SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP Midlands Soccer [Moved from Thread with **** in Name]

Coach: I understand; thank you -- a very different perspetive from the one I was taking and obviously very valid -- I apologize for the misunderstanding -- thank you for posting these.

There's probably not a soccer dad out there who feels more strongly than I do that the individual player's growth/development is and should be the ultimate goal of every club regardless of its size or level. Many aspects of this growth are measurable (ask Anson Dorance), but many are not: strength of character, perseverance, self reliance, self confidence... To the extent that a club trains an individual in the art of soccer the clubs are part of a service industry -- a lot like a college or university. The inclusion of the work "academy" in CESA's name manifests their recognition of this.

But in addiition to training individuals, clubs also form teams, and teams, to me, seem to me to be a product at least as much as they are the recipient of services. They consist of carefully chosen parts (players) with certain abilities that give them a particular style. Like a car or a wheelbarrow you can measure things about them -- goals scored, goals given up, percent of passes on target, wins, losses. Like many products teams have parts that can be interchanged, and they have an expected lifespan.

The second letter in CESA's name suggests that the club has an emphasis on upper level soccer, and as an elite organization it is not unreasonable to look at the performance of its premiere teams as a surrogate marker of the quality and efficacy of its methods. 8 of 8 victories at State Cup is very impressive. If one or more of these teams can win the southeastern region this summer then the model set by the GFC-St.Giles merger will have proven itself on a regional basis.

lpaf

Lap, I agree with you for the most part. But, in my opinion, the humanity aspect of the parts (players) is what separates the players from parts and therefore service as opposed to product. I also agree that CESA is in a different league in that their mission is to provide a comprehensive program, while focusing on effectively meeting the needs and desires of all levels of player development. Sure, there will be some hiccups along the way. But, comparatively speaking, they offer the best opportunities (my opinion - for what it is worth). What I do disagree about though is that many people are waiting until regionals to make a final analysis/assessment regarding their success. I believe that if you do that, then, again, you create a very narrow-minded view of measuring success. The nature of athletics/competition ultimately leads to only one "winner." While there may only be 1 champion with 18 players on the roster, there are far more players than that who receive the benefits of a club such as CESA. As you stated above, there are many intangibles that are difficult to measure with regards to a player. There are also many successes that are not exposed on the teams who may not win the championship. Many, many players will receive scholarships, opportunities to play college soccer, invites to national team training camps, etc. as well as the other important things such as qualities of being successful citizens.

When will the CESA Lovefest end??

Coach --

I am not sure that you and I have anything to disagree about here. I don't know anything about the rec organization of CESA but can only presume that care is given to develop the younger or average players. The thrust of this thread has been what the midlands might do to stay competitive with CESA and it was prompted by last week's strong showing of the CESA teams at state cup. My earlier brief post about regionals is just a way of saying that if CESA has truly moved up a level in the play of its most elite teams (as suggested by an 8 for 8 state cup run) we should see a reflection of this in how well they play against the major metropolitan clubs of Atlanta and Dallas. I would never narrowly judge CESA's overall success as a megaclub based on their regional success anymore than I would be critical of a MPSC, CUSC or CSC's overall program based on their failure to win a single match this year at state cup. There is an element of self-fulfilling prophesy at work here but that's another story.

In the end, the character building experience of soccer is what I think matters most. Many, many widely different club structures provide this.

Good talking to you, Coach. Have a great weekend.

lpaf

OK, lpaf has spoken and blessed this thread with his wisdom, and the Lovefest can now officially end. Let us get back to the original topic of this thread - merger in the midlands.

i kinda skipped alot of this and then posted in the other topic. But what I said was that my cousin played in North Carolina for a local team for state play then merged with some other teams for nationals. Would it be possible for these clubs to merge simply their best players rather than joining all together? If so would they even consider playing with each other?

striker - surely CSC is at least talking to some of the other clubs after what happened at the Challenge Cup?
Even if they can't say so publicly.
The **** merger annoucement did'nt happen until they had been talking privately for a while.

I personally think it's too late for the Coumbia area to play catch up with the older age groups. The word is out that CESA is the place to be. However, it would be wise for the younger age groups to start consolidating and build something that can compete and win in a few years.

To all the Mid-State & Coatal Regions.I have been reading through all the messages on this topic and I can understand that you are frustrated.I think also,for Districts to be more competetive a merger must happen within Clubs around.It will be sooner then later in my Opinion.For what its worth,CESA has 2000+ players who are fielding 3 sometimes 4 teams in each age Bracket to compete in Classic/Challenge League play.Look at the Final Results of State Cup Play.There was not 1 blow out.2 games went into O.T I think that's Brilliant! CESA had at least 80+ players trying out for every age group.In the younger ages they had 100+ easily at try-outs so definatly numbers count.Last Year ST Giles/GFC won 8/9 Champs in u15-u18.This year,Congrats to them,they won all 8,by combining those teams together.Should they have won? SURE!! It doesn't matter if CESA was formed in 6 months or 6 weeks..with the quality of players the Coaches had to work with,it just a matter of time for them to get them together as a team and play a system the players can all relate too.So,this I can't believe we won 8 State Titles so soon B.S. is just that..B.S
Hopefully,Coaches are talking about merging to be more competitive in the future for all S.C Soccer.