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Embracing a Foreign Concept
![The team captains meet before the Westfield-Robinson game. "All the high schools that have a good nucleus of players, they're all trying to [play possession]," said Westfield Coach Tom Torres.](http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2008/05/11/PH2008051102321.jpg)
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"Playing in high school is an important part of a kid's life," Lanigan said. "Playing in front of your friends, peers, wearing your schools' jersey. You don't get that in club. It gets you a lot of benefits you don't get in club and it has to be able to coexist."
Better Coaching
Nearly all of the possession-oriented teams have coaches who work or worked at the club, college or professional level.
Robinson Coach Jac Cicala won four state championships at Lake Braddock, coached George Mason's women's program for 12 years and was named National Coach of the Year in 1993. Lanigan has coached at the club level for 19 years, guiding several Virginia Youth Soccer Association State Cup championship teams. And other coaches, including Torres and Krieger, have experience coaching at other levels.
That type of experience, Lanigan said, makes the coaches more comfortable directing a possession-based team and also gives the kids a coach who has the tactical knowledge to guide them.
"Guys who coach club and coach high school have a huge influence on the kids they coach," Lanigan said. "They have an idea of formations, they have an idea of how the ball should be moved on the floor in the game. The club coaches who are here, their teams stand out versus some of these coaches who haven't been around a while."
The experience also translates to the players. McLaughlin said Lanigan's experience coaching club gives the team confidence in what he is teaching.
"It's definitely important because we believe in him," McLaughlin said. "We trust in what he's saying and basically what he's saying works. So if he's trying to tell us that playing possession and passing it around is going to be the best style to play then alright."
Matching up the experienced coaches with talented teams -- Westfield has 16 players on its roster that play club and Herndon has several Division I players -- created the perfect blend for the introduction of higher level play into the high school game.
"Coaches are starting to recognize, 'Hey I have kids that are more effective if we play a certain way,' " Watson said. "Therefore I've got to utilize those talents. I don't think the style is set by players; it's set by coaches."
