>>[Hurst66] Why do teams from SC HAVE to win regionals and nationals?<<
Certainly teams from SC don't have to win regionals and nationals -- if they did, we'd be in a lot of trouble given our historically dismal showing. The question in my mind is someone different -- do we want to have one or more clubs in South Carolina that offer our most ambitious and talented players the options of successfully competing on the regional and national stage? My vote is "yes" -- but you already knew that.
>>Hasn't it already been well documented (statistically) that South Carolina is at a disadvantage?<<
SC is at a disadvantage for these primary reasons: (1) a relatively low percentage of our youth play soccer and (2) we have a relatively smaller population and (3) we have a relatively sparse population. However, there are states, such as Oklahoma, that have more sparse populations and yet do a much better job of promoting and developing soccer such that more youth get involved.
So while Charleston is at a relative disadvantage when compared to Atlanta (for example), there appear to be ways that this can be overcome depending on the efficacy of youth soccer organizations.
>>Are our clubs and teams deemed "failures" if we don't win the big one?<<
Yes and no. It completely depends on the goals of the club. I know that Bridge and CESA, from reading their web sites, have as a goal regional competition -- so if there teams have a -40 goal differential in RIIIPL, I believe that they think this is a failure and something to correct. I also think that they believe that if some relatively high percentage of their teams aren't playing in RIIIPL that this is a problem that needs to be corrected.
However, I'd say that these two are the exception (note: CUFC is still evolving -- I'm not sure what their goals are -- but I'd assume it's to be regionally competitive.) Most clubs explicitly don't have goals to be regionally competitive; and thus when one of their teams gets into RIIIPL and has a -40 GD I think they're just happy to be there (note: I've met very few parents of teams in NC, FL, GA, who are happy to have them there, however -- they roll their eyes and say in a disgusted tone of voice "what do you expect from SC soccer?")
