SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP GPS Charleston tryouts

Just to clarify a bit (and partially for my own sake as things seem murky), my understanding (and feel free to correct me)-

A- NASA's President decided to affiliate (or partner?) with the new SC Surf group (which seems to be based out of the former USA MTP?) in place of GPS. Because the lease for Cathedral was with him (or NASA), they will use those fields (until they are sold, they are currently under contract from what I have heard and will not be soccer fields forever). Let's call this new group Surf NASA. From the Surf Press Release the Surf NASA group will continue to operate semi-independently.

B- GPS (which had already started GPS Charleston brand the year before and registered players though it for US Club including all of the NPL teams and all of the NASA players, etc.), has decided to continue to have a presence in North Chas and form teams in the area. They have NPL access and will likely rely heavily on partnerships (current and future) for certain things. Hence the tryout announcement (Surf already announced their tryouts so I'm sure they felt some pressure from current GPS players to announce something). They will likely look to secure fields (wherever they can find them) as well as rely on partnerships (current and future) for additional space.

So what has not changed- There are still the same number of NPL teams/access as before. Surf (USA MTP) and GPS (GPS Charleston) have the same number of NPL teams slots as before.

What has changed- There are now two groups competing for the former GPS NASA players in North Chas.


There are still plenty of unknowns: who is going to run/coach Surf NASA (I can't find a website or anything)? what field space can GPS Charleston find (will be slim pickings for sure)? When will Cathedral sell? Which group will former GPS NASA families/players feel comfortable with (or do they abandon both)? Who does GPS Charleston partner with? How does the current COVID crisis factor in to all of this?

Will be an interesting spring.

That's a good summary, thank you!

On the girls side the only NPL team will be Surf and maybe FC Charleston or whatever they are calling themselves. Surf will also be the only local club in the Girls Development League.

True but that’s no different from last year- just a name change (from USA mtp to Surf).

FC Charleston will not have girls NPL and the DPL looks pretty shakey to me. Not sure Surf will even put teams in it but who knows.

I think last year it was Tophat's 2nd teams and 2 south Florida teams that they both killed in most age groups.

This year it will be Tophats 3rd team and maybe 8 Florida clubs with second teams of similar quality. It will certainly be a travel commitment if enough USAMP parents want to do it.

How did surf end up in Charleston?

The story I was told (and seems to be backed up by supporting documentation)- a former GPS Carolina leader put this deal together through contacts he had with Surf and contacts in the area here.

Do you know how Surf ended up at Cathedral fields?

A- NASA's President decided to affiliate (or partner?) with the new SC Surf group (which seems to be based out of the former USA MTP?) in place of GPS. Because the lease for Cathedral was with him (or NASA), they will use those fields (until they are sold, they are currently under contract from what I have heard and will not be soccer fields forever). Let's call this new group Surf NASA. From the Surf Press Release the Surf NASA group will continue to operate semi-independently.

I think the head of NASA is on here and can confirm if the contract with Cathedral was and now is with him(or NASA)?

I know most of the fields will be developed soon, but it seems a weird thing for GPS to let out of their control, if it once was.