SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP CESA Domination

The numbers don't lie. 8 for 8 is an amazing accomplishment. This should be a wake up call to the rest of the state's mediocre clubs. Major changes must happen. Columbia and Charleston clubs have to merge. There is no other way to keep up with the competition. CSC has put forth the effort, now lets see who responds. The greenville area clubs put their HUGE ego's aside and merged to form a POWERHOUSE for the sake of the kid's who play there. If anything the losing teams this weekend should realize if things stay the same you will always get the same result. COLUMBIA CLUBS MUST MERGE!!!

Granted, 8 for 8 is great but your comment on the other "mediocre" clubs is totally uncalled for. You may speak for YOUR mediocre clubs but don't bother for ours in the Lowcountry, specifically MPSC. Our game vs. CESA (U15G) was a well played game and could have gone either way. While I believe CESA's plan is the way to go, you need to keep your mediocre comments to yourself or simply speak for your own mediocre clubs.

Well........we in the midlands area knew it was gonna be bad, but did we think it would happen so soon - the first year of their merger? The CESA merger has begun the dominance of state club soccer. Congrats to their wisdom to merge and organization ability to succeed so quickly; and shame and regrets to the area Cola clubs for still lacking foresight to see our area soccer improve. Merger of all area clubs is essential, unless we just want continued average soccer successes. If you observe the number of teams from the midlands area that made it to the semis you see there were 11 teams between CRSA, NECSA and CSC and Lex. soccer clubs. CESA had 10 teams and MPSC had 4. With a merger of these midlands clubs you would have a large pool of quality coaching, the best and biggest facilities in the state, and a centralized organization to serve all kids in our area in their efforts to play at any level they can strive for. It must be done or else the dominance of upstate will be permanent as stated here in a re-post of comments from Cola fan at the time of the CESA merger - posted February 12, 2004 02:52 PM
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WOW! That is earth shattering news about St. Giles and GFC.
This eventually begs the question that 4soccer has asked, 'what happens in Columbia?' There's a fragmented soccer community in the capital city and some clubs are there for practical reasons, while others have been setup as self serving entities. Does Columbia have anyone on the par of a Charlie Slagle like CASL has? I ask, because looking around at the locals involved (see below) and I would say 'no'.
Columbia Soccer Club
Congaree Rapid Soccer Association
Lexington County Girls Soccer Club
Lexington Recreation Soccer Club
Lexington Soccer Club
Northeast Columbia Soccer Association
Some serious questions need to be asked about the purpose and growth speculation of a "merged soccer community" in Columbia and more importantly those that perceive themselves as the movers-and-shakers must be able to answer those questions! It will certainly be interesting, because if no movement takes place I think you will see the dominance of club soccer to the upstate become permanent.

Congrats, to CESA on their dominance at this years Challege Cup; it looks like logistics of sending teams to Dallas for regionals will be easy for SCYSA as they will only have to deal with one club. As can be seen on this message board, the hue and cry has already gone out for the mergers of Columbia and Low-Country clubs to be able to compete with CESA. I will admit this certainly was the first reaction that crossed my mind, but upon further refelction I have to ask the question if the rise of the "super club" will actually help youth soccer in the state of South Carolina? Certainly large clubs like CESA can offer players better coaching, top facilities, and a venue where the talent can be seen in one spot by coaches at the next level. Mergers of clubs in Columbia and the Charleston-Summerville area will certainly do the same, but are we making the sport the domain of the suburban, upper middle class, white players(I may be mistaken, but on the girls side, I did not see a single minority player involved in a finals matchs that I observed.) located in one of three parts of the state. Will clubs in Aiken, Hartsville, Anderson,Florence, Greenwood, Rock Hill, and Mrytle Beach be able to survive, or will youth soccer in South Carolina become Major Leauge Baseball where the large market teams dominate, and the small market teams cannot compete? What happens to the talented player from a poor family not living in one of the areas with one of the "super clubs"?

To give 2004striker credit, he's been discussing his belief that mergers would be positive for SC players from before the time that SGU and GFC merged -- so I don't think that his statement is a knee-jerk reaction to this weekend but rather is a polite "I told you so" with regard to his argument concerning mergers being needed.

