Soccerwire podcast - DA and high school soccer

As far as position changing, I’ve observed it this way:
CBs and center mids don’t change;
LBs & RBs might move to outside mids;
Attacking third players move around there and possibly to outside mid positions.
That’s about it.

I don't think anyone is saying DA players SHOULD play in HS, but if they WANT TO and the club/DA isn't paying for their club soccer...there are benefits, so why not let them? Usually HS practice is right after school. It can be especially beneficial for a kid who will never be a pro and its even possible it could make them better if they can play for a good program.

I think it is fine for DA kids to play high school while they are NOT playing DA. You should go off the DA roster if you play for your high school AT THE SAME TIME. There is one really, really good reason for this...overuse. It is inappropriate for kids to train for 1.5-2 hours at high school and then train 1.5 hours at DA on the same days and even worse for them to play a high school game and then go to DA training. Sports medicine experts STRONGLY discourage playing in 2 leagues for the same sport concurrently due to overuse injuries including increasing your risk for serious ligament damage.

So play one or the other, but not both...for their health.

I don't think it matters whether you are in a small school or not. It should not be allowed simultaneously.
Pros are not children (generally). Children are still growing. Are you aware that the last growth plate closes at 23 for girls and 25 for boys? Muscle mass increases as well. Pros and college kids also don't spend 35 hours per week sitting behind a desk. They have strength and conditioning coaches, nutritionists and athletic trainers that monitor their fitness and manage training loads and game minutes and prescribe cold therapy, massage, etc.
Finally, it isn't only game minutes that matter (though from an intensity per minute it is often higher). I think if you play 80 minutes in a high school game you shouldn't then train for 90 minutes with your DA team on the same day. We all know this is a mistake. Also college games and pro games on not on back to back days. They usually have 2-7 days between games (usually at least 4). Listen to how grueling the college coaches say the conference tournaments are (the only time they play back to back days).
If you are going to have DA games during high school soccer season then DA players should not play both.

I'm glad to see someone posted this. If DA wants to have a rule that doesn't allow it's players to play HS then that's their decision as a league. My biggest issue isn't with the league it is with the coaches at DA Clubs stringing players along as DP players, keeping players from playing HS. I have watched potential HS starters, be strung along all season, hoping to play and move onto the roster and never get there or get injured playing DA, that's right, not while playing HS. One of my favorite wives tales that club coaches tell, HS is where all the players get hurt, tell that to my Junior that missed her freshman and sophomore years because she tore her ACL playing at CF in the fall two years in a row. I also can't stand when they make the player think they can't get recruited to play DI from an ECNL team, REALLY? Have a look at the Stanford, Florida, UVA, USC, UNC, Clemson rosters and see where the majority of the freshman played last year, I also love to look at the number of HS accolades they all have, the number of Gatorade players of the year. The truth is, if a player wants to play HS, she or he should do it. I played at a mediocre GA HS, but played against the best and I made lifelong friends. ALSO, most club coaches won't bring this up, BUT HS soccer is the ONLY level of play at that age that holds STUDENT-Athletes accountable for their performance in the classroom, LIKE COLLEGE. If you aren't passing, you don't play, and some coaches have even higher standards than those set by GHSA. In college, you have to be on track to graduate and players have credits and other eligibility requirements that must be ulfilled in order to play. Like I mentioned on my AFU-ECNL post, these leagues are competing for 1 thing $$$... the clubs are competing for a pierce of the Atlanta market... they may be Non-for profit of Not-for profit, but the $$$ thrown around by these clubs is disgusting, when you think about what they were initially created for, recreational youth soccer community organizations that have evolved into multi million dollar elite clubs.

Personally know 4 players who this happened to on the boys side. Two trained a whole year and never played a minute on the field in a game.