National Team Calling, but CIF Answers: ‘No Thanks’

The rift between club and high school soccer continues to grow.

The Irvine Strikers under-17 boys’ club team was scheduled to play a three-day tournament in Bradenton, Fla. (Dec. 15-17) before national team coaches and top college coaches. The Strikers, comprised mostly of Orange County high school players,

were to be matched against elite club teams from Houston and Virginia and the under-17 national team.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these kids,” said Don Ebert, the Strikers’ director of coaching. “How many times in your life do you get to play against the top 45 youth players in the country and have the national team coaches watching?”

The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will have to wait.

Jack Hayes, the state CIF’s executive director, ruled that any player participating in the Florida tournament would be ineligible for high school competition until after Dec. 17, citing a rule banning outside competition during the high school season. And the trip began falling apart.

Because of the ruling, some Striker players would miss up to nine of their high school team’s games for a three-day weekend in Florida. That prompted a few high school coaches to tell their Striker players that their spot might not be available when they returned from Florida.

“I totally understand the high school coaches’ perspective,” said Ebert, whose son, Eric, a Woodbridge High defender, plays for the Strikers. “But we shouldn’t have to put these kids or the high school coaches in this kind of position, where they have to make these kinds of choices.”

Ebert decided to make the choice easy for the players who weren’t given their coaches’ blessing.

He canceled the trip.

“I thought, ‘If we’re doing this, we’re doing it together,’ ” Ebert said.

Not every coach was opposed.

Woodbridge Coach Jon Szczuka, who coaches under-10 and under-12 teams for the Strikers, would have lost Ebert and forwards Roy Chingarian and Pieter Berger for seven games, including Friday’s showdown with Division II power Riverside Poly and Division I power Santa Ana. But he was willing to grant his players the leave of absence.

“If Roy had done well in Florida, he would have had a chance to be picked up by the [under-17] national team,” Szczuka said. “We would have missed those guys, but I was looking forward to the opportunity of playing some of our younger kids.”

The other county players who won’t be going to Florida are Yohei Fukuda and David DeFelice of University, Eric Reed of Laguna Hills, Chris Klotz of Dana Hills, Michael Munoz of Los Alamitos, Garrett Petry of Capistrano Valley, Alex Martinez of Irvine and Jeff Oehlman of Northwood.

The controversy has also raised questions about equal treatment by the CIF.

Ebert wondered why high school players were not penalized last year for playing in an Olympic Development Program tournament in Arizona. But the Strikers were about to be penalized for participating in an event including the under-17 national team.

“This goes way beyond club soccer,” Ebert said. “When the national team calls, I believe the player has a right, the obligation, to answer the call.”

Hayes did not return phone calls to his Sacramento office. But Karen Hellyer, Southern Section assistant commissioner in charge of soccer, explained that rule 600 of the CIF bylaws says that players may not participate in an outside competition while playing for a high school team. Rule 604, an exception to rule 600, states that the ODP is a special Olympic program that has been previously approved.

“The CIF is getting to be like the NCAA,” Ebert said. “They are so rigid. Had Jack Hayes ruled the other way, these kids would have missed one day of school and one high school game. It’s very frustrating.”

Ebert said the trip would have cost each player $200. Will there ever be another opportunity like this for Striker players? Maybe not.

Will this cause a further rift between club and high school soccer? Probably.

“The rift grows,” Ebert said. “I could see the top kids saying, ‘Why don’t we play on a traveling team for three months? That way we wouldn’t lose out on opportunities like this.’ ”

A LOOK AHEAD

Now that top-ranked Woodbridge (2-0) has its full compliment of players, the Warriors’ home game on Friday night (7 p.m.) against Riverside Poly should be competitive.

“It would have been tough to beat them down our best three players,” Szczuka said. “As much as [canceling] the Florida trip hurts those three kids, it has brought solidarity to our team.”

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If you have an item or idea for the boys’ soccer report, you can fax us at (714) 966-5663 or e-mail us at david.mckibben@latimes.com