Playing Club Soccer Is a Finishing Kick for Some Runners

In certain parts of Orange County, it’s considered a plague. Some coaches shudder when they hear its name, while others pretend it doesn’t exist.

The growth of club soccer has become as crippling as shin splints for some girls’ cross-country programs, wearing down runners in midseason and leaving teams short-handed at weekend invitationals.

And some running coaches say their sport will continue to suffer as more girls begin playing club soccer at a younger age. This trend has forced many coaches to reinvent their policies on managing teams and certain key members, who not only run fast, but can also skillfully tuck a ball into a net.

“We basically tell them we expect them to be committed to this team,” El Dorado Coach Jason Sweet said. “When they play club soccer and they try and do cross-country, they get beat up and then come to practice sore. If they want to do soccer, then they have to make the hard choice. We had a couple situations like that this season and I had to let one girl go.”

El Modena Coach John Ahearn faced a similar situation. Ahearn, who has guided the Vanguards to the Southern Section finals the past six seasons, had to send three varsity runners down to the junior varsity because of the strain competing in both sports had put on the girls.

“We didn’t know the club soccer teams had escalated their schedules,” Ahearn said. “The girls would come out to practice on Monday and they’re wiped out. They’ll have a Thursday meet and then they’ll have to go to a Thursday night practice.”

Allyson Marquand, who graduated from University High last spring, was one of the first to put club soccer ahead of cross-country, and that decision was a factor in her dismissal from the cross-country team two years ago. Marquand, The Times Orange County runner of the year during her freshman, sophomore and senior years, is now playing soccer for Stanford and the U.S. junior national team.

Mission Viejo Coach Fred Almond has had to deal with his share of conflicts, but he doesn’t go for the hard-line approach.

“My philosophy is if you have a club soccer game and it interferes with the invitational, go to the soccer game,” Almond said. “But during the week, you have to go to practice and race on Thursdays.”

Kendal Billingsley, a two-time South Coast League champion in cross-country, is skipping her junior season to concentrate on soccer. Billingsley, a first-team Southern Section Division I midfielder for the Diablos last season, was contemplating whether to run for Mission Viejo, but a leg injury suffered in late summer made the decision for her.

“I didn’t want her to leave because this kid has major talent,” Almond said. “If I could get this girl just to run on Thursdays, we’d be better. I approached her and said I had a uniform for her, but then she got injured.”

A RUNNER’S PERSPECTIVE

Nobody is more familiar with the juggling act between cross-country and club soccer than Fountain Valley sophomore Julie Allen. Allen has been splitting time this fall between the Baron cross-country team and her role as center midfielder for the Cerritos Infinity, a premier-division team based at Long Beach College.

Because of conflicts with her club schedule, Allen has missed every Saturday invitational this season except for the Orange County Championships, where she posted the fastest overall time by nine seconds (17 minutes 35 seconds). Allen’s soccer schedule also caused her to miss last season’s county championships and the Sunset League finals, which left her out of the Southern Section competition.

“My cross-country coach has been really lenient and says to run whenever I can,” Allen said. “My soccer coach considers it more like a team sport, so soccer requires more of a commitment. If you’re on a [soccer] team, then you’ve got to stay with the team, you’ve got to have that team unity.”

Allen, who has spoken with Marquand for advice about handling double duty, plans to run in the Sunset League finals Saturday at Central Park, then head off for an afternoon soccer game. Next month, she plans to run at the Southern Section finals at Mt. San Antonio College and then play two afternoon soccer games. If she advances to the state finals over Thanksgiving weekend, her family already has come up with an elaborate plan to keep all sides happy.

Allen is scheduled to play in two tournament games in San Diego on Friday and then fly to Fresno for the state finals Saturday morning at Woodward Park. She’ll then fly back to San Diego if her soccer team is still alive for the final rounds Sunday.

“I think they’re both complementary, except cross-country is a long-distance sport and soccer is sprinting back and forth,” Allen said. “But with the endurance I can play the whole game without getting tired. They’re kind of on the same equal level right now, so we’ll see what happens.”

*

If you have an item or idea for the cross-country report, you can fax us at (714) 966-5663 or e-mail us atocsports@latimes.com