To try to answer the question from above: the only soccer guru in my family is my daughter. What she tells me is primarily about the girls side -- so I'm pretty much a dufus when it comes to answering this well. She's worked for one spring and one fall with first GFC and then CESA in Columbia. I remember her telling me last spring that there were several 16-18 year old boys practicing, one of whom was a player that I've read about on this board [note: I'm pretty sensitive on this message board about names unless it's complimenting someone about play in a game]. This fall (CESA), I know that there were girls from at least the Charleston, Florence, and the Columbia area that did some training in the Columbia area and played on teams from U16G to U18G.
On my daughter's U16G team, of the 16 girls on roster, 25% of the girls were from 90+ miles away. That doesn't tell the full story, however, in that there were girls from surrounding areas ss well that traveled 30-45 minutes one-way to get to practice. The players and parents were serious about both training and games [which is what my daughter wanted].
