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That's a strawman argument. I never said either that CUFC was "the only club developing local talent," or that CESA "[isn't] developing local talent." Of course they are. The difference (in my opinion) is that CESA is far more inclined to seek out players from outside of its "natural" service area in order to supplement the rosters of its teams.

HD,
In your opinion, what is the reason CUFC does not seek out talent outside of their area. Is it something in the mission statement,team chemistry, parental backlash, etc.

In addition, if CUFC does not actively recruit players outside their area, would they be willing to take on out of town players that just showed up for tryouts. Or, does CUFC just have a difficult time attracting these players. For example, with your son's team that has had some success that should not be an issue, but if a CUFC team is not in the Premier league maybe that makes sense for out of town players to not come. Looking for your thoughts.

how long does someone have to drive to be considered an out of towner?
is someone from anderson that drives to cesa considered an out of towner?
is someone that drives from blythwood to cufc considered an out of towner?

Hard Head,

I've seen your odometer!

Don't worry....you qualify!!!

In response to clubs developing "home grown" talent or bringing in out of towners...

The club name, CESA, stands for CAROLINA Elite Soccer Academy. It doesn't say Greenville or Upstate. It says CAROLINA, the WHOLE state.

In CUFC's case, we have COLUMBIA United FC.

The two words "Carolina Elite" make it sound like CESA expects to field the best teams in all of South Carolina.

CUFC sounds like it expects to fields the strongest teams in all of Columbia.

Based on the wording, each club is doing pretty much exactly what their name says they should.

Perhaps only the rhetoricians are to blame.

I think there are several factors at work. One difference is in the structure of the clubs. CUFC is run by, and its teams are coached by, part-time people. There is not nearly the pressure for wins and titles that I believe exists at CESA. Consequently, you just aren't going to see CUFC coaches scouting the state and region for players to come join their teams. It just doesn't happen. CESA does that, and they do it successfully. That contributes greatly to the perpetuation of its success. They win, which makes it more attractive, both to "recruits" and to those who might take their own initiative to move there, which creates better teams, which win, which makes it more attractive...

CUFC seems happy to have kids from everywhere try out. I have not meant to suggest that CUFC has a policy or preference that discriminates in favor of Midlands kids. On the other hand, I don't think you'll see CUFC teams replacing players after tryouts with kids they "find" elsewhere.

I should also make clear that I don't speak for anyone but myself and I don't know every single thing that goes on with every team. There may be exceptions to what I've described as the "culture" of the Club.

People are free to characterize what I say as rationalizations for CUFC's relative lack of success at state cup. I prefer to see it as more of an explanation (partial) than a rationalization.

Bottom line - CESA, as a club, cares a great deal about adding soccer balls to its website. I think that is less important to CUFC. Some may argue that it should be more important, and that is perfectly fair. I happen to like the way we do things. I also accept that it hamstrings our ability to compete across the board with CESA in terms of championships. I'll repeat that I don't think there is a morally "right" or "wrong" way to do these things. I just have a strong personal preference in the matter.

So now we bring in the recruiting angle....yet again. But I know, you don't hate CESA in general only a couple of things about the way they operate.

Call it rationalization, or explanation, the simple answer is, both can be characterized as an excuse.

I know you are fortunate to be involved with the 1 home grown and developed team that has had success, but, I wonder if you would feel the same way if you weren't the "special" one.

happy, maybe it's not so much that cufc chooses not to do that as much as cesa, but that they cannot do it as well, so you argue that they don't (thus making it sound nicer).

i have never before heard anyone from cufc say what you have been saying (about the local vs not-local). not that i know everything (or much of anything) going on there, but i just doubt this is anything any group of people at cufc have made some "decision" about.