The End of High School Football in Arkansas Has Begun

FOUNTAIN LAKE, Ark. – On Tuesday afternoon, the information broke that Fountain Lake could be the the latest faculty, on this case a 4A program, to surrender funding a full soccer program in favor of 8-man soccer inArkansas. 

A transfer like this could include a specific amount of shock, and it does to an extent. Nonetheless, it isn’t the kind of shock that one may count on.

The shock is not that there at the moment are sufficient 3A and 4A 8-man soccer groups to create their very own convention ought to they select. The shock is that it took this lengthy to get so far.

As research about CTE and mind trauma started to disclose the reason for so many points on the flip of the century, it grew to become clear that soccer would ultimately see a decline anticipated to achieve the degrees of boxing. It was straightforward to think about a world the place the one individuals who continued to play the game could be probably the most determined amongst us who noticed it as their solely possibility to alter their station in life. 

What began as a motion amongst moms to guard their younger kids slowly started to unfold to fathers additionally as they started to acknowledge a number of the signs in themselves that had been described within the deaths of so many excessive profile athletes whose brains had been severely broken.

We have now hit the second era to see the value of soccer as too excessive to justify the price in youth sports activities. The variety of houses the place the game is to be seen, not performed, has dramatically elevated.

In lots of corners of the nation, the response is not astonishment {that a} household prefers their sons not play soccer. We have reached a balancing level that’s borderline to tipping into astonishment that somebody lets their youngster play soccer, particularly amongst households the place wealth and schooling are simply accessible.

In Arkansas, the place numbers have all the time been comparatively low when in comparison with different states, it would not take many athletes selecting to concentrate on different sports activities to dwindle the participation low sufficient to make Friday nights one or two accidents away from a forfeit. That is precisely what’s occurred.

For individuals who have lived their complete lives within the state, it is likely to be potential to view soccer as king. Nonetheless, when you step past the borders for a wider view, the game seems to be on life assist and has been for some time.

A strong 4A roster in Arkansas ran 35-40 gamers even earlier than CTE consciousness. JV groups had been a luxurious and included numerous varsity gamers. 

In states the place soccer actually is king, a 4A crew has at the least three full groups with 40-45 gamers every. 

Basketball is definitely king in Arkansas. Should you had been to take Bentonville’s soccer stadium, which is taken into account a jewel within the Pure State, and positioned it Texas, it might be an honest 3A stadium at greatest. 

That does not imply it isn’t a pleasant stadium. It is what the game calls for. 

Head right down to Mills in Little Rock, and you can find a stadium equal to a Class A, maybe small 2A, stadium in Texas. Once more, it is what demand requires, so there isn’t any have to construct a $120 million cathedral that holds 15,000-20,000 with big replay boards, cameras working down the rails and indoor golf/wrestling amenities buried inside. 

Nonetheless, should you go to Frisco, Texas, the town that homes the Dallas Cowboys headquarters, you can find 13 excessive faculties, most of which have been constructed within the final decade that every home 2,000-3,000 college students. Whereas soccer is performed in huge cutting-edge stadiums, the smallest of which is the 12,000 seat indoor Ford Stadium, in these faculties, you can find darkish gyms the dimensions of a 1A-2A fitness center in Arkansas with flooring beat to items. 

To discover a fitness center on par with Cave Metropolis, an Arkansas faculty with an enrollment of 400, you need to go to the most important, wealthiest, most elite tax bases in Texas, and even then there may be a lot consternation about why the cash was used on a basketball fitness center. 

Add in latest demand for sports activities like soccer, wrestling and swimming, three sports activities that weren’t obtainable at most Arkansas faculties within the Nineties, and there are many safer choices for younger males to fulfill their aggressive wants with out the danger of waking up subsequent to their wives sooner or later not capable of keep in mind who she is.

Fountain Lake is not going to be the final to take this step. Along with participation numbers taking place, faculty budgets historically get thinner every year as unfunded mandates, rising know-how prices, and the stress to pay lecturers sufficient to maintain their lights on and have meals improve.

Soccer is an costly sport to take care of. When the packages begin to go solely, there might be a bunch that can protest with their mouths with nice viciousness, however when requested to again up that bark with a chunk from their wallets, will exit with a whimper. 

With e-sports gaining reputation as a aggressive possibility in different states whereas extra schools provide scholarships for its e-sports groups, it is potential the one soccer the grandchildren of the present graduating class play will happen on an enormous display in entrance of 1000’s of screaming followers in an Arkansas basketball fitness center.

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