There's a lot to be said for the right fit

Posted 9/4/14

Soccer balls were flying into nets Tuesday night at the Bend Street Complex, and in a rare feat, the high-school teams were racking up more goals than the youth players on adjacent fields.

Two …

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There's a lot to be said for the right fit

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Soccer balls were flying into nets Tuesday night at the Bend Street Complex, and in a rare feat, the high-school teams were racking up more goals than the youth players on adjacent fields.

Two of the city’s best last year, the Pilgrim girls’ soccer team and the Toll Gate boys’ soccer team, got off to roaring starts in 2014. Pilgrim won 6-1. Toll Gate won 5-3. They’re poised to be two of the best again.

Had the same scene been set about a decade ago, I would have given the edge to the youth teams. In the fall of 2005, the Toll Gate boys went 0-16-1 and the Pilgrim girls went 1-12-3. Their counterparts’ goal totals from Tuesday night would probably be comparable to months-long goal totals from back then.

It illustrates a point, one that seems especially worth making this fall. It’s a realignment year for the Rhode Island Interscholastic League. Warwick teams, as has become the norm, are moving down.

We’ve written about a lot of teams in that position this year, from football to volleyball to soccer to field hockey. Most are happy with their moves, and our stories reflect that. But I always find myself wondering if such moves should be heralded. Isn’t it a little sad, a little disheartening? A proud sports city is consistently admitting that it can’t compete at the highest levels of high school sports.

And then I watch soccer games like the ones I saw Tuesday.

And I see the flip side.

Sure, there is something to be said for competing against the best, for accepting the challenge. And winning isn’t everything – the fundamental experience should be the same.

But there’s something to be said for being in the right place, too.

Those Pilgrim and Toll Gate soccer teams that struggled in 2005? They were in Division I, where they’d previously been very competitive. The struggles were starting, though, and both programs recognized a truth that many more of their city rivals have realized since: they couldn’t do it in Division I.

It may be sad, but it is an increasingly widespread reality. With a few exceptions – co-op girls’ hockey because of its reach, baseball and softball because of powerful feeder programs – Warwick teams are ill-equipped for top divisions.

Enrollment numbers put Warwick schools right in line with the schools in most sports’ second divisions. In boys’ soccer, for instance, Pilgrim and Toll Gate are perfectly comparable to their D-II counterparts like Mt. Hope, Mt. Pleasant, Westerly and West Warwick. The Warwick schools are significantly smaller than three D-II programs at Classical, Coventry and Cranston West.

Warwick teams aren’t moving down so they can steamroll the competition. They’re moving so they can compete in a good year and contend for championships in a great year.

For Warwick teams in Division I, that generally hasn’t been the case. When the Pilgrim girls’ basketball team was sent to Division I a few years ago, the Pats didn’t stand a chance, even with one of the best players in the state. Geno Auriemma could have coached that team, and they wouldn’t have made the playoffs.

The list goes on like that. I give teams in their position credit, and I applaud really strong programs that give it a shot like Pilgrim boys’ volleyball. For the ones that struggle, they battle, they push, they compete, and they have great experiences. It’s not a tragedy that a team is misplaced.

But the right fit is better.

The Pilgrim girls’ soccer program continued to struggle when it moved to Division II but slowly built itself back up. Now, the Pats are a perennial contender. They played in the Division II semifinals last year and could very well make a return trip this year.

The Toll Gate boys hung around longer in Division I, to the point where the program was on life support. It barely had enough kids. But some talented, dedicated players came in and had some success. Before you knew it, they were a contender. Last year, the Titans captured the Division II championship.

Those two teams are testaments to a lot of things – smart and dedicated coaches, enthusiastic players, strong support systems – and the right fit allows it all to shine. These are healthy programs, and regardless of their win totals, the experiences they offer are at the root of why school sports matter.

Is it a little sad that they’re not going up against the best, like they used to? It is.

But it’s right, too.

William Geoghegan is the sports editor at the Warwick Beacon. He can be reached at 732-3100 and williamg@rhodybeat.com. Find him on Twitter @RhodyWill.

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