SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP U14G Lowcountry Challenge Team for Fall 2009

Loc Dog,

I think all the responsibility should lie with the parent. The problems usually arise from abdication of responsibility.

Craig

Futbol,

Thank you for pointing out the obstacles we will face. A positive discussion of all areas is what is needed in order to succeed. Any ideas of future roadblocks would be extremely appreciated.

Craig

Craig,

Now we're getting somewhere. Two problems/red flags:
1. The child should not have to depend on his/her parent for his/her soccer development/training/hiring coaches/ or organizing a soccer team.
2. The parent should not feel as if he/she are qualified to provide that or make those types of decisions. This seems to be commonplace in the lowcountry.

CC
First you need to look at what is available

There are 5 teams in the U13 Girl brackets this season
JI, Summerville, MPSC 95 all play in the classic level
DISA, CUSC play in the challenge level
A quicklook shows that neither DISA nor CUSC seem to be up to par with the challenge teams (in fact a U12 MPSC team is the best of the low country in the challenge level U13 group)

Therefore your proposal would be to pull together the best players from these 5 clubs (we will get to Bridge and SAA in a bit)

Lets assume you are succesful...

Problem #1 - Sally who was a starter and potentially a star in her old team is no longer in the top 11. Mom and Dad cannot seem too find time to remove the rose colored glasses and now they are upset

Problem #2 - Sally lives in James Island and her parents have no desire to train 4 times a week in Summerville

Problem #3 - Sally's parents did not like the DOC (or something) at club A and that was the reason they went to club B. Now you are asking them to accept club A as they are the only ones that will take you.

We can go on and on... the common thread.... parents. The reason why CESA and CUFC as well as some others are "more succesful" is because parents are removed from the equation

This is what Bridge tried to do... You can argue all day about Clark Brisson and for that matter Andrew Hyslop when CESA Summerville almost became a reality. SAA's approach is to let all the better players from the coast from MB down to Savannah play in one team... how it is done you may want to check with Mr. Townsend

The truth is these guys are used to doing things their own way and Sally is not as big of a key as her parents seemed to think she is.

Until parents remove themselves and accept the fact that maybe their child is not the next Mia Hamm then you will have difficulty. If they are able to accept the fact that " the coach AND the club has the best interest of their child at heart" then you can begin to turn the tide.

At the end of the day it is all political and as with most politicians they will always say what you want to hear.

So be prepared to be first and foremost a great poltician because you will have to stroke many egos and those start with the parents in this case (remember you can't please everyone all of the time).

I wish you luck and hope that it works out, hopefully if it happens at one age group then others will follow.

The points raised thus far are essentially the tip of the ice berg.

Another point to be very mindful of as you attempt to gain momentum for what appears to be your version of a grass roots effort is the current seasonal year. The players in the age group that you are soliciting to rally behind the effort very likely are all rostered to one of the current clubs/teams. Someone/club that senses a potential loss of players could use that to extend into the "R" zone.

The magical part that you are going to have to figure out is how to make it convenient for all of the parents. Face it, very few soccer decisions are made by 13 year olds. Parents will all sing the same tune about commitment for the players sake, right thing to do, blah blah, but in the end, if it isn't convenient for mom and dad, it doesn't make sense.

And I can honestly tell you that I have seen it twice personally and I am sure happens more than people think, but kids have been cut from teams not because of ability but because of parents.

Good to hear from you Bear... Maybe you can PM CC and let him know about your decision making process through the years

Craig,I am sure you are aware by now that finding a home for the challenge level player in the low country area is frustrating.

I do like your proactive approach of trying to work it out and I think you should give it a shot. It is not impossible to move an entire team from one club to another. It's been done locally several times.

Teams have moved with the coach and without. I would imagine the coach would have to be flexible enough to accept the coaching salary offered by the club. If you have the players, the club will find you a good coach.

In the last three years, it has been my daughter's experience that the only local low country club with enough challenge level players to field a team is BFA. Not tooting BFA's horn, just stating a fact.

MPSC was more than interested in helping field the team/provide good coaching, etc. However, all the parents could not agree on a change.

Parents say they want one club for the challenge player, but then are unwilling/unable to drive the extra distance for practices. It's been my experience that the parents are more of a road block than the club. We don't have any "bad" clubs, just too many of them!

Good luck and feel free to PM me if you like.

4LUS
The only problem is that BFA does not have U13 teams nor does it have the "feedstock". So CC would have to pull from the other clubs and then approach BFA.

Although BFA did have a nice core of U13 players playing up in their current U14

Good call futbol.

BFA and MPSC U14 both have a core group of U13's playing U14. I would guess that what Craig is trying to proactively find is a place for those U13's playing up this Spring a place to play in the Spring of 2010 as those U13's in 8th grade or even 9th may not try out for the High School Team?