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What’s up with CRSA adding girls? CFC has finally quit floating around Columbia and landed out at CSC and 2 days later we have another classic club (CRSA) adding a girls program/team. And you wonder why girl’s soccer in the midland is pathetic, club and school. Where will it end?

TW you want to talk pathetic!!! How about a club forming with NO FREAKING FACILITIES!!!!! WE have NIKE oops no we don't!!!! Your losing all your coaches to GFC and plus more thatn half the kids don't wnat to play for the ASSES you have coaching! Don't tell me that b/c CRSA IS having ONE team that that makes girls soccer more pathetic!( It tought Kevin was Merging with someone?) What makes it pathetic is aclub forming than having to fold because they LIED!!!!!! Shame on anyone involved in CFC!!!!!!!!!!

I'm from CFC and I am hardly ashamed. Quite the opposite. CFC has not folded. The goal of CFC from the beginning was to unify soccer in the midlands. It is now coming together with CSC to do just that. CSC and CFC are now working together for the benefit of players.

All of those parents, board members and coaches who are involved in girls and boys soccer need to ask themselves: Am I making decisions about my club based on what's best for all players or just my player(s)? I think it's especially important for any new girls clubs to ask that question. For soccer to improve here, we need to work together. There are many talented players out there. Unfortunately many of our teams are made up of maybe 7-8 strong players. If all of the clubs came together, the soccer needs of all levels of soccer would be met and teams would be made up of 15 comparably skilled soccer players. Soccer in the midlands would be much more competitive than it is now.

As for starting a soccer club without facilities, I say WOW. That's remarkable that the coaches that started CarolinaFC believed in their principals and goals so strongly that they would do that. CFC is made up of coaches who coach for the love of the game and their dedication to the players. The parents have embraced the philosphy because and are willing to be nomads if it means getting the best training for their players.

Ok this is going no where the debate over the better clubs and the coaches. In my experience every coach thinks he better then every other coach. And at the same time one child will like a coach while another child won’t. So there is no point in arguing over the coaches because in each eyes they are the best.

As far as clubs go each club serves it’s own purpose. I think it is great that CFC and CSC are merging. That brings back all the girls teams that CSC had. I know the clubs in Columbia and I will say this about them. They each have separate goals they are trying to obtain. CFC and NECSA trying to be the biggest and the badest. CRSA is trying to be available to give the BC and Dreher players a place to play while becoming better for the high schools. And the Lexington Clubs while they had struggled in the past are becoming a little force. The boys have competitive State levels teams and have organized very well. And the girls Have just recently reorganized and are rebuilding what years of being held back has caused (they will surprise some people). The mission of the girls and boys club has been to service the Lexington area players that want to advance in soccer. And that has been done rather well. So it isn’t one club that is better then others it is different clubs serving purposes that they have had all along.

I think that the CFC Idea was a good one just carried out wrong and tried to be forced down on everyone. I would love to see one club that had the region level teams for u-14 and above. But the better clubs wont exist with out the other clubs producing knowledgeable players. This is because we know what the rec programs give us and that is less then desirable.

I also applaud the clubs that aren’t joining into this club bashing. So for all the lex clubs and necsa thank you.

Shearer -- why are CFC coaches moving to GFC?

Soccerdude - I used the other thread where your message was cross-posted to ask you the real questions I had concerning club goals and missions.

In regard to your comment

>>I also applaud the clubs that aren’t joining into this club bashing. So for all the lex clubs and necsa thank you.<<

Just to make this clear, neither I nor my family are associated with CSC, CFC, CRSA, or MickeyMouse J. So anything I said that could be considered bashing should not be held against members of these clubs.

I'm a CFC coach, and I only know of one coach who went to GFC! That was last year, and it was due to personal reasons, nothing to do with his CFC relationship.

It's obvious that most of these comments on this board are negative towards all the clubs in this area, and it needs to stop. Ego's most go out the door for one premier club to exist in Columbia. It's not the players, causing all the fuss about merging, it's boards, parents, and coaches....

