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Post by scobserver on Nov 20, 2015 7:44:51 GMT -5
Would have loved to have been at the league meeting (at 7.30 in the morning lol)! The PD reports soccer moved to winter by a 4-3 vote. Story focused on desire for competition and not desire to prevent football from having to compete with soccer, thank goodness.
Knew Analy and Petaluma would vote yes--Analy strong at pretty much everything nowadays and Petaluma soccer coach eager for greater goals.
But even with artificial turf, unsure how soccer can fit in both varsity and JV at places without lights. Starting a varsity game at say 3pm, it will be 4.30 pm at least before you can start the JV and then it gets dark at say 5.30 before they can finish that game? Instead, guess you schedule it like baseball, where varsity and JV and (for some) frosh baseball all start at 3.30 and play at different fields simultaneously. So still need a second playable field (likely grass) in addition to the main stadium. I guess most places have access to that, or just not play JV if the secondary field is unplayable. Or just play JV after varsity and call the game JV game early due to darkness.
That's why I was surprised H'burg voted to switch--city likely does not want soccer to play on a wet Rec Park field when they are trying to keep it playable for baseball. But H'burg must have alternative plan. (?) With Sonoma getting a turf field guess they decided to vote yes, but will still have a problem of an unlighted artificial field. Interesting Piner voted no--they have the turf, but they must foresee the problem with scheduling two soccer games during short daylight hours. And Elsie, even with lights and turf, voted no, but then soccer is really their main sport, truth be told. El Molino voted no--they get much heavier rainfall than everyone else, I wonder how often their secondary grass field will be playable. But with the drought, guess all that is moot!
Will it help turnout for football? What is the experience in MCAL? Anyone? I suspect it won't have much impact in participation, but I think it will boost football stature in high school culture, as soccer will get ignored against basketball and playing in cold weather when nobody would even think of going to watch them. Probably lessens the chances of future forfeits or even saves football at Elsie Allen and El Molino.
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Post by bella on Nov 20, 2015 11:32:04 GMT -5
I can't stand soccer, but my kid plays, so I do follow it. Should help a
little on the gridiron, but not sure how much? The kids flopping around on a soccer pitch normally aren't going to play football anyway, maybe a few plus the kicker. Although it probably is more helpful at a smaller school or ones with a higher population of latino students?
Not sure soccer affects attendance for football at all. Most games are Tuesday and Thursday and unless it is Carrillo vs Monty don't expect more than 100 people in the sfands.
From a competition standpoint it makes sense. Statewide it is primarily a winter sport. Pretty hard to get better when you don't any quality teams. Honestly surprised on the girls side that the NBL hasn't switched? Really kind of disappointing that the coach of a very successful girls championship program ihas been against it (the reality is the RE NCS title is just the tallest midget in th room contest and a repeat of the NBL season). This year it was NBL, SCL and HDN for NCS winter soccer, alot of bad soccer there. MCAL and EBAL have some outstanding teams on both boys and girls sides. Since football has gone away from a RE and east bay separate title the north bay hasn't exactly been loading up the trophy cases, but the quality of play has gotten better and I'd expect the same with soccer
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Post by scobserver on Nov 20, 2015 17:39:17 GMT -5
Healdsburg football coach Beth thought playing Newman in a first round rout was worthwhile...from the Healdsburg paper: "Although some may question the value of a first-round match-up against a football juggernaut, the meeting with the Cardinals was viewed differently inside the Healdsburg locker room. “Playing Cardinal Newman was a great experience for our team, not a negative like many may think,” Beth noted. “The kids got the opportunity to play the best program in the area and competed. If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best and I wish (Cardinal Newman coach) Paul Cronin and his players all the best for the remainder of the season; they’re a class act.” Well coach, I'm not so sure it was as worthwhile as you think, but points for optimism and sun shiny innocence. www.sonomawest.com/the_healdsburg_tribune/schools/greyhound-footballers-routed-by-cardinal-newman-in-ncs-playoffs/article_afd292e0-8e58-11e5-8ea7-9348369cc1c8.html |
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Post by scobserver on Nov 20, 2015 17:47:19 GMT -5
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Post by North Coast 707 on Nov 20, 2015 19:45:16 GMT -5
Moving soccer to winter is an overall positive for football. Football will be THE fall sport for males. Although only a handful of soccer players will play and excel at football, that is a few more than there was before. Smaller schools and/or schools with large Hispanic populations in which soccer is popular will obviously benefit the most. I see Elsie Allen, Piner, El Mo, Healdsburg, and possibly Sonoma getting a few more decent athletes out on the gridiron, which is never a bad thing. Even if only 3 or 4 soccer players come out for football that can make a huge difference when you carry a roster of under 25 or less. If the NCL were to move soccer to winter those schools would see the most benefit especially at the smallest schools, where athletes are scarce, particularly where the hispanic population is high, schools like Calistoga, Tomales, Anderson Valley, and even NCL I schools like Cloverdale. Just 2-3 more bodies is a big difference in small school football.
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Post by savage12 on Nov 22, 2015 11:22:47 GMT -5
Soccer moving to winter is great news... Just curious if any body expects the smaller leagues ncl 1 and 3 to follow sute???A move like this could save small school football were it gets harder and harder to field teams every year...
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Post by scobserver on Nov 23, 2015 21:41:23 GMT -5
savage, good question. My guess is NCL leagues will stay in fall, as $1 million or so for artificial turf that has to be replaced every 8 years is too much capital to realistically commit for a small NCL size town. Besides, water bill for a natural field is cheap up north! Anyone have a clue?
north coast, you are right, even just 2-3 more bodies is a huge win for teams with a small roster--I honestly think that's the main reason ADs were pushing for the move, though they are smart enough not to say that publicly.
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