Some high school soccer stars opting out of senior year

The spring semester of your senior year in high school is full of landmark events — the final go-round in sports with your best buddies, prom, graduation parties galore and the anticipation of a last summer before 'adulthood.'

Yet some high school athletes choose to move on before the excitement even begins to build for the last hurrah.

Cedar Rapids Prairie's Seth Rinderknecht and Linn-Mar's Alexy Boehm, two decorated high school soccer players, were expected to be integral parts of teams that challenged for a state championship. Instead both opted to graduate early to begin their college soccer careers.

'I think it's starting to happen a little more,' Iowa High School Soccer Coaches Association President Dustin Kralik said.

This trend involves a small number of players, but it removes some of the state's elite from high school competition.

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'It has never happened to us, although I can recall some players over the years electing not to play for their high school teams to play with a club team or similar program,' Linn-Mar Coach Corey Brinkmeyer said.

'After talking with some college coaches I trust, their feeling was it will become more common, so it does concern me, but I think it takes a special player to be able to pull it off: a mixture of high academics, high technical ability, above average maturity, promise of the college coach to make an early impact.'

Boehm and Rinderknecht fit the bill, and both have started for their respective college teams (George Washington and Nebraska-Omaha) in the spring season.

Rinderknecht could not be reached for comment. Boehm is happy with his decision.

'Since I was younger I've always wanted to play soccer in college, preferably at the Division I level,' Boehm said. 'When I had two offers to play my parents and I thought it would be a cool idea to come early since those offers were from schools pretty far away from Iowa and just to settle in and get used to college life in a less stressful season. It also gives me a little bit of a head start on the other freshmen.'

Iowa high school soccer has improved immeasurably over the years, and perhaps it's not doing a good enough sales job with some of its top players.

'High school soccer gets a bad rap because there's not all the money involved in it,' Kralik said. 'It's unfairly criticized sometimes. I think there are a lot of good coaches in high school soccer now. But it's kind of under attack from the development academies.

'Kids graduate early and going to colleges is one problem, but I think the bigger problem is kids leaving and moving away from their families for academy teams out of state.'

Brinkmeyer worries players and their families may be sold a bill of goods.

'What I feared is that he (Boehm) got caught up in what I refer to as coach speak: 'We can't wait to have you on campus, and you're going to make such a great impact on the team, and we really need you right away,'' Brinkmeyer said. 'I've heard some stories about kids following what the coach says, and they get there and it's the exact opposite of what they thought. But it didn't appear like that was the case (for Boehm).'

Prairie boys soccer Coach Curt Lewis declined to comment for this story.

Cooperation between club and prep coaches helps avoid conflict with spring college showcases and keeps players on the high school teams.

In the case of colleges seeking early entrants and academies recruiting expensive boarding-school residents, prep coaches can make sure their players understand the trade-offs.

'The experience in high school, playing in front of their classmates, they're going to have bigger crowds and play under the lights which they're not going to get from a club environment which is going to be more of a stale environment,' Kralik said. 'But certainly college coaches are going to see more kids at club games than they are at high school games.'

Each situation is unique. High school, college, academy and club coaches all have their own vested interests. It's up to the players and their families to be sure they are fully informed when making their choices.