By Sheldon Shealer, editor

Sports in the 21st century is dominated by statistics.

Baseball, football and basketball have been havens for stat lovers for decades and have spawned an entire world of fantasy competition. Not to be left behind, every major team sport has gone beyond the final score and looked to performance-based numbers to help explain outcomes. Even golf, tennis and hockey have obscure categories of statistics.

So where does soccer fall into this world of sports numbers? Truthfully, the sport has been pushed into this realm, where it clearly does not belong.

In its simplest form, soccer offers goals scored and goals allowed. Categories such as assists and saves are often disputed. Only under the most controlled situations (MLS, for example) can categories such as shots, shots on goal, etc., even be considered.

For high school soccer, debate rages on regarding records -- not only the validity of events, but also the ethics behind setting such records.

* Was a 32-0 boys soccer match really needed?

* Did a coach need to leave a player in a game to allow him to score 14 goals?

As malicious as these events appear, they did happen. Therefore, in recording the history of soccer, should a place be made to recognize these occurrences? (I use the word "occurrence" rather than "accomplishment" in describing records that were set in lopsided contests. I often use the comparison that a quarterback can throw for a record 500 yards and seven touchdowns in a 49-45 football game where every yard and score was needed. By contrast, the only way for any single-game soccer scoring record to be established is in the midst of an uncompetitive situation.)

Every winter, a group of current and former coaches and I gather for the Soccer History and Records Committee meeting at the NSCAA Convention. And every time, we debate the same issues. By tracking and acknowledging soccer records, are we in some way encouraging coaches/teams to run up scores just to make the list?

Thinking we were not acting in the best interest of the sport, in 2002 we decided that the NSCAA High School records would merely recognize season and career achievements, ignoring the out-of-control single-game records. As soon as we pulled from public availability such performances, media members, coaches and players were sending e-mails wondering where "their" performances ranked. We created more work for ourselves by trying to downplay certain records.

Therefore, a year later, all records -- game, season and career -- were made available to the public again. The committee's current stand is that these performances, for better or worse, did occur and instead of playing gatekeeper, we allow the public to arrive at its own conclusion about these performances.

Now, here are the record-keeping details:

1. All records must be achieved in varsity-only competition by a National Federation recognized school and properly documented -- either by a school official or local media. Record submissions through other sources will not be acknowledged unless the performance can be verified through proper channels.

2. Players are allowed only four years of competition regarding career records. (Some states allow middle school students to play varsity sports. In those cases, the athlete's performance for only the high school years  grades 9 to 12 -- are considered for records, although a footnote will be made regarding the situation.)

3. High school soccer generally follows the statistical guidelines of the NCAA, which includes the possibility of double-assists.