To: Parents of Youth Soccer Players, especially those in or about to enter middle school.
From: Eastside Kickers/Heights United Soccer Board of Directors
Date: April 30, 2008
Re: Middle School Soccer

Every year we find that children who play soccer in our community and for our club are presented with a choice to continue playing soccer for their club program or for their middle school. Many of us wonder why there has to be a choice and are looking for information to help our children make that decision. As parents, coaches and administrators, it is our responsibility to help guide these young players as they make decisions about playing soccer for club teams (travel and premier) and playing school soccer.

The purpose of this document is to provide a list of frequently asked questions and educate parents and players regarding soccer opportunities for middle school aged children. One of our goals, is to help players realize their soccer aspirations, in particular playing soccer for their varsity team in high school and beyond.

The Eastside Kickers/Heights United Soccer Club board recommends that U13 and U14 players forsake the middle school team soccer, and take advantage of the strong team spirit and coaching that is available year-round to them during these critical developmental years. The Cleveland Heights-University Heights City Schools Athletic Director is aware of our policy, and understands our position. The schools will be fielding some kind of soccer team in the fall, which will provide players new to the sport a chance to try it out at the school level. We support this, and it is our position that having experienced players continue to play at the club level allows newer players to get more playing time at the school program.

We fully support the High School soccer programs in our area, and expect that most of our players will go on to play for their respective high schools.

If you have any further questions, feel free to contact

FREQUENTY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT MIDDLE SCHOOL SOCCER:

WHAT IS THE OHSAA?

OHSAA stands for the Ohio High School Athletic Association. The OHSAA is the governing body that establishes the rules and regulations for high school sports in Ohio. The rules, by which a young soccer player can participate with interscholastic teams at their school, are designed and enforced by the OHSAA. Most Public School and Private Schools are members of the OHSAA.

DO THE OHSAA RULES AFFECT MIDDLE SCHOOL SOCCER?

Yes. OHSAA By-Law states “the bylaws and sports regulations apply to all participants in interscholastic athletic contests involving students in grades seven through twelve.”

DO OTHER SCHOOLS HAVE MIDDLE SCHOOL TEAMS?

Some schools do and some don’t. It is rare for schools on the West side to have middle school teams. Club soccer is more mature on the West side and youth soccer players there have traditionally played for club teams and do not play soccer until high school. By design, many of the Westside schools do not field middle school soccer teams so that local soccer players get the advanced coaching until their Freshman year. These schools tend to be the ones that field consistently superior soccer teams at the High School.

Until recently, East side schools generally had middle school teams, but this has changed in recent years as local club soccer has become stronger. In some communities, the schools have teams but many of the local players do not play for the school.

WHO COACHES THE MIDDLE SCHOOL TEAMS?

Most middle school soccer teams are coached by a teacher at that school. Qualified coaches are generally employed at the college, high school and premier club level. Middle School coaching positions, at least in the Public schools, have to be offered to members of the Teacher's Union before it can be offered to an outside coach, regardless of an outside coach's qualifications. If a member of the Union is interested in the job, no outside coaches are recruited.

DO ALL SOCCER PLAYERS PLAY MIDDLE SCHOOL IF AVAILABLE?

NO. Actually the more serious players choose to skip middle school soccer all together and will play for a travel or premier team. It is in violation of the OHSAA rules to play for a school team and a travel or premier team at the same time during the same season (fall). Thus the premier and club soccer players stay with their premier teams year round and will not play school soccer until high school.

CAN YOU PLAY TRAVEL SOCCER AND SCHOOL SOCCER?

Not at the same time, and participation in school soccer severely limits the player's options. Once a player chooses to participate with a school soccer team, they fall under the OHSAA rules. THE OHSAA rule states that you cannot play on a non-interscholastic team (i.e, a club team) and the school team at the same time. And once a player has played for the school team, there cannot be more than 5-players from the same school on a club team. The 5-player rule is what makes it extremely difficult to field travel teams – even in the spring.

Although it is legal to play club soccer in the spring after playing for the school in the fall, the 5-player limitation means that the players must find other teams to play on in the Spring. Travel soccer is community based, and has significant limitations on the number of out-of-community players that may play on one team. Therefore, it is difficult for a travel soccer program to field U13 and U14 teams if their players play for the local schools.

CAN YOU PLAY PREMIER SOCCER AND SCHOOL SOCCER?

YES, but you must be aware that the OHSAA rule states that you cannot play soccer with a club team at the same time as the school team. Since the premier clubs do not field U15-U18 teams in the fall, this is not a problem for high school soccer players. Usually, high school players – they tend to play for the high school in the fall and go to their premier teams in the winter and spring. This rule really only affects a middle school aged soccer player because the Premier teams do play in the U13 and U14 fall leagues which would be the same season as middle school soccer. Thus in our community, a U14 Premier soccer player must decide whether they will play for middle school or their premier team in the fall. They cannot do both at the same time. And the 5-player rule is also in force. A premier team cannot have more that 5 players from the same school which again would affect spring teams as well.

