This thread started with the question "What does GFC offer that clubs in Columbia do not? Why would a kid/parent drive to Greenville to practice when they have clubs here?" and the last post posed the question "I don't understand why you would drive out to Northeast or Irmo when you could play on a pretty good team right here in Downtown Columbia?"
The answer to both of these questions appears to be because there are parents and/or players who, for whatever reason, want their children to play on the best team and are willing to sacrifice resources to make that occur. There are also parents and/or players that want to play competitively but do not wish to sacrifice the same level of resources to make that occur. Finally, there are parents and/or players that want to play recreationally.
During the time that this thread has been in existence, CSC and CFC have announced a merging of resources in order to better accomplish playing at a higher level. What GGG has continued to state, consistently and emphatically, is his/her concern that other clubs will be "left behind". GGG's solution for this, and stated consistently and emphatically, is to merge clubs into a single "meta-club" such that all resources may be applied to this issue.
While I disagree with GGG's "meta-club" solution as the optimal path, it does at least acknowledge the issue of that there are clubs that appear to be more serious about competing at a regional and national level than others. Repeatedly, it is asked why people would drive greater distances to play at one club when another is closer. Again, the answer lies in the "mission" of the parent and the matching of that "mission" by the club.
For the group of parents and/or players that wish to compete regionally and nationally, what is desired is a club that is willing to step up in terms of resources. GGG wants NECSA/CRSA to either merge with CSC or to step up and commit the resources to compete at a regional and national level alone.
Here's what I think some (not all) folks are missing in this thread: driving distance to practice is a rather trivial committment compared to many that need to be made if you want to compete regionally and/or nationally. You have to be willing to pay for the best coach possible. I know that many people on these message boards coach and have children playing -- but what you want are professional coaches (in much the same manner that most do not want a part-time brain surgeon poking around in your head with a stick). This costs money. You want to have the team playing in the best tournaments in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, Tenessee, Virginia, etc. against the best teams. This costs money and even more importantly for many, a major amount of time and energy. And so on...
Some of the absolute worst clubs have one or more teams willing to make this happen. And some of the best clubs have teams that are not willing to make this happen.
To make a decision that teams in the Columbia area are not competitive with those of the Greenville area because of the overall size of the talent pool overlooks, in my humble opinion, the more basic challenges that face any team or collections of teams (i.e., a club) - the willingness of parents and/or players to make the sacrifices necessary to play at a regional and national level.
GFC and St. Giles are not focused on winning against SC teams -- they are focused on winning against some of the best teams in the region and nation (e.g., Norcross, Tophat, Quest -- just from the Atlanta region). For those of you that have seen teams at the level of Norcross play, you recognize that while there is certainly a deeper level of talent, that this is a side-effect less of the talent pool than it is a side-effect of the committment by parents and/or players.
Okay -- enough rhetoric -- let me bottom line this. CSC is a wonderful start and seems to be trying to do the right thing. I don't perceive anyone on this thread as "anti-CSC" -- I just perceive that there are people who wish that their "more local club" had more of a CSC mindset. The short answer to those people: vote with your feet -- tell your "more local club" that you're switching to CSC, or forming a new club, if they can't get their act together in terms of competing regionally and nationally. Trying to make clubs merge will typically give you the lowest common denominator of those clubs; the only way this is avoided is if clubs internally decide that they want to play and win at a high enough level such that they decide to merge on their own for selfishly competitive reasons.
One last note concerning Lexington. It's amazing to me that I read all of these shots at Lexington month after month without anyone coming to its defense. But then again, it's completely understandable. For those of you that lust after the fields that Lexington has, realize that Lexington, while field rich, is club poor in that the four (4!) clubs that squabble over those fields are all over the map. Lexington is a disaster at the club level -- the embodiment of a cautionary tale that parents should tell their children about before going to bed to make sure that when they become adults that they never allow to occur again. And while some Lexington teams are certainly very good on a state level, this is more a matter at this time of individual coaches and parents/players rising up and fighting the club rather than a club itself. It should be noted, however, that rather than merging the Lexington clubs I think that the right answer is to help the clubs that are actively and at least somewhat competently trying to become more competitive (i.e., the boys classic club) rather than trying to force some type of merger that would possibly drag all of the clubs down to the level of the girls classic club. In my opinion, you don't fix things like the girls classic club of Lexington by altering it or merging it -- you blow it up, salt the earth, and either create something new or switch over to a club that wants to be competitive (e.g., CSC).
