Jefferson Cup girls weekend to conflict with high school openers

By Chris Hummer, Potomac Soccer Wire Editor

Citing an overwhelming demand from top college coaches and several years of success with their boys weekend, the 2009 Jefferson Cup girls weekend will feature a “one-game-per-day” format for Under-16 and older age groups. The move, which requires games to be scheduled on Friday, March 27th, puts one of the top college showcase tournaments in the country in direct conflict with opening night for most Virginia high school teams.

The scheduling conflict will put many high school and club coaches at odds with each other as well as their own players, who will be forced to choose between the opportunity to play in one of the top club tournaments in the country or to stay loyal to their high school commitments.

“For years the college coaches have wanted one-game-per-day play, literally begging for it,” said Chris Friant, who serves as Director of Tournaments for the Richmond Strikers, the club hosting the Jefferson Cup. “For the most part all the top college showcases have gone to this format. In the past we have resisted it because of spring high school, but more importantly wanted to keep the championship format that the Jefferson Cup is known for," he added.

Friant is clearly not alone in his belief that the elite college showcase should be limited to one game per day. Many in the club soccer community have been advocating this format for years, and even that is considered a lesser of two evils among soccer purists.

Major youth club soccer events such as the Virginia Youth Soccer Association State Cup, US Youth Soccer National Championship, and the new United States Soccer Federation Development Academy Showcases all restrict play. The intent is to help players avoid injury, as well as to keep as fresh as possible in order to have the best chances of impressing the sometimes hundreds of college coaches and pro scouts at the biggest events.

The opportunity to make an impression at such an event seemingly outweighs anything a single regular season high school game can provide a player.  Nonetheless, with many high school coaches expressly forbidding players to choose club over school, this latest "club versus high school" conflict will no doubt cause some players to face tough decision, and to deal with the consequences. Consequences that could range from running laps, all the way to dismissal from the team, depending on each teams\' rules.

Even if the high school coach understands the Jefferson Cup is not just any tournament, for most, rules are rules.

“No matter how good the tournament or player, I have to be fair to all the players on my teams,” said one local coach who requested anonymity, “If I let ‘Suzie’ go to Jefferson Cup without punishment, how is that fair if I don’t let ‘Sally’ go to her recreational field hockey game without punishing her? To a high school coach, they’re both the same, they both missed a team game for a club competition,” he concluded.

This by-the-book approach seems to be necessary in the world of public education and athletics, where “fairness” is mandated, and any favoritism shown for one player over another draws the instant ire of parents and Athletic Directors (who most often field parental complaints about coaching decisions).

However, the schools do have the power to avoid major conflicts if they choose, says Mike McCall, the Communications and Information Director for the Virginia High School League. Commonly known as the VHSL, McCall’s organization governs public high school sports for 312 schools.

When reached by phone Wednesday, McCall had not been aware of the recent change by the Jefferson Cup, but says conflicts between club and high school are not new. He explained however, that schools are welcome to change schedules to avoid such a serious conflict.

“We only dictate the starting and end dates for the practice and game season, and limit the maximum number of games," McCall explained.

The high school contacts reached for this story concurred, saying it is a coach-by-coach decision on whether or not to allow a player to miss a high school event for a club event.

No doubt this year will be the toughest test in recent memory of those standards.

Steve Swanson is one of the coaches the players caught in this conflict will be most looking to impress if they choose the Jefferson Cup. The head coach of the women\'s team at the University of Virginia, says he\'s seen the conflict between high school and club building every year, and feels for the players.

"I feel for the kids", he said in a recent telephone interview, "Their calendars are filling up, and the pressure is coming at early and early ages".

At the same time, Swanson credits adversity such as this as a good learning experience to help prepare players for their future. In fact, he cites his own four years of playing on a losing high school team as the biggest thing that prepared him for his own professional playing career, saying "Handling he adversity of losing taught me how to compete".

Regardless of whether players choose high school or the Jefferson Cup this year, in the long run the experience they\'ll gain from having to choose - and dealing with the consequences - should better prepare them for life as a student athlete.

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Chris Hummer is Founder and President of HummerSport, LLC, publisher of Potomac Soccer Wire and numerous other soccer-focused web sites. Off the field, Chris spends his days running his soccer company, writing about soccer, and helping administer FC Virgina, an elite youth soccer club based in Northern Virginia. On the field (and sidelines) he is a USSF B licensed coach with 10 years coaching experience and 31 years of playing experience (and counting). Hummer is a Head Coach and Trainer for multiple FC Virginia teams, as well as Assistant Varsity coach for the girls team at Potomac Falls High School in Sterling, VA. You can reach Chris at Editor@PotomacSoccerWire.com. Soccer-focused web sites and bloggers are invited to include excerpts of this article on their web sites, so long as proper credit is given, along with a prominent link to this page for the "full story".