SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP GFC and St. Giles Merge!

Cola Fan: Let's not forget Lexington County Girls Soccer Association, another recreation club and not to be confused with the classic club you mentioned called Lexington County Girls Soccer Club. Lexington has four clubs. Sigh...

While I am the antithesis of a soccer mover and shaker, I do agree completely with your message.

My concern is this:
My child plays on a Classic B team. My child plays almost the entire game. It can't get any better for my family. There are 3 players on my child's team that are good enough to play on the A team now for my child's age group and probably 2 that should be playing Rec.

When the 2 clubs merge ,and I understand its a done deal, we are going to have a awesome Challenge team , a awesome Classic team, and a OK Classic Team.

Its going to be great for the 32 or so that make the first 2 teams but nothing to get excited about for those last 16.

We will dominant the state and beat some NC teams
but were going to be challenged to keep those players that arent going anywhere with it after HS.
I think this is typical for all the age groups and both genders.

scdad: Actually I think that typically you're going to have a premier league team (I think CASL calls this "elite") that focuses more on regional competition, a challenge league team, and a classic league team. For example, at St. Giles today I believe that there's a U-14G "A" team that competes in premier and a U-14G "B" team that competes in classic but no U-14G team that competes in challenge.

In any case, I'm not sure I fully follow the concern you articulated (I apologize up front for my ignorance). When I read what you wrote, it seemed that the key was that the last 16 wouldn't have anything to be excited about and thus a combined club would have trouble keeping those players. My question is why wouldn't they be excited? Is it because of the theory that they couldn't compete effectively in one of the state leagues? Or do you have a theory that there will be less coaching talent available and thus the players won't reach their full potential? Or am I missing the concern altogether?

Mark, in response to some of the "points" you raised RE my earlier post.

Ok, you can throw numbers, rankings and statistics at me all you want for I do not care for such things. Your argument was holding up quite well until your whole "field" thing - have you ever played the game?? Do you know what its like to try to play a crisp passing/possession game on a cut up or poor field??

Oh, by the by - when you commented on LPAF questioning on why the clubs should merge you casually said for the "same reason that companies merge: to be able to quickly scale and to realize cost savings. The scaling could be associated with more recreational and classic players, more fund-raising, and more regionally and nationally competitive teams. The cost savings could be associated with coach/team ratios, overhead payment, and the like – it’s just a matter of doing a pareto analysis of costs and then working on the costs that add the least value." I implore you, and all others involved in CHILDRENS SPORTS

I will try not be to a hypocrite ( since I do advocate that LowCountry area do something about consolidation of clubs) but everyone should be aware that the effect of this trend can easily be seen in the public schools and its effect on player participation. If you have a mega 4A school like Dorman, Wando, Summerville, West Ashley , etc. there a finite # of spots available on the varsity of any sport. Sure, you have opportunity for a real good varsity but there are dozens of qualified kids who will not get opportunity to play. Sure there is intrumurals and rec but we all know the development and intrinsic rewards are just not the same. Not just talking about soccer but all sports and all genders.
Instead of 1 2,500 student body producing 1 varsity team - what if there were 2 1,250 student body schools producing 2 varsity team that perhaps would even be playing each other. College coaches/recruiters would see twice as many prospects this way.
Bring this back to club soccer and same applies. Problem is (and applies to high school sports too) is that unless everyone does it, then the teams(schools) who do not adopt this philosophy(and go the mega route) will win the titles and get the publicity, etc.
How does this get resolved? As a conservative, anti-regulation, free market espousing, entrepeneur I unfortunately can not endorse regulations/laws but I do not have a solution. So what good am I? A lot of people keep asking me that...

There are 2 specific reasons why they merged and they are spelled out in the St. Giles website-
1) The president's letter to the club indicated that they could not complete their building project because they did not have the money. 2)The greenville news article quoted the St. Giles president "... that the merger would produce competitive teams regionally and nationally..."
Those are the 2 principal reasons. It is not to make soccer more appealing to all youth in upstate or provide more opportunity for rec level players. St. Giles and GFC are tired of only being competitive in-state and infrequently in region play. Only the older GFC girls/boys teams have been somewhat successful at the upper level.
They want to now consistently compete with CASL,Concorde,Fla. teams. And they will be successful after all the dust settles.
SO AGAIN I SAY.........Columbia, it is your time....there are too many small area clubs, resulting in a dispersion and weakening of the talent pool. There are several very good players on too many individual teams. The talent pool needs to be consolidated. CSC is working hard, on its own, to attract quality players, but there are still a number of quality area players who travel to GFC/St. Giles. With their merger will we see even more of a loss of talent from Cola area to that mega-club?
So I applaud their merger. Good stuff! Great decision! Columbia, it is only a matter of time before SSC & MPSC may consider a merger. Then will Cola be the 3rd best soccer area, struggling to win with so many various, individual clubs????

Foley,
What do you implore us to do? I'm not sure you finished your thought. I have and do play the game, and while I would prefer to play on a perfectly manicured pitch, I don't think that is the number one priority for training players. I believe what Mark was saying was that coaching and not bermuda grass fields makes players. In fact,the entire Tahuichi training system is centered around playing on miserable field conditions. If you want to look beyond that, we could examine who the most technical players on the planet are and see the direct correlation between their poor playing conditions. I don't think anyone would ever doubt the technical ability of the Brazilians, Argentines, or Latin Americans.

Mexico 4-0 U.S. Under 23s

quote:

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Though the U.S. has made tremendous strides during the past four years, because soccer is not ingrained in American culture, some skills are hard to match. The fields in Mexico are so hard because of so much use, which is why the Mexican's first touch of the ball cannot be matched, said U.S. assistant coach Ralph Perez, who scouted Mexico during the tournament.

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Fields are necessary and vital, but the lure of top-level coaching is essential!

Folly,
You are right. It was petty and beneath me to take a shot at you when your guard was down, but that post agitated me so. I should never take a shot at the few, the proud, the urbane.

Dex --

Your gracious apology is accepted. My wounds feel better already.

lpaf