Club and Varsity Sports vie for Talented Athletes
By Jamie Goldberg
Staff Editor
It’s twilight. The weary soccer forward has been standing out on the misty Redwood field for almost three hours. He waits anxiously, cleats dug into the wet soil, for a final chance to drill a shot into the net before his fatigued legs cramp in the winter chill. Through his dirt-stained jersey, the black block letters of his team are still clearly visible. They don’t read Redwood anymore.
The varsity athletes who once swelled with pride by competing exclusively for their school are now concentrating on different teams instead. Many competitive athletes are choosing to focus on year-round club teams more seriously than school teams, because the clubs offer better competition and more exposure to college scouts.
While sports like football and basketball don’t have a competing club equivalent, other boys’ and girls’ varsity sports are impacted by this migration toward club teams. Volleyball, soccer, baseball, softball, swimming, and tennis have each suffered from the attention athletes are focusing on their club teams.
Jenny Anderson, sophomore, played on the North Coast Section-winning Redwood varsity soccer team last year. Nevertheless, she said that the intensity level and caliber of play is much higher for her select club team, the U16 Marin Football Club, which she’s been playing on since she was eight years old.
“Since we spend so much time, money, and commitment to the club team and because it’s year-round, we want to play our best and know that we’re ready to be there,” Anderson said. “In the long run, varsity isn’t going to do as much for us as the club team.”
Chris Stibich, junior and member of both the Marin FC and boys’ varsity soccer team, said that not only is the caliber of play better on elite club soccer teams, but major opportunities for college recruitment present themselves only through the kind of showcase tournaments that elite club teams enter.
“We’re playing nationally-ranked teams, and our main mission is to ultimately play in college or beyond that,” Stibich said. “That’s really the only place coaches will be able to see you. They don’t go to high school games, despite what people think.”
These elite club sports, while they offer great opportunities to play against tough competition and aspire to send athletes onto college teams, require intense dedication as well. Anderson plays with the Marin FC from January to November, practicing four to five days a week. Anderson said that the team travels all over the United States and even out of the country for tournaments.
According to junior Danielle Dupar, volleyball player for both Redwood and the Empire Volleyball Club, players have to practice hard and play their best in club tournaments in order to have a chance of winning, while at the varsity level, players can slack off and still win.
Despite this, girls’ varsity soccer coach Cynthia Davis, still expects her players to be dedicated and loyal to the varsity team in season, even though her best players are forced to balance their varsity commitment with the year-round demands of their club teams.
“The club sports are really good because that is where the colleges go to see players,” Davis said. “But hopefully, their coaches are understanding and realize they have a commitment to their school team as well.”
Bill Gaito, the assistant coach of the San Jose Lady Sharks competitive softball team, where many Redwood softball players also play, said that competitive athletes need to be careful not to get injured during their high school season in order to be in the best shape for the club team.
“If playing in high school gets you hurt and you can’t go to the showcase tournaments where the college coaches are actually going to come see you, then you’re not going have the opportunity to be noticed,” Gaito said. “The primary thing is to not get hurt in high school.”
With some athletes balancing both club and school teams, varsity coaches will sometimes consider making concessions in order to keep their top players on the school team. Natalie Varnay, junior, led Redwood’s girls’ tennis team to a Marin County Athletic League title last fall as the number one singles player without having to practice with the squad. According to Varnay, she skipped her varsity season during her sophomore year in order to concentrate entirely on United States Tennis Association [USTA] national tournaments.
“During the season I wouldn’t practice with the varsity team,” Varnay said. “I think my coach realized that’s why I didn’t play sophomore year and I guess she wanted me on the team for the matches.”
Varnay is ranked 6th in her age group in Northern California, and competes nationally as well. She competes at such a competitive level mainly in hopes of playing at a Division 1 college such as Dartmouth or Columbia. However, she said that playing varsity didn’t help her improve, and she strayed from her goal.
In spite of her talent and the prospect of playing at a high level in college, Varnay said that after college she intends to continue playing tennis just for fun.
“I’m mainly using it to get into college,” Varnay said. “After that I might need a break because I’ve been playing for 14 years, and I’ve been playing with USTA since I was ten.”
Though Varnay will continue to play varsity as long as she can practice on her own, other players like Anderson are forced to miss their varsity season in order to play on a club team.
Anderson said that she chose not to play basketball freshman year in order to dedicate all her time to a national soccer team. However, in Anderson’s case, she decided to quit her national team because she didn’t want to lose out on the pleasure of playing varsity basketball.
According to Desone Parker, Redwood athletic director, the biggest conflict between club and school teams today is that athletes are required to specialize in order to play a sport at the highest level and more athletes are playing a single sport competitively rather than playing different sports.
When Cynthia Davis played soccer at Redwood, the focus was different. She said that club teams weren’t that serious and there weren’t the same scholarship opportunities and players vying to use sports to get into college.
“There’s just more at stake in people’s lives today as far as going to college, and possibly getting a scholarship,” Davis said. “When I was younger, you could just do what you wanted to do. There wasn’t the conflict – you could just play for your school.”
By contrast, Gaito said that it is ludicrous to expect college coaches to find out about athletes simply through high school teams.
“Athletes need to put high school in perspective because being the all star of the high school league by itself isn’t going to help an athlete compete in the future or get an athlete into college,” Gaito said.
According to Gaito, there isn’t a comparison between high school teams and the most competitive club teams today.
“The Oregon State coach isn’t going to know about anyone from the MCAL,” Gaito said. “One would have to get out of Marin to get adequate exposure.”
Redwood High School
Redwood Bark
March 3, 2006