Credit to Samantha Shoulta

Varsity girls soccer huddles up during match against St. Charles. The Knights took the win with 4-0.

The club team, Scott Galagher, has filled two whole spring teams of girls who have chosen not to play high school soccer. They set up scrimmages every week and train three to four days a week. Many girls believe that this helps their development and progress as players. They believe that it keeps them more in shape than high school soccer and is a better opportunity, like sophomore Olivia Kisner.

“I play club soccer over high school because I feel like it gives me a better opportunity for college recruitment,” Kisner said.  “It gives me a better competition level and consistent training. Sometimes I wish I could play with my friends in my grade, but I don’t think that I miss out on that much. Even if I could play both, I would still just play club because of the benefits and how consistent it is over high school soccer.” 

Other club players believe that high school soccer is a great reset and is beneficial to their mental health. Students require a break from the intensive club season and benefit from playing in high school. Having this mental reset can improve their play and take the pressure or nerves away. Morgan Smith, a junior at Francis Howell North, plays club during the fall. She is committed to the University of Northern Iowa, a Division l soccer program, but still chooses to play high school to get that experience.

“I just really enjoy getting to play with my school friends. It just takes a lot of pressure and stress away that I get sometimes from playing club,” Smith said.

Girls in high-level competitive sports have to deal with a lot of pressure and stress, especially when it comes to the recruiting process. Girls put in hours of work to reach out to college coaches and get exposure, they send thousands of emails and text messages to try to get noticed. Girls having the option to step away from club and play high school allows girls to enjoy the simplicity of the game. It allows girls to play with other people and get a different coach’s perspective. Head coach of FHN’s soccer team, Matt Havermale, believes high school soccer is a great option for the girls. 

“As a high school coach, it is somewhat frustrating that there are athletes in the school that could help us and make us more competitive,” Havermale said. “In the future, something that I’ll be addressing is trying to change that trend. I’ve noticed, especially in our conference, the level of each team has dropped over the past couple of years as more and more students are choosing to play club over high school.” 

Although high school can help many girls’ mental health and be a positive influence, making them enjoy the sport more. Girls who stay at club during the spring can have many more opportunities. They can continue training at that high level that they are used to and get more personalized training than in-season. They can continue to get college exposure all year round rather than just in the fall and summer seasons. Girls who are looking to get recruited can be seen in more ways if they play club during the spring. Derek Zuniga, a member of the ECNL coaching staff at Scott Gallagher, believes that spring soccer at Scott Gallagher is a great opportunity for the players and their personal development.

“I think there is a good rhythm of people trying to get some different things, for example, we’ll have games against college teams in different divisions,” Zuniga said. “We’ve had games this year against Division II teams, we’ve had games against Division III teams, and we also have games against boys, so there’s just a plethora of opportunities to play at different levels, and especially against older girls who are 20 to 23 years old.”

High school and club soccer both have their pros and cons, and every student-athlete has to make decisions based on what is best for them and their future. It has been most recently that people have noticed a split between high school and club. In the future, it could become more popular to play club instead of high school because of how rapidly it has changed in the past few years.