I'm glad there's a NECSA, CSC, Lexington, and CRSA.....Everyone has choices, and there's a place for those who want to play at what ever level they want to play at.....

If you look at each competive girls high school team in the Columbia area, most of the better players on that team played for CFC.....

It doesn't matter if it's Chapin, Irmo, Spring Valley, Richland NE, Dutch Fork, Lexington, BC, AC Flora or Dreher. The better players on each of those teams played for CFC.....So, instead of bashing CFC for joining or merging with CSC....You should appreciate what was done for those players to make each of your high school teams better the last 2 years.

Good look to all the clubs in this area, and I thank everyone involved in soccer for trying to make the game better for our children....

PS. Clubs need to remember...there is a need for seperate clubs, but there is also a need for a premier team at each age group to represent Columbia at the state and regional level. The NECSA's, CSC's, CFC's, CRSA's, and Lexington's of the area, are great for soccer, and need to exist...But to compete each season at all age groups, there needs to be a change in everyones attitude towards who controls it....Each club should have a voice and equal representation in the forming of premier columbia club/entity....

Let's quit talking and club bashing, and start making Columbia competitive.....

Seasiders -- thank you for the clarification regarding CFC coaches.

Here's what I'm trying to find out -- and I'm hoping that you can help here. What is the mission/goal of each of these clubs? Even if I grant your theory that a single team at each level needs to represent the region, it's not clear whether that should exist within the current club structure, in a new "meta-club" structure, or whatever. If NECSA (for example), decides that they are going to do whatever it takes to be competitive at a state, regional, and national level for girls U11-U14 (again, for example), and no one else is trying or at least trying in a meaningful way, then the biggest step will be to let the parents and children know so that they can choose the best team for them to try out for.

A lot of people want to build a meta-club without a clearly defined understanding of what each club is trying to do now. I suspect, in some cases, that this is because each club doesn't know, or disagrees internally, with what each wants to do now. But I could easily be wrong -- this could simply be a communication problem -- the boards and coaches could completely understand this and the parents/children are just failing to understand. That's why I'm looking for some help in trying to understand goals/missions.

Let me give you an example from your neck of the woods. Just the other day, a group of parents were talking about CSC/CFC. Since I thought I understood CFC's mission, I stated that this was great because CFC would now have more resources to build the best girls soccer teams in the region. I was then told (and I'm telling you this not as a fact, but as a group of people's perceptions) that CFC wanted to focus on older girls and not on younger girls.

Now, this may be a falsehood -- but there are many, many falsehoods out. So, if you have a perspective on this, I'd love to hear it.

As a parent volunteering with CFC, I can say that CFC is thrilled to have a rec program and more younger players and teams to help develop all of the teams. It's a necessity. To have successful older teams, you must have 3-10 year old kids playing out there! My daughters are in the younger age groups and I've been thrilled with the training they have received.
In the 2 years of CFC existence, they have had more players and teams in the older age groups. Perhaps that's where the confusion is with the conversation you heard. During the past few months the club has had lots of interest in our younger teams and for age groups where we had no teams. That's why it's great to be working with CSC to find places for all of these players to play.

Shibumi,

CFC is not just interested in older girls.
What you heard may have come from the way in which CFC and CSC have decided to work together for this upcoming seasonal year due to not yet having time to work out a full merger, if, indeed, a full merger does occur. In the age groups where CFC has had considerable numbers, the teams will be "CFC teams". Where CSC has had the numbers, they will be "CSC teams". Since CFC has had greater numbers among the older girls', what you heard may have been referring to this. Hopefully, the "CFC Teams" and the "CSC Teams" will all be a single club's teams in the future.

Another comment about the older girls. One of the goals of CFC was to gather girls from all over the Columbia area to one club to get the numbers to allow each player to play at a level of competition and training that match her abilities. This means players would have to travel from all over the area to practice. It is difficult for parents with multiple children in sports to transport them all over the area. It's easier with the older girls since most of them drive and have their own means of transportation. I believe this is one reason CFC has been more successful in attracting the numbers at the older ages.