High School Soccer In US: Basketball Substitutions

[Bruce]

This weekend, the Wisconsin state boys' high school soccer championship was held in Milwaukee. The venue is located up the road from my house, so I naturally attended.

Championships were held in three divisions, based on the size of enrollment of the schools. Division 1 (large schools) had quarterfinals on Thursday and semifinals on Friday. Divisions 2 and 3 (medium and small schools) had semifinals on Friday.

All three championship matches were held Saturday

In the main event, Neenah won the Division 1 championship, beating perennial favorite Marquette 3-2 in overtime after falling behind 2-0.

I must say it was a tremendous game, but very physical, with five yellow cards and a reported 45 fouls.

What struck me as unusual is that US high school rules allow for unlimited substituions, and players who were replaced can return to the game.

It seemed after every whistle, players were running on and off the field as if it were a basketball game.


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[Bricktop]

And in college:

College soccer allows for unlimited substitutions, although players are not allowed to reenter the game after being removed in the first half, and are limited to one reentry in the second half and overtimes.

[Tilla]

I remember years ago when I first coached in the Memphis under-18 boys league, I had to deal with this constant change. Players want to go out to play and before they get settled wanted to be pulled, only to go in a few minutes later. As much as I played basketball during my high school days and could appreciate the changes in that sport, it infurated me big time with players wanted the same in soccer.

I eventually had to give in after talking to a Nigerian friend of mine who also coached a team in a league's next age-group team below ours. A part of his reasoning was that parents paid a lot of money to get their boys to play in this league. He said the rotation of players in and out ensured that all the players get playing time to justify the expense of their parents.

I eventually told myself, I could live with that.

[Mosiah]

That's the biggest turnoff with the NCAA game. I thought they had cut out that stupidness by now.