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!

Poor, poor Shearer.........
I know the ale is always good, but it is obvious you have succumbed to excess.....but please don't let yourself go so far as Mike Tyson did and decide to mount a Solara in traffic outside the *****cat Lounge.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1209041tyson1.html
And yes, maybe I live in a dream world, seeking excellent club soccer in Cola. If you are going to participate in the 'beautiful game', you may as well be the best you can be. What better dreams can there be??

To All Concerned,
Just a question for information. Did the CESA merger result in more or less players being rostered on teams than the totals St. Giles and GFC rostered the previous year? My concern is that instead of more particpation in youth soccer the mergers of clubs will diminish the numbers of participants. This has little effect on the elite players who will find clubs that want them, but for the developing players will there be venues for them/

Chapindad..I hope you are correct. Many of the clubs from Northern Ohio are US Club Soccer Members to avoid the roster difficulties as you pointed out. My point is to not take away from the community teams, these are great programs that offer the vast majority the opportunity to play, but for those few players at each age group in several different clubs that have the desire and the ability to move to the next level, there seems to be no outlet. Premier level soccer takes dedication (training at least 3 times a week, and at a minimum 2 games per weekend, every weekend, year round). I can only point to the top teams that I have personal experience with, Ohio Premier (North & South), Cleveland United, The Internationals, Blast FC, Mentor Impact. These are top regional teams, and several of these clubs have multiple tams that are nationally ranked. I'm still learning my way around the Southern Soccer scene, but I think we have the fundamental structure for this to occur.

Take a look at this web site to see how one league in NE Ohio runs their program..http://www.aflsoccer.com/default.aspx

This league then offers an umbrella team called the Northern Ohio Alliance, where players from the member clubs can try out, and if selected, play at the highest level nationally (such as the Dalls Cup).

What I forgot to add, is the player remains on their community team playing at the local/state level, but adds in additonal training and playing time with the combined team at the next level(regional/national expousure).

>> [Blind ol Ref] Did the CESA merger result in more or less players being rostered on teams than the totals St. Giles and GFC rostered the previous year?<<

Roughly the same: 49 slightly smaller teams before versus 47 slightly larger teams after.


This was raised earlier in a thread on the formation of CESA; for the background details on the calculations used to get this answer, please see this message thread.

As I have been saying, the merger is both good and bad . Obviously 8 for 8 in the Challenge Cup speaks for itself.

I can promise you we had some kids who quit because they didnt make the "A"
or "B" team. I don't see CESA dominating in the Classic Cup. Since most kids don't get college scholarships.I think its important just to keep these tournaments in perspective.

All in all I see the merger as positive. It depends on which parent and/ or player you talk to.

A quote from a really smart man

quote:

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posted August 27, 2004 3:52PM
[scdad] ...The worst year for a merger is going to be that first year. It can only get better.

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The players, coaches, parents, and volunteers have really worked hard so far on all of the challenges associated with the first year of the merger. We obviously still face a lot of challenges; but given how everyone has pulled together on the issues we have faced I can't help but be optimistic for the future.

The true test of whether CESA has become a true "juggernaut" will be at regionals and nationals. When they face the Concorde Fires, the Chicago Magics, the