The Future of Interscholastic Sports - Signs of a Paradigm Shift

An Education Opportunity Opinion

written by Bill Utsey, Director of Athletics, Greenville County Schools, Greenville SC

Are we experiencing a paradigm shift in interscholastic athletics? There are numerous signs all around us that indicate competing forces within the youth sports arena. Are these forces or movements beginning to compromise the very structure of the American high school sports programs or grow our uniquely American interscholastic sports structure to a new level of competition? The objective of this article is to put this subject on the table for discussion.

As I look back on my forty-two years in the interscholastic sports coaching profession, I have experienced many changes. When I first started coaching in 1969, most high schools had maybe eight or ten sports offerings with less than fifteen total sports teams on their campuses. Today, most have well over thirty teams and some exceed forty sports teams within their schools and offer fourteen or more sports. This explosion of growth was fueled by the passage of Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments to the 1964 Civil Rights Bill.

Title IX brought a change in the paradigm of interscholastic sports that was both positive and productive for every part of our American culture and society. However, today we are in the midst of a significant paradigm shift as evidenced by an enormous growth in club sports. This growth has been fueled by profit-oriented sports business complexes and the American dream of playing college and professional sports.

There is a new game in town. This new game - sports clubs of all kinds - may not be in every community, but surely those cities and towns where the population (market size for customers) and environment make the growth of club sports conducive to making money. As I share my thoughts with you in this article, note that I live in the Greenville-Spartanburg area of South Carolina and the population of our sports market is around 500,000 people. As we continue this article, I will be referencing my personal experiences in my home community. I submit to you that many small communities around our state do not have club sports, but for sure the larger cities and suburban areas are a hotbed for these teams and businesses. Maybe you will notice similarities in your area or state.

Club teams and sports businesses are exploding in growth. What are the signs of the "club sports scene," and are they in your community? What we are seeing is next to phenomenal. Not only have club sports grown exponentially over the past fifteen to twenty years, but many of these teams are a part of a larger sports organization that is also a money making business.

Parents are paying hundreds of dollars a month for their child to participate in club sports programs and not even blinking an eye. In comparison, parents pay little or nothing for their child to play on a school team. Parents are being driven for many reasons to have their child experience success in sports at ever higher levels. Even with such a greater cost, the club programs are continuing to grow in size, numbers, and prestige.

The more successful a club program is, the more their prestige and the greater their market portfolio. Such success brings in more parents wanting their child to play for such a highly successful club team or program. Of course the greater the team's success, the more it benefits from our American competitive business concept of demand - more people will want its services and are willing to pay even higher prices.

Clubs use a profit oriented business approach. Club teams and programs are now becoming a big business where they have extensive facilities and financial investments along with a staff of full-time coaches. There are even instances where these club programs have become so lucrative they are bought by other individuals or investors who, in turn, invest more resources to grow the business.

We recently had our area's most powerful club volleyball organization sell the business to another group, for what I am sure was a nice profit. The new owner has just announced the acquisition of a big box facility where they will house their main operation. The facility will have seven full size courts, and will include a fully equipped strength and conditioning area. This volleyball club boasts of over forty certified coaches!

What we are seeing in these clubs is high quality instruction and coaching. With other clubs in the region, the competition is increasingly keen. This competition drives clubs to have higher quality coaching, instruction, and facilities. In many cases, the coaching and instruction is better than what we can offer on our school teams. Many club organizations are paying their coaches significantly more than school coaches. Because club sports seasons do not conflict with the regular sports season, our school district employs many club coaches as 'walk-on' coaches at our schools.

High-end, sports-specific fitness businesses have become a reality. There is a growing corollary of business, high-end athletic fitness facilities, popping up all over the country. These businesses offer high-intensity, specificity fitness training for young athletes up to adults. What is significant is the high number of these businesses and the success they are achieving. Many younger athletes are buying into high-intensity strength and conditioning and paying big money for personal trainers at these facilities…all with the hope of playing their sport at the collegiate or professional level.

One of our high schools is the reigning state AAAA volleyball champions. This year they have a 7th grader (not yet 13 years old!) starting on their team! How does this happen? With such an outstanding program in a school of some 2,200 students, how could such a young girl win a place on this team - arguably the best volleyball program in our state? When I asked this young girl if she does any physical training, she told me that she has been under the tutelage of a personal trainer since she was nine years old. Her workouts have included all the high-end Olympic strength and power lifting routines. There is no doubt in my mind that it is her level of strength and power that is both integral and directly related to her level of skill.

Club sports teams do extensive traveling. Club programs and teams are participating in tournaments and events all over the country necessitating flying and high expenses that school teams can rarely, if ever, afford. It is not unusual for club teams to travel the length of the country to participate in a prestigious tournament. The young 7th grader mentioned above competes both regionally and nationally in tournaments around the country, and she personally competes in beach volleyball tournaments as far away as California.

