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

GPS Charleston has posted their tryout information. Tryouts will be free. They retained their NPL spot for the u-13 to u-19.


https://www.gotsport.com/asp/application/reg/?ProgramID=88967

<thumbs up emoji>

Getting more confused, so who is this org? Where are they training/playing home games ?

Is this GPS NASA or JI ? Or a new org?

Are they sanctioned with SCYS, US Club or both? I suspect US Club for NPL. Does that mean they will play CPL for Junior Academy?

All in due time, I suppose.

David,, I think their NPL teams have always been registered as GPS charleston. This isnt a new club.

I figured that, I recall the announcement. They pooled from feeder GPS clubs and even approached us at the time. But behind that were individual clubs and this was more an elite platform for their area best players, or at least that was my understanding (could have been wrong though). It really wasn't a problem for GPS as they tended to register all their players under a single entity in South Carolina so could share/pool across clubs, etc. much easier than typically seen with SCYS or more traditional club structure and boundaries.

Same way our players could play in the summer programs since no overlap with US Club sanctioning until we entered CPL, and then had to deal with guest player forms, etc.

I think 123D is right in that we will see what comes, as a club is much more than a registration engine or even a brand. To create or operate a club there might be other requirements based on sanctioning bodies (including recreation program) and certainly a location and fields are required for NPL or any league.

From GPS email to GPS families:
[intro excluded]
"...As you are all likely aware, our partner club in North Charleston, NASA, have moved away from GPS and we wish them the best moving forward. However, please be aware that we will now operate under the name of GPS Charleston, the name of our current NPL & Elite teams, and we will continue to offer programming and teams for all levels, both boys and girls, u8-u19, in the North Charleston area and beyond.

We are also able to confirm that GPS will continue to place teams within the South Atlantic NPL for u13-u19 Boys for the 20-21 season. We are currently in discussion with both current and future partner clubs in regards to working together, not only on the boys NPL sides, but also providing a higher level of play for our girls too! We are also discussing how best to connect all players within each club/region. More information on this will follow shortly...."
[End excluded]

Wouldn’t Surf just use USA MtP’s NPL and DPL slots? Also NASA has the relationship with Cathedral no? Wouldn’t this result in gps Charleston with no fields?

Surf will definitely be using USAMP’s NPL & DPL slots. Both leagues websites have the South Carolina surf logo. Definitely a good question about the fields GPS Charleston plans on using. Not sure how long surf nasa will be using cathedral as the property is up for sale.

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.

The better question may be WHO negotiated the field lease with Cathedral for the upcoming year, and whose interest did they represent?

I think I hear what you're saying but, (and I hate to start dropping cliches), it is what it is. There aren't any (real world) remedies that I am aware of for the situation.

A good takeaway I can think of is to make sure the club you are involved with has an active, accessible, involved and informed board (or leadership).

I this case, who was on the board/leadership of GPS NASA?

I would be rather shocked if the president of NASA was in control of any lease. I had a child a nasa for the past 4 years,,, and the ONLY correspondence/email/conversation from the president EVER was the email a few weeks ago stating that NASA was now
part of Surf Soccer. Ironically,,, this was sent when they were still part of GPS Charleston or at least many weeks before the May 1st date!!!!! So who knows what is going on.

It does seem kind of weird. Maybe the president of NASA can proactively reach out to parents and alleviate their concerns by telling them what is going on.

No better time than the present, I'd say.

I think that could be said about every single club here with the exception of Cainhoy.

If "here" means Charleston, then yes. SCUFC has done a good job with public facing communications as well, as mentioned in a prior post. I'm assuming most clubs send out emails just to their members, as we saw here with GPS. I think the former GPS NASA members, like mysonsdad, just want to hear from their former president what the deal is with Surf having the fields now. That might help get him back in good standing with his customers.

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt though and ask all clubs in the Charleston area to provide some updates today.

This is pretty similar to what I have heard from other GPS Nasa parents. Most were not aware there even was a president. He doesn't seem like he had been involved for a number of years.

But, I have to assume there was a practical/legal reason for keeping the leases with a local rather than GPS itself, or else the fields would be with GPS Charleston...

Many clubs put this type of info out directly to members rather than publicly. I saw JI's communications (from their president) last week. I believe they have sent a number of them.

I would also think that it is difficult to know what to say as things keep changing. So it may make some sense to sit back and wait to see what others are doing. Finally, some groups may no longer have a lot of staff to in place to come up with a plan and communication strategy.

It appears we are on the same page.

Here meaning locally in Charleston.

Thanks for all the information and insight.

Seemingly a change of direction for GPS with desire to operate their own club directly in our area. Over the (last 5 or so) years, we have talked to them several times and they were insistent that their model relied on local clubs to manage the organization and field relationships while they provided coaching resources, admin help, and competition access to the member clubs.

Probably why the Cathedral field deal was with NASA, and suspect the JI field agreements are with that board (as Lexington, etc.)

All good and wish them well with their new approach.

They ran the NPL teams separately last year so it isn't entirely new. And I also think they would prefer to still be working with the local club (NASA) over this... That being said, I also think they will rely on their partner clubs a fair bit.

To be fair... With the GPS leadership being completely replaced both nationally and in the Carolina's. Maybe their approach will be a little different.

Great point.

I agree with what you said except change:
"Probably why the Cathedral field deal was with NASA, ...."

To: "The Cathedral field deal was probably with NASA,..."

Let's hope for more clarification from everybody soon!

Agreed.

High-Level update:

https://www.chsbatterysc.com/message/show_sms/4951356?token=a1c134da8a0b4db2af9d03aec2f485f9

That’s a win for those kids!!!

Just received this email this afternoon as my son plays for the Battery. Interested to see what people’s thoughts are on it!!

We should probably start a new thread just for this. Quick take- New branding looks great (maybe a tad bland), having partners will be huge. Will allow for some higher level teams and some interesting combined programming. Maybe even some internal leagues at very young levels. Looks promising!