CAN YOU PLAY TRAVEL AND PREMIER SOCCER?

YES, without limitations. Many of our older players do this.

IS IT REQUIRED TO PLAY TRAVEL SOCCER OR PREMIER SOCCER TO MAKE THE HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER TEAM?

NO – While it is desirable for soccer players to enhance their soccer development with travel and premier club teams it is not a prerequisite to play for the school. It is obvious that the more competitive and successful high school soccer programs have players that have developed through travel and premier soccer clubs. There are some very good soccer athletes that have only played rec-soccer, and have tried our for school teams. While these players may find that they can participate with the school teams, their soccer success and the success of the school team will be greatly enhanced if they chose to join a club team – particularly during the middle school aged years.

WHAT ABOUT INDOOR SOCCER?

The OHSAA general rule 4.7 states that participation in indoor soccer is not a violation of the OHSAA rules. Eastside Kickers often fields U13 and U14 Indoor soccer teams. Indoor soccer, however, has some limitations as a training vehicle for competitive interscholastic high school soccer.

IS EASTSIDE KICKERS/HEIGHTS UNITED SOCCER CLUB ASSOCIATED WITH THE OHSAA?

No. The OHSAA governs the student athletes that play interscholastic sports. ESK/HUSC is governed by the rules of travel soccer leagues, the state soccer association and the Unite States Youth Soccer Association. These organizations are not connected with the OHSAA. It is in the best interest of our club to understand and to educate parents and players of the rules and guidelines that affect our Heights soccer players and all of the other travel clubs we play with.

ARE THERE LEAGUES FOR U13 and U14 PLAYERS?

YES! both the OASL (boys) and NOGSL (girls) travel soccer leagues have U13 and U14 divisions. Annually ESK/HUSC evaluates how many players there are and whether an appropriate coach is available. If both of these criteria are satisfied, we do field teams in these age groups.

COULD ESK/HUSC HAVE U14 TEAMS IN THE SPRING?

We have in the past attempted to provide travel soccer for our ESK players by “trading” with other clubs to avoid the 5-player rule. The result has, however, proved unsatisfactory, with the players playing for unfamiliar coaches and training in other communities. ESK will do whatever we can to provide a solid soccer experience for our players, but we would prefer to avoid this option. The only way to have a ESK U13 or U14 team in the spring composed of Cleveland Hts and University Hts kids is to have them play Club soccer in the Fall.

ARE MIDDLE SCHOOL SOCCER TEAMS DEVELOPMENTAL OR COMPETITIVE?

The middle school season starts in August and is over by late October. The middle school coach has the team for this short amount of time, and any individual player will only be available to him for 2 months in 7th grade and 2 months in 8th grade. Therefore, it is in a middle school coach's best interest to find players who already have the skills and build a game plan to win as many games as possible for that season. There just isn't the time for individual skill development – even in the best case, the middle school coach may have 2 weeks to evaluate his players before the first competitive game, often much less. High school is different, since a coach now has the player for 4 years, and can take some time to develop that player.

WHAT ABOUT THE COMPETITION LEVEL IN THE SCHOOLS?

Because most of the communities around us now have club soccer teams, those that still have middle school programs find that the skilled players in the school do not play for the school. Therefore, the competition level tends to be very weak – especially in CHUH, where our middle school population is divided among 3 different schools, and 3 different teams. The 2006 Roxboro middle school team (which had many of our ESK players on it) went undefeated, scoring 56 goals and giving up 4. However, when those same players, flush with success, decided to join an indoor league immediately following the season, they didn't win a single game and were blown out often early in the season, as they weren't used to the level of competition. (Thanks to some hard work and a strong team spirit, that team was competitive by the end of the season. But it was a stark lesson in just how weak the competition was in the middle schools).

HOW ARE THE CHUH MIDDLE SCHOOL TEAMS STRUCTURED?
For the 2007-2008 school year, the 3 middle schools in the district each have a single, co-ed 7th and 8th grade combined team. The season consists of games against the other 2 schools in the district and a few games against other schools, which may include Shaker, Heskett (Bedford), Gilmour or other schools. Note that the Shaker Youth Soccer Association fields teams in the U13 and U14 categories, and very few club players play for the Shaker Hts Middle School team.

We understand that the new CHUH Athletic Director is considering changes to the Middle School soccer program for the 2008-2009 school year, based in part on feedback from the ESK/HUSC Board. At this time, no changes have been announced, but the Athletic Director is aware of our position and is taking our position into consideration.