I know a lot of girls that played HS and now play for Power 5 teams and many others start on their Mid Major colleges as Freshman. Anna Prodogil is killing it at Arkansas just as an example. There’s some residual high school rust that may happen going back to club but the truly good players can maintain their technical skills. To say they “lost” everything during high school means they didn’t practice on their own time to ensure they would remain sharp. It’s not that hard to retain certain skills and if you did lose some sharpness the good players snap back into form fairly quickly when they rejoin club. If they didn’t have a good club year I’d look at the schedule and see if they had tougher competition - that would cause them to score less goals. Are they missing players that made them look good? I’m just saying blaming HS ball for poor club performance might be BS.
This has become a tiresome debate. High school soccer is not a fun experience for every kid that participates. For kids that are playing at the elite club level, on average, they are getting quality coaching, quality competition, getting to travel throughout Ohio and other states, and play with teammates that they have been with for years. There are high schools out there that do not have quality coaching nor do will they have teammates and competition that are equal to what they see with club. Not every high school program has a lot of people coming out to the games either (often, it is just the parents and family members) -- for some schools, girls soccer is still viewed as a secondary sport. Importantly, a high school team is together once a year for 3 months or so whereas a club team is together year after year for 9 months or more -- so the camaraderie for some club teams is higher. Add to that, most college coaches do not scout high school games.
Now, it is true that some kids love their high school experience. As has been pointed out, they're can be fun in representing your school and playing under the lights (note that a lot of club games are played under the lights), playing before your classmates, etc. They can get their names in the paper and compete for a title. They can play with their friends (note again, that they also have friends on their club teams, and some cases they've been playing with those girls longer), etc.
For the kids that like it, they can continue to play high school. However, as I've pointed out, it is not fun for everyone. Those kids now have an alternative. They should not be attacked or ridiculed for making this choice.
Lastly, the move away from high school is no longer unique to soccer. It is starting to happen with baseball, softball, and basketball -- essentially, sports that have a develop club system where college coaches are devoting more and more time and attention
