SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP Bridge and Summerville Soccer Club - Why now???

Good points coach..
The Bridge is going to exist and the challenge players will follow where ever they practice..As far as the comment about board members having a hidden agenda..Over half the board members for SSC have kids playing in the Bridge system and why would they allow the membership to decide?
Barking up the wrong tree about hidden agendas..Has more to do with an agreement that was broken

If Summerville pulls out the whole thing tanks.

Clubs need feeder programs.......and all the current Bridge teams may stay as Bridge teams. But if the faucet gets turned off its only a matter of time......

Here was a response from Director of Coaching @ Bridge FA to the above letter from Classic Coordinator @ SSC.


A few individuals on the current board may have a conflict of interest—meaning representing SSC on the board and being a paid classic coach--- this may be
resolved sooner than later so we do not have these conflicts.

To answer questions about below points—
1.) SSC has priority and Bridge FA has field rental agreement in place--- to pay SSC in the amount of $7,000 for 2006-07 season for field use
2.) Does SSC really want challenge soccer back? Or do some parents--- if some parents do what are there motives? SSC cannot field a competitive challenge program the way the state of soccer consolidation will continue to move—I will better explain this on Wed at 8:00pm to the executive board
3.) How can SSC do this? Current coaching fees at SSC for one season are $250 at Bridge/Challenge $300—is there a lot of difference here—

Registration costs differ from club to club based on expenses—

Doe SSC want to sever all ties with Bridge and have yet another club competing for a limited number of kids? If so, than it will be a lose/lose for all. Consider the fact that N. Charleston is starting another program, it would make sense to come to some sort of agreement suitable to all to work together. If this cannot happen than players will go to the best program they can find.
___________________________________________________________

How many board members have children on Bridge Gold teams?
I can't think of any. Maybe that is cause for an agenda. I think this goes back to certain board members children being cut from certain teams in the past and now they are in a position of power. Take a count of the people who back the D.O.C. of the Bridge FA, most have some kind of soccer background, now look at the people who are starting this trouble, most didn't know soccer was a sport until they had kids. I think the D.O.C has proved himself with the quality of play that has come out of both clubs since he has been there.

Ok- I'm confused about ability to vote. If I was from SSC where my daughter played for 5 years and now am at the Bridge, do I no longer have a right to vote on this issue?? Why would they send me this letter? I don't even know who sent it but got it anyway.

I thought part of our registration fee went back to SSC as it was my home club so therefore I would be able to vote. Any one know?

Check the SSC bylaws, posted on the web page. If it's a general membership meeting of SSC, then only parents of registered players may vote. Since the bylaws are for SSC, only SSC players is implied.

I'm pretty sure you're out of luck, unless you have another child still registered at SSC. Otherwise the board violates their own bylaws which would void the vote.

Not all the details are well thought through, only the un-published end state desired by some.

Backrow1
I think that your child has to be a SSC member to have a vote...but that is just one vote if you have been at SSC for five years then you should know plenty of SSC parents.
Make sure that you tell them about the vote and think about all the micro parents who are not concerned yet with classic or challenge levels..All these members need to show up and make their votes count.How often do members actually get to vote on issues within the club.So spread the word so there will be a large turnout for the vote

Yes, please round up people who don't have a clue about what's being discussed.

I guess it's pretty clear now why you said it wasn't a hidden agenda. Seems to me like you know exactly what's going on.

Members at SSC routinely get to vote once a year in the annual general membership meeting, in May, and can be heard at any monthly board meeting. It just happens that very, very few actually go. So let's have a special meeting, engage in parking lot talk, get the word out, etc., so people can be there to vote.

There was a special meeting to weeks ago to discuss the relationship between the Bridge and SSC. It was open to the members to share their thoughts..I could count the amount of members there on one hand..It was posted on the website for two weeks before the meeting..What I am trying to say is that it's alot like church...most people don't get involved and after the fact they say they did'nt know anything about a meeting..I don't think you will get alot of people at a parking lot meeting..Take the time to walk over to a classic/rec/micro practice and introduce yourself and make people aware of what's going on and ask them to get involved and vote and make a difference in their club.
I feel this method would work better than eight people meeting in the parking lot..unless those eight people met and then walked around the complex spreading the word.Again
this is a very important decision and we need to spread the word..It is also suppose to be listed on the website..I am sure that if someone has questions that you can't answer that they can talk to a board member..I see them out there almost every night and their contacts are listed on the web page under administration.

Summerville Soccer Club Executive Board
http://www.summervillesoccerclub.com/club/page/23308

>>[Comet] Yes, please round up people who don't have a clue about what's being discussed.<<

I'll admit that I tend to take a more abstract view of this stuff because I'm not involved personally. But you may have hit upon the "weakness" of the alliance structure in general; the fact that as long as you have separate clubs then those clubs are going to optimize for their membership base. And the membership base of almost any club is made up of more "non-elite players" than "elite players."

I've found it's hard, but not impossible, to get select parents to realize the importance of recreation. It's even more difficult to get recreation parents to realize the importance of not just select, but elite select. Most elite select parents don't choose that path and drag their kids along; instead, their kid chooses it and the parent becomes a fan of the kid and the system.

Fundamentally, SSC as a separately operating entity has to put the interest of its general membership first. If I were on the board, I'd argue that an alliance with Bridge did just that because it gave all players a path for achieving whatever they want. The question from the SSC point of view is what the "cost/benefit ratio" of that alliance really is. If the terms are accurately perceived to be too onerous (i.e., can't get to our fields, elite fees are too high, all the coaches at Bridge are jerks, I don't like the Bridge uniform colors, or whatever) then SSC should get out.

My question would be whether the perception of the cost/benefit ratio is accurate. Maybe it is a little and Bridge needs to make a few concessions -- it would seem to be a lot more reasonable for SSC to ask for those and then use quitting the alliance as a last resort than it is to simply walk away. But then again, I'm not involved and maybe these negotations have been occurring for months and SSC is walking away due to a stalemate.

In any case, interesting stuff...