Again, I'm not one to address concerns or provide potential answers for the costs of higher levels of youth soccer but will certainly lend an opinion on ways at least mid level competition could see savings.
As sandman earlier mentioned LSYSA does now support U14/13 locally for the lowcountry and at first glance seems to represent decent competition at this level. As a club, we're at a crossroads where we have a number of U13/14 teams this coming year and pondering where to play them, or just sit out and play schedule of tournies and friendlies.
I asked SCYSA for thoughts on future of statewide competition at lower levels of Classic and doesn't seem to be any plans to change status quo and I'll probably have to follow up on that (just because it's in my nature).
It was explained to me by knowledgable folks (far more than I) that in addition to stiffer competition at the state level (although that could change if the lowcountry teams stayed home), playing on PMSL actually has a direct benefit to seeding when it comes to Spring championship which I confirmed in rules of the state hosted Publix Presidents Medal Cup. This is questionable in my humble opinion as the rules apparently encourages clubs to push play over distance and directly/indirectly increase cost to families and potentially limits participation (or certainly service) at classic II. Not to mention that a 8-0 team playing in LSYSA is almost certainly better than a 0-8 in classic.
Without even considering the team $850 fees and bond coach Chass discussed, my earlier example a family could spend over $500 each and hours driving back and forth to Columbia. In contrast, the cost to field a squad of 16 players in LSYSA (one season) and annual costs from SCYSA equals a total of $42 each player, and that includes referee fees for 10 games which makes up about 50% of the $. Discalimer: this amount is not what you should expect to pay anywhere as it does not include facilities, admin, or coaching. Still these costs are in the most part fixed regardless of choice of league or competition.
My point in this example is nothing more than pointing out that travel and competition costs do not only affect the top flight teams. I hope we can look at the bigger picture and see the danger (avoidable) high costs have at every level of play and work smarter over time to build competition and administration that encourages and actively seeks to increase player participation and opportunity at each level of our great game.
