>>[Beezer] >>HOWEVER, the bottom line is South Carolina is not up to the level, right now, any way you paint the picture. I'm not talking about competing but WINNING. And, those who say it doesn't matter say that because they are not winning at the Region III and National. It's not hard to organize decent level American youth players to compete and keep a match close but can they play consistently well and WIN vs. the best clubs? No.<<

>[cabj12] Even if you were to get the best players all together for an agegroup it isn't a gaurantee that they will win like you think. And when they don't win regionals their first year together they are all gonna be like "well screw this" and then go back to their clubs where they don't have to travel as far for practice.<

You're right that there are no guarantees -- and furthermore you're right that there would be kids who would get discouraged. My only comment here is that clubs that invest in remote training (e.g., CESA in Asheville, Bridge in Myrtle Beach, etc.) are less prone to being hurt by this and open up more choices in our communities.

>And wouldn't all the other states just figure out that we are getting the best players from around the state and then do the same which would just put us back behind them once again.<

One "advantage" SC has as a small state is that it's geograpically small. It's going to be difficult for Texas and other states to match simply because they are geographically large.

I think Beezer was onto something when he talked about commute time being 1+ hours in the major metropolitan areas in Georgia and North Carolina. It seems to me that because in those areas there are more players, that you have a higher raw number of players willing to make that type of sacrifice. I don't think the issue is one of travel as much as it is one of not having the numbers of kids at our foundation such that at the elite levels we have kids willing to sacrifice as much as other kids -- at least at this time.

>I just don't think there is a solution to us becoming better than teams like Dallas Texans on a consistent basis.<

You could be right...but looking at what sbs said and looking at the last two years of results in RIIIPL-East...it does appear to me that South Carolina is getting better faster than the rest of RIIIPL-East. Is it fast enough/good enough? That's the question...