CESA gives over $60,000 of financial aid for qualifying players each year. From a financial perspective, my guess is that CESA is able to do much more to reach out to those that can't afford soccer than most combinations of clubs. If you go through any financial model, I think you'll find that if you want to "reach out" to disadvantaged socioeconomic families that a larger club has advantages that a smaller club can't match.

Finally [and please note that I'm seperating this from any discussion concerning disadvantaged socioeconomic families, since to do otherwise would imply a causal connection that does not exist], you should have watched the U18G game yesterday where there were at least four minority players playing superbly for the two teams, both teams representing clubs that were the results of mergers in the last 12 months. Is this enough? Has any club in SC done enough to expand and deepen the penetration of youth soccer? I don't think so. But I do think that larger, rather than smaller, clubs have the resources to be better able to do this. I know that CESA is committed to doing this ever better in the future.

Having recently moved back to the Lowcountry, the major metropolitan areas in the state (Cola/Lex, Chas/Summ/Mt. P, Myrtle/Florence) must get better organized in allowing the better players to work together and get an opportunity to compete at a higher level. The Upstate clearly gets it! Sure, each of these community based clubs can field teams that are competitive, and occasionally the planets will align just right and one of these community teams will be exceptional (Charleston United Fusion?), but for the most part, these teams will never be able to compete successfully outside of the state against true premier teams. There must be an outlet (other than ODP) for the 2 or 3 dedicated, talented players that you will find on each of these community teams, to get together and play under the umbrella of a combined team. Why is there such discord in these locations?

Yes all clubs left should run and merge right this second.......CESA will dominate youth soccer FOREVER!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH no the big bad CESA!!!!

Relax.

evanges1,

Michigan does such a program. They go under the club name of Michigan Nationals and are a US Club team to avoid all the roster problems. So we wouldn't have to invent the wheel if SC decided to try such a concept.

CESA's domination can cause three reactions among the other clubs in SC. They can roll over and give up. They can decide there is nothing they can do abut it and just play for second each year or they can learn from CESA and compete next year. I think you will find that most clubs will choose to do the thrid option. CESA did not dominate all the games and in fact won by the slimmest of margins in some of the games. The other clubs will have to look at training and coaching to see where improvements need to be made, but complete up rooting of everything is not the answer and could cause more harm than good.

Once again........Shearer my friend............too much brown ale!!
Relax? Relax?
That is all they have been doing in Cola. for 4-5 years while GFC and St Giles dominated state club soccer. And now they are continuing it with CESA -only better and stronger! Relax? Are you one of the many in the midlands area that want convenient, social soccer, in which everyone (parents & youth)play in their neat little clubs, as long as its not too serious and doesnt interfere too much with the social life. Columbia is a large enough area that serious soccer players should not have to drive to Greenville or Low-country for serious soccer. (A word here about MPSC and CSC - with CESA winning all championships, I believe that MPSC had more runnersup (4)in state challenge cup than all other state clubs combined. MPSC went from 1 premier team to 4. I believe CSC had 3 teams in premier this past season, and now has none. MPSC, therefore, may be considered the 2nd best overall club in SC.) I said it almost 2 yrs ago in this forum -that if Cola. area clubs do not act and merge, then St. Giles & GFC will merge one day and dominate; and next it will be low country teams with maybe Myrtle Beach merging into a super power. But thats ok Cola., just relax and have fun as Shearer says. Can ANYONE offer a plausible explanation as to why Cola area clubs don't desire to merge??

2004,

There is pleanty of Brown Ale to go around. You should have a pint or eight. If you would spend half the time you do posting here about a SUPER club in Columbia and actually do some legwork to try and make this happen COlumbia could have had a SUPER club long before CESA (OOOOOOOOHHHHHAHHHH)

I have it! We start a SUPER club.....we'll call it MINI CESA. Or DREAM WORLD UNITED b/c it is painfully obvious that's were 2004 lives Dream World USA!!!!

Drink on my friend! The brown ALe is quite yummy this time of year!