SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums SCHSSCA State Championship venue

I had the opportunity to attend the Wando game last night -- congrats to the Lady Warriors on another title -- and to be honest, I give credit to Gilbert HS for having a nice facility. However, it is truly in the middle of nowhere and took me nearly 3.5 hours to reach as I got wrong-turned twice by Tom-Tom. It's a good thing the game didn't start on time or I would have been late.

The field was in good shape, but very brown for this time of year. No rye? Decent width, I'd guess 62-63 yards, but wider than their normal field which had a faded black line. I noticed in warm-ups a bunch of balls sailing into the parking lot - need to fix that. But, all in all, ample parking and friendly folk. One knock, the concession stand only had drinks and I had to walk across at halftime to get a hot dog. Also, there were no programs available, or at least I couldn't find one.

One final note, there was NO place to eat after the game. Another reason to have it in Columbia. Our traditional California Dreaming dinner will have to wait.

I wonder if Lexington/Blythewood had to get Carolina's baseball stadium approved by the Activities Committee in order to host the 4A championship there last night. Word is, more than 6,000 showed up! At $10 a head that's $60,000 for the good ole SCHSL.

The problem that you had with the concessions was the fault of the SCHSL.

There are plenty of places to eat in Lexington which is only 10 minutes down the road.

There were some logistical problems but it was due to poor long range planning by the SCSHL. With proper planning arrangements could have been made to provide directions on various webpages. The schools could havve had more time to prep the field. The local community could have stepped up to get local vendors to donate items for the concessions (maybe BBQ sandwiches from Shealy's, Domino's etc....). Programs could have been printed advertising local restraunts. The Gilbert community knows how to get this done. They do this every year with the Peach Festival. But given the lack of planning and the need for total control by the SCHSL it is impossible for any venue to put on the best event possible.

The venue for next years games should be announced before the end of this month. The host site and the community would then have time to plan the best event possible.

I made the trek to Lexington and Gilbert this week. Nice facilities at both Lexington District One schools. They are new and clean. However, neither were easy to access as LHS sits way up on Hwy. 1 near Lake Murray and GHS is in the middle of the sticks that is basically a one-horse town. Heck, it's almost in Aiken County. Those are far reaching places for tge "center" of the state. People traveling from the coast had a minimum 2 1/2 hour drive one way. Hope they can get tge State Finals to a more accessible locale, and, preferably at USC's soccer stadium which is not only central to all of S.C., but a super facility. SCHSL are you listening? Or do you even care?

The games are all finished and the 2013 State Champions have been crowned. The facilities at Gilbert were more than adequate to host the games. There was enough seating and parking to accomodate everyone. The atmosphere was excellent. The packed stadium for the 4A Boys game was proof of that.

Very impressive facilities and the people at Gilbert were very friendly. Kind of enjoyed the drive through the "country" to get there.

I would like to thank Gilbert High School for hosting a great tournament. The facility was excellent and the folks worked hard to make it the success it was. Some people just like to complain because they have nothing better to do (Talon). You need to get a new GPS. There are many, many places to eat 10 minutes from the field.