SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP South Carolina United FC - Information

CU Parent, vision the SCYSA ODP team. Idealistically, that's what your team would (should) look like.

Chass, good observation.

Thinking out loud of the parents and players who would be more willing to commit to competitive soccer at an early age if they didn't feel it would eventually lead them to 7-hour round trips to the practice field or else be considered a waste of time.

by the name I assumed it would be a state club that would be trying to form the best team possible and not only play but be competetive at a higher level. at least that is what i was hoping as some others on here mentioned that is the odp team or 1 of the top 2 teams in the state at each age for the most part.now it is starting to look more like something for those not on a team that gets to these events that chance.im not sure from some of the arguments that its not just to keep kids in the lower state.why not a training site in greenville and maybe at manchester in rock hill if it is going to carry the sc name?would be nice to keep all the young york county kids from crossing the border.with the reputation sc has only the state champ and runner up have any shot at getting in these tournaments. the way for sc teams to get to the big tourneys and region is to win the state and play region III. why not run this as a new club that wants to combine all the best players to really be competetive at a region and national level and win those spots through the state league? im not sure why a premier player at cesa or anywhere else would want to leave a team that is almost guaranteed a spot at one of these tourneys would want to do this.without all or most of the top players from each age group how would these new teams be able to compete to get into these big tourneys and compete at a region and national level.

HH,

Again, I'm just venturing speculation, but I think the idea is that the players in the areas you mention are already being served by CESA; another showcase team that would attend the same tournaments as CESA would be somewhat redundant in their own backyard. Like you, I can't imagine why a CESA premier player would feel the need to leave their team or even double-roster.

As for the path to the tournaments lying through a state title...well, SOMEONE is going to win state no matter how good or bad the overall quality of soccer here is. Winning state is no indication of ability to compete outside the state if there's no strong competition within the state to make the title meaningful--an empty crown that just says the best we've got all gathered in one place, not how good those "best" really are or how hard they fought to get that title--or how they will react to the pressure of competition with teams of equal measure.

So seriously...why not try to develop more than one competitive team in SC? You say that with SC's reputation, only the top team in the state is deemed "worthy" of these tournaments...so is everyone ok with perpetuating that reputation by creating that "one team" at the expense of all others, or can SC dare to spread out and make competitive soccer available to more players, roll up the collective sleeves and train them (yes, I said "train," not "collect"...that's where the non-easy yet long-run-productive part comes in) and possibly have more than one competitive team in the state? Again, the overwhelming assumption seems to be that South Carolina only one roster's worth of players at each age level who can compete at the regional or tournament level, and the emphasis seems to be on how to gather them together, not how to create more.

Quality attracts quality, drive inspires drive, and commitment draws those of like minds to commit as well...those top-notch players folks seem to want to uproot and collect all in one place might just be the seeds that help grow quality, competitive teams in their own areas of the state, which has the potential to elevate the level of competition across the state.

Higher overall level of competition means the state champ has to work harder to maintain that title, which theoretically means they will be better prepared to face stiff competition from elsewhere.

Seems that's the way to go to change the reputation, but again, I'm speculating...feel free to tell me if I'm talking nonsense.

coach i never said that the state champ is the only worthy team to play in these higher level tournys. i see all to often the sc state champ not perform well in region play. what i said or meant to say was to get into these tournys from sc you have to be the state champ and maybe the runner up. your resume has to be a little more than just being a new option club to get into these tournys. you ask how hard did they really work to get that title. well bad as it may be usually the state champ and runner up has gone through the bashing known as region play.
in the very first post that started this it was stated the purpose of the girls side of this new club was to be for the best and most competitive players in sc or something to that effect. i do not think all the best are coming so we get into the argument that we have with odp. with this new club not playing in state and not in region im not sure of the competition level they will face and without all the best players im not sure if it will just be another sc team that has a poor showing with college coaches watching.
i do agree with you about the better players wanting to play with better players at the higest level.they want to play with and against the best. with the attempt to better sc girls soccer i wonder if we are not going to water it down more.

I know it's not your personal opinion that only the state champ is worthy of playing in the tournaments; didn't mean to misrepresent that. Apparently, though, you're correct in pointing out that the powers that be seem to perceive it that way.

It sounds to me like what this SCUFC effort is trying to accomplish is to give an opportunity for an all-star team to come together for specific events while still allowing the individual players to stay with their local clubs, which would mean they get to contribute to the growth and success of the "home team" while still getting the opportunity to further their own experience and exposure at a high level. It also means that they can have the chance to combine their resources in playing together, while still getting the value of competition in playing against each other with their SCYSA clubs as well. Maybe it will just be the best non-CESA players, since those players will probably not see a benefit, but I think there are enough quality players at other clubs around the state to put together a pretty decent all-star team.

