[Mr. Blonde]

I think that runs into the issue of how many are hoping to go to college on athletic scholarships. A year away from competition makes it hard to be recruited and would put someone far behind competition wise. I know academics are the primary concern, but there are a lot of people who mostly do what they have to in the classroom to get to play.

[Alberta's Child]

At some point, that person would probably be better off honing his/her athletic skills outside of high school sports. Within just the last couple of weeks there was an article in a New Jersey newspaper lamenting the decline of high school soccer in New Jersey -- a state that has produced a disproportionate share of the nation's top-level soccer players in recent decades.

The article indicated that interest in soccer among kids in New Jersey isn't declining -- they're just migrating to private training programs and traveling club teams instead of playing in high school.