[Preface: Soccerdog6, hope you have a great holiday. Several points you raised deserve a general response. 2004striker: You don't want to read this; I'm going to be complimentary to CESA; sorry.]
>> [Soccerdog6] It can be done but how many girls are committed to practicing FIVE nights a week and traveling every weekend to either play games or attend tournaments.<<
In SC, from what I've seen, probably no more than 20-25 per age group -- and that may be high. A relatively small number. That number seems concentrated in the upstate where more kids practice more time and more parents support more travel/tournaments/etc. than anywhere else in SC.
>>It may be best for our clubs and teams to simply play within themselves with available talent.<<
This is an important point. For most kids playing soccer, the current local clubs are fine. The problem is a relatively small number of parents trying to get their soccer-serious [some say soccer-obsessed] kids the training, with other serious kids [and parents willing to support them], that they want.
1-2 years ago I cared a lot if midlands soccer clubs merged. I don't any longer. A merger isn't going to help the highly ambitious kids ages 14+; many of the best in the midlands area are commuting to Greenville [and Charlotte, and I'm sure other places]. I don't see a merger reversing this; I see it accelerating. And that's probably good; the truth is that SC can probably only support a single group of really serious kids at a given age group if there are ambitions of regional or national competitiveness.
A year ago I cared a lot of lowcountry soccer clubs merged. I don't any longer. The CUSC Fusion are great; but beyond that the landscape seems almost as fractured as Columbia with questionable commitment [I ***do not*** know this first hand -- MPSC has done some wonderful things in their younger age groups -- I'm simply noting what parents have said on this board]. Soccerdog6: you may not have been trying to insult the CESA 89 Premier team by citing their deficiencies in premier league play, but as soccermom1121 noted, there are some seriously mitigating circumstances involving the fact that they've existed for a single season [note: my daughter doesn't play on this team, so this isn't personal]. But MPSC in this age group didn't even try -- as you noted this summer, it was too expensive and would impact social lives too much. No problem at all with that -- but in response to "...ya'll come down to MPSC..." why in the world would a serious player travel 2-3 times a week 90 miles to join a group you described in that manner?
In the last week and a half since the state challenge tournament, my daughter's biggest issue has been which of the conflicting three training sessions per night she'll attend for various teams/groups of players [note: this isn't a joke -- she's mad that there isn't more coordination among the different teams so she can attend more than one practice -- a problem that I hope will be addressed in coming seasons]. There are a lot of very serious folks at CESA.