It is interesting to note that every player on the aforementioned AAAA state champion volleyball team plays for the same highly successful club program. No doubt there is a strong relationship between the club program and this high school team.

Successful club programs emphasize playing at the collegiate level and getting scholarships. Club programs are now holding their own "signing nights" on the official collegiate signing dates. It simply behooves a club program to do this because the more scholarships their players garner, the greater the marketability of these lucrative businesses.

There is an emerging importance of club teams. There are numerous stories surfacing of how many student-athletes, when faced with choosing between club and school teams' practices or games, they choose the club over the school - skipping the school practice (or even game) to play or practice with their club team. Parents are pulling their son/daughter out of the school program to play solely for the club team. One of our local high school baseball teams just lost their two best players because their parents pulled them off the team to get ready for the summer club tournament circuit where college scouts will be watching them play every weekend.

Not only is it becoming highly important to be associated with a club team, it is even much more important to be a member of a successful, highly regarded one. So much so that many, if not most, of the club teams are no longer made up of just local players. Many of these super successful club teams have players (recruited by the club!) from fifty to hundreds of miles away. Such teams travel to only the largest of tournaments where a plethora of college coaches will be present to drool at the great concentration of talent.

The city of North Augusta, SC, hosts one of the biggest club basketball tournaments in the country (sponsored, of course, by one of our large athletic shoe companies). Their four-courts-under-one-roof facility offers a tremendous venue for such an event. Virtually every college coach in America not only attends this event, but they pay a steep fee to gain entrance. Why? Because club basketball teams are regional in their makeup, drawing only the super talented players from a large metropolitan area, or even an entire state. Many of these type club teams are funded by major sports apparel businesses.

NCAA recruiting rules are conducive to the growth of club sports programs. College coaches are no longer visiting the school sports events to recruit, but are spending their efforts and recruiting budgets for club events in the off-season. A comment often heard from high school basketball coaches is the disdain college coaches hold with regard to the character and motives of club team coaches. College basketball coaches are telling high school coaches how they truly do not like dealing with club coaches, but that it is a necessary evil if they are to sign the best players. However, when confronted with changing the rule to eliminate the summer (off-season) recruiting periods, these very same college coaches will argue passionately to keep this period open. Why? Because they can go to one site and see the best players in the region or country play many games in a two or three day period at a national tournament. Such an arrangement only makes for a more efficient use of the college’s recruiting budget and, at the same time, a better business environment for club athletic programs

Another phenomena is the allowance of club teams (14 to 18 age groups) competing against major college soccer teams in the spring. Did you know that the NCAA allows for five spring games for soccer teams? Who do they play? Why, club teams of course! This allows the soccer programs to bring talented young players, as young as 14 and 15, to their campuses and give them a real test as to their potential at the college level and a potential scholarship offer. I have actually heard parents of young fifteen and sixteen year-old club players brag about how their daughter's soccer team defeated the University of Georgia or the University of Tennessee.

Club sports coaches are better trained and more professional than ever. Even though some club programs lack coaches and instructors with professional training and expertise, this is fast becoming a bygone. Given the competitive market and the profitability that club teams are experiencing, they are now stepping up to the plate and providing highly trained coaches and professional strength and conditioning experts for their athletes.

Driven by competition and profit margins successful clubs are demanding better, and requiring their instructors to be certified or have extensive college and professional experience. Many of their facilities include well-equipped strength and conditioning areas that are staffed by certified specialists in fitness and strength training. In many cases the club team instructors, coaches and experts are better than their high school counterparts. It is in their clubs where young athletes can get year-round instruction and training that is now, more and more, of a high quality.

One negative sign is the higher incidence of over-use injuries in young athletes. Because club sports' seasons are played in the off-season of high school and college sports seasons, they are creating year-round competition and training for their participants. Young boys and girls are specializing in one sport at ever younger ages. Parents see this as a necessity if their child is to secure a college scholarship and play at the next level. With such year-round competition and practice comes the necessary evil of over-use injuries. As an example, we are now seeing a much higher incidence of shoulder surgeries in high school volleyball players and Tommy John surgeries in young baseball players.

Given the evidence and the shared anecdotal experiences above, it is no wonder that conversations among high school athletic coaches and administrators are increasingly talking about the future of their interscholastic programs. I have even been in discussions where the statement, "High school sports will not exist fifty years from now" has been made. This comment was countered one time with, "it won't take fifteen years."

There are plenty of other phenomena happening that are also evidence of competing forces in the interscholastic arena. High school sports do not have to end. Maybe they can grow to an ever higher level by proactively building a symbiotic relationship with these growing club teams and businesses. Whatever the case, high school coaches and athletic administrators should begin now to adapt and change to meet the fast-growing competitive market of club team sports programs.

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