Bill Mason, I do agree with you that it is a legitimate topic on our high school wrestling forum because it is something that could potentially effect high school wrestling. The reason I think it is okay to talk about soccer specifically is that it is the long term record of teams like the Aquinas boys and girls soccer team that is adding to the high number of the private schools state championships that have fueled the discussion of splitting or moving up a class the private schools.
I thought your post was interesting and I wanted to comment on a couple of aspects of it.
I think the KSHSAA rules state there has to be a minium of 24 schools in a classification to have a state tournament. In girls soccer I count 32 of 32 6A schools have soccer, I count 32, maybe 31, 5A schools have girls soccer, and 19 or 20 4321A schools with girls soccer. Right now there is to few 4321A schools to have a girls state soccer tournament. Also, combing 6A and 5A would create a 64 team field for girls soccer and not leave enough 4321A teams for a state tournament. There is no problem with boys soccer: 32 6A schools with soccer, 32 5A schools with soccer, 38 4321A schools with soccer. To split boys to 4A and 321A would create a 27 team field for 4A, but only 11 teams for 321A--not enough for a state tournament.....
I appreciated this information because it was in direct response to my last post and it gave me some detailed information as to my question about why girls soccer was split into 6A and then the rest 5-4-3-2-1A. I wonder if a 48 team 6A approach would work in soccer for both girls and boys. This would probably get Aquinas in 6A and the Aquinas boys and girls soccer team should truly be in the top class if you are going to start to handicap the Kansas high school athletic system in some manner. Of course the Hutchinson football team should also be in the top class if you are going to start to handicap Kansas high school athletic system.
I would be more supportive of a handicap system that was not just for private schools but also for public schools that would be structured in a way that very dominant teams like the Aquinas soccer teams and the Hutchinson football teams would be moved up to a higher class if they met certain criteria and they were not already in the highest class. For instance perhaps something like in a five year period at least quarterfinal participation in very year along with at least two state championships. It is just an example and I am sure someone could come up with something better. And perhaps a team could maybe even move down in class if they had a long history of not having success for example not being in the quarterfinals for a ten year period. Again just an example that could be improved on. In this type of handicap system though you could have some teams in different class from the same school like Bishop Miege was 4A for football this year and 5A for every other sport. So Hutchinson's football team would be 6A in this system but its wrestling team and other sports would remain 5A. I think this type of handicap system would have a lot more support from private schools and their advocates because it would apply equally to very successful public school teams and teams that were not having the same level of success as say the Hutchinson football team would not be penalized.
Do agree that Metro teams have an advantage in many sorts due to expansive rec and club sports. No towns in Kansa can compare with the type, number and competition levels of youth sports in Johnson County and the Wichita and Topeka areas. The KSHSAA rule adopted in the mid 90s limiting the number school "participation"/"squad" members that could play on the same team in an out of season sport I think severly hurt the ability of smaller towns to put together stronger school teams. Briefly, the "participation/squad rules in basketball permits only 3 member of the same HS squad (i.e. varsity squad) to to play on the same out of season team. Restrictions in the other HS sports are: 6 in soccer, 5 in baseball, 5 in softball, 6 in football, 4?? in volleyball. To put together an off season team in Johnson County is no problem--there are how many HS (public and private) in Johnson County: 24, 25 26??. Same for Wichita, and in Topeka 7 HSs. Kids can travel a few miles to practice and play on teams that may have palyers from 5, 6, 7 etc different schools. Also, many competitive level clubs/teams in several sports are managed by companies that manage teams, using hired coaches. Many of these companies may have 10 to 15 to 20 different teams: boys U6, U7, U8, U9, U10, etc up through U18; for girls the same breakout and number of teams. For comparison, look at Hays--I use Hays because I have seen and was impressed by their girl's club team in a couple of tournaments. Hays girls, Hays boys if they paly off season soccer, go to Salina to play in leagues, a 200 mile round trip--Salina schedules them 2 games on the same day to reduce the travel days. How does Hays form a competitive club team with only 2 HS (Hays and Hays TMP) and restricted to not more than 6 players from either school's varsity team-by filling the roster with JV players. If Colby, Goodland and Oakley wanted to play HS soccer, where could there kids play in the off season to hone their skills--with only one HS in each town--could not form a town/club team-kids would have to mary up with players from the other towns to form a team--plus drive 20 to 30 miles on way to practice. How do small towns play off season field sports, I assume they don't, certainly not at the same competitive levels as metro areas. The KSHSAA "participation/squad" rule punishes small town HS sports by retricting their ability to form off season teams from only one HS!!!!!!
I may have heard of this rule but did not pay much attention to it in the past. I suppose there is a reason it was implemented and I would like to hear what the exact reason is. On the surface it seems to me that the KSHSAA is extending its jurisdiction over the high athletes a little too far but again I do not understand the details that went into the decision. I do agree with you though that it would hinder small town athletes in forming off season club team in their sports and it would be easier to do in the metropolitan areas.
