I sat around this weekend wondering how some of the teams that will participate in Premier League for the first time will fair. For some teams, they have never had to play against a Concorde Fire, RSL or Alpharetta Ambush. For them this is their second tier of talent. Will this be a great reflection on South Carolina for these teams to play in the premiere league and get killed?
CESA may belong in the Academy. How has our other SC academy club done? Do we have enough talent to field two academy programs? I think even if CESA faired well with academy they would still have naysayers.
Just my opinion.
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CESA would do fine. And the only CESA naysayers are within SC. With Academy.....state lines are gone and you're just another team.
If I were a parent/player of CESA right now I might be a little concerned. While CESA may be able to compete very well if they were in the Academy - for how much longer? With the Academy teams playing a longer season (more practice - more games) than R3PL teams it stands to reason that more training and games should make one a better player. If not, is the USSF Academy really doing what it is designed to do? Also, with R3Pl being "watered down" (as some on these threads have put it) the level of competition being faced by CESA is not likely what is being faced by South Carolina United. Conventional wisdom would have you believe for most facing higher levels of competition should make one better. Playing lesser opponents will not make one better than facing equal or better opponents.
No offense meant to CESA (heaven knows they have pretty much dominated soccer in this state for quite a while) but are they in danger of becoming a big fish in a small pond if they don't try to field some Academy teams? How much longer can they let South Carolina United be the lone Academy team in this state before there is a significant gap in talent between the two if only for the reasons stated above?
CESA has a great program and may be content to offer the product they offer and niche in the market. However, lets not believe they necessarily are "THE" club in this state offering the highest caliber of soccer.
