Folks...I'm biased here...I was involved with CESA's board when it started and I was involved with the creation of CESA-Columbia to a lesser degree (but enough to have an SCYSA complaint filed against me by an unhappy person from another club.) I think a lot of CESA and the folks that run it. So after having stated my bias, here are a few observations from the last few days of posts.
>>[4LowcountryUnitedSoccer] I like the concept. CESA does a lot of things right. Didn't all the clubs in the Greenville area merge to make that possible? It's my understanding they don't have a lot of clubs in one area, therefore, no dilution of the player pool.<<
There are actually more clubs in the metropolitan statistical area of Greenville/Spartanburg/Anderson than there are in the MSAs of Charleston or Columbia. The references were the SCYSA and the US Census information; it was posted a few years back on the message board. CESA is successful not because of a lack of available clubs but because they offer services you can't get at other area clubs.
>>[Bear] It takes much more than just having a unified club to equal the professionalism and offerings.<<
This is the point that really gets lost all too often. Before their merger, SGU and GFC alone had more than 50% of all state championships and finalists (sources: all posted years ago on this message board.) There was a culture of innovative services to try to create better players and to help players achieve more.
>>[kickinit70] ColdHT, being managed by CESA doesn't make it a success necessarily. It's not like Hyslop, Tormey and top staff/players are going to spend time down in Summerville. It should be interesting.<<
After watching what has and is occurring with CESA-Columbia, I can tell you that Pearse and Andrew if they are involved won't be hands-off.
>>[CoachKevin] I was approached this weekend by another coach at the club and I was asked "will i still have a job coaching at SSC" you can believe my surprise as I am merely a "worker bee" myself but is seemingly now a growing concern for myself and others it appears.
For all coaches and posters at what stage do we initiate operation PLAN "B".<<
Respectfully, perhaps once you find out what the details of "PLAN A" might be. As another fundamental factor as one involved in starting a new club -- and what I think Bridge has discovered -- getting fields is a big factor. So make sure if you really do contingency/alternative planning that you factor that in. CESA-Columbia wouldn't exist without the SOAR relationship.
However, I'd make one other note. If all of this is true, then you might ask yourself what would be the advantages and the disadvantages to changes in the way things are operating. To me, it appears that the board at SSC has made a decision that what they've done in the past isn't helping them to serve children at the level they desired and they've taken an alternative set of steps. I understand that change, for good or bad, can be disquieting -- but you might want to actually think about the fact that there's at least as much upside (I'd argue more) than downside here.
>>[coldhardtruth] Let's keep an open mind about this...There are only so many coaches to go around..And I do not see anyone coming from Greenville to operate this deal..Let's keep the glass half full instead of half empty..<<
Well said; although I'd separate executive management from coaching.
>>[AHSCoach] No...LCSC does not have an office. We would have to charge much more, along the lines of CESA, do have a located office.<<
The cost of offices is next to nothing compared to the debt load for having to build and maintain your own fields (e.g., MeSA) Lexington and for that matter SSC have a tremendous advantage in having taxpayer subsidized facilities. CESA has always had that to some degree with Wenwood; however, the joint project at MeSA is awe-inspiring if you've been out there and seen the work underway.
One thing that a club has to deal with as a corporate entity is how it invests in both staff and infrastructure to better perform its mission currently and in the future. If I had to differentiate between most clubs that I see out there and CESA it's the difference in this continuing focus.
What most clubs lack isn't offices, what most clubs lack is full-time professional management. Of course, you have to have a certain economy of scale to be able to afford that.
>>[AHSCoach] I can only speak to what LCSC offers. We offer separate keeper training, academy sessions, regular training sessions, speed and agility training, etc. as part of our club fees. I know that CESA is one of the most expensive clubs around SC. That is in no way a knock on them...just a fact. They are a great challenge/premier level club.<<
I don't know what the apples-to-apples fee structures are between the two clubs. It would be interesting to analyze it.
As someone who has had kids involved in only two clubs, LCSC and CESA, I can tell you that we've spent a lot more at CESA than at LCSC. But the majority of those costs have been involved with RIIIPL-East play and going to regionals each year and the like. These have tended to dwarf the dues that are paid to the club.
I can also tell you, as someone who 5 years ago had to agree to take their 13-year old kid to practice and games 100 miles from my home (the LCSC fields are 5 minutes from my house), that the level of training wasn't even close. Perhaps LCSC has evolved very, very recently, but in the past it's been team- rather than club-centric -- if you're fortunate to be on the right team, things are okay -- but the success of one team had little to do with what the club was doing. That is not the way CESA is run. I can remember my kid's first practice with GFC, it was raining and she was practicing with a U18 team on a patch of mud that was laughable compared to the facilities at LCSC and even the size of the patch of mud seemed to small -- and yet the training was unlike anything I'd ever seen.
I say this not to criticize LCSC -- because it is what it is -- but to highlight the difference between what I think the operational management philosophy is at CESA versus most other clubs.
