often complicated by state and local soccer association rules. Sometimes it is hard to see that these rules were made with the players' interests in mind. Kohn, who is outspoken about this issue, stesses, "I definitely feel that any regulations that are instituted by non-soccer playing adults are based solely upon their selfishness. I don't think the decisions ever take into account what the child's needs are. I've got two [out of state] players on my team, one from Missouri and one from Arkansas, and the amount of trouble we had to go through for the player from Missouri was unheard of. While they certainly need to have systems in place to ensure that people don't jump from state to state all the time, players should have the right to improve their situations."
Players who are contemplating a switch to a club outside their state should take heed. Obtain a copy of the rules from your state and local soccer association and from the area in which you are wanting to go before initiating contact with any coach or club team. Don't take the chance of unknowingly making a mistake that will complicate the process or make you ineligible.
On the down side of moving to an out of state club team, there are obvious financial and time sacrifices to travelling so far and Kohn sympathizes with the burden this places on parents who must drive the players to practices and games. He also advises that there may be "a certain amount of ridicule and jealousy the player will receive from former teammates. It does take very mature and strong kids to handle people treating them poorly, talking behind their back or saying stuff that isn't true about them. That's why it's not a good move for everyone. But it's all part of the maturation process that will help the player grow as a person."
Kohn advises any player who is considering the option of traveling to play on a more competitive team to be truthful. "First of all, be truthful with your present coach. Then sit down and actually write a list of pros and cons. Be truthful with yourself. Are you willing to make that sacrifice? Often times, there are expectations on the shoulders of the player who is changing teams to step in and take over right away. It can be quite a shock for a player who probably was a stellar player on her team to come and be 'one of the stars' or 'one of the very good players' instead of just 'THE' player. Be mature about your expectations and what you want to acheive so that you're not surprised, hurt, and upset with your decision once you make it."
Above all, I feel we should be respectful and supportive of the soccer choices that our teammates make even when they don't mesh with our own. We should not judge each other's soccer choices as good or bad, right or wrong...but rather personal expressions of who we are, what is valuable to us, our ambitions, the level of risk we are willing to take, and the direction we are heading. Some of us play soccer simply for the fun of it and some of us with dreams of college and World Cups. There's a place for all of us.
Shasta
© Women's Soccer World May/June 1998
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