These advantages, of course, are dependent on the assumption that the SCUFC administration really does intend to allow the players to continue competing with their respective teams and not gradually morph it into leveraging them into all coming to the same SCYSA team as well...but I guess a little faith is required for any progress to take place. Otherwise everyone will just keep chasing their tails in the same argument and going nowhere fast.

Do we have this all figured out before tryouts? Why not make a trip to tryouts and see first hand what's going on and make our assessments then.Most state champs do not play in all the major tourneys..Maybe this team will get into some of them..maybe not..Maybe it will be a supplement for games and friendlies our clubs chose not to do..
As for particular age groups..93 CESA Premier is a beast of a team..No need to do this..The 92 age group has four competitive teams each year at state..BFA Gold..CESA..FC Carolina and CUFC have matches that are one or two goal games. Let's say we take the best five players from each team and form one team.Would this team be stronger than the four club teams? I believe so..If they could get into a premier tourney I think they would show better than the four club teams..Just another way to look at things..
Whatever happens I hope this is a positive move for girls in the state..

has anyone come up with a total cost for this. they have people in charge so i assume they will get paid from fees or is cufc footing the bill. there has got to be more expenses than just entrance fees and coachs per diem.
will the girls be allowed to participate in odp?

cht, excuse me for posing questions on the message board rather than taking them to one of the directors of the new scufc. At this point, I'm more interested in other people's thoughts on the matter than I am in wasting one of the director's time. I think it would be wonderful if this turns out to be a great thing for girls' soccer in SC, but I really don't see how it would work. If you had the 5 best players from all the 4 teams you mentioned above, for instance, then it seems to me it would require a lot of cooperation and collaboration from all involved to not only avoid applying or entering the same events, but to just avoid scheduling conflicts, period. For instance you could rule out Disney and Orange Classic right off the bat because BFA 92 Girls as SC State Champs will already be at Disney and they wouldn't want to play the Orange Classic right before or right after. Players whose teams that have league games (scysa or r3pl) the same weekends as some of the events, etc. Again, not saying I hope it doesn't work or that it is absolutely impossible, just raising questions that pop into my mind upon further thought. Sounds like a logistical nightmare to me. Not to mention, do all or any of these players really want to be playing 3 more events and attend numerous other training sessions (assuming you could get enough players together on any given weekend to make it worthwhile with all the various schedules going on) in addtion to their SCYSA's team schedule of league games, scrimmages, training sessions and tournaments, which I am assuming would be their top priority. My experience with the teams that my daughters have been on, is that the schedule they and their teammates play with their club teams, odp, and high school teams has been plenty. But I'm sure there are some out there that want more.

Please do not think I am hoping this will not work. If it works for those who show up and sign up, that's wonderful - I really have no dog in the fight.But in reading all the information that I've read so far and thinking further about how it could work, I must admit the thought has crossed my mind that maybe this was all done just to make a deal work to merge BFA boys and CUFC boys and then the girls thing was thrown in to give the appearance of creating additional opportunities to the girls as well, whether or not it will actually pan out. Or maybe it's a round about attempt at eventally getting the best coastal girls players together with the best midlands girls players and forming a better scysa team from the 2 areas under cufc,and forget about the scufc thing. Again, I am so ignorant about all the facts, that I very well could be completely mistaken. I have been very impressed with some of the moves CUFC has made (especially linking themselves in with the YMCA) recently and I'm sure they know what they are doing. At any rate, I'm sure they have put a LOT of hard work into putting this all together and I wish them success in growing and raising the level of SC youth soccer. Hopefully, it will work out well and give a bunch of girls more opportunities that they wouldn't have had otherwise.

By the way, cht, you say rather than ask so many questions, just come to the tryout and find out what's going on. I don't think a tryout is where you are going to get answers to your questions about a program. At least I have never found that to be true in any of our experiences.

Live and learn,
Sounds like you have lived it and learned it..Everything scenario you came up with is true..It's going to take alot of dancing to make it work..As far as the five players from each team..that was just to point out that some age groups could benefit from it..It's not to say that it would happen.
If you are not finding out things at tryouts..Are you asking the right people? Going to tryouts lets you know who is interested and who is not by who shows up..No simple answers..I question people's motives all the time myself but I don't want to throw this thing under the bus before it's had a chance either.
Just trying to be proactive instead of reactive for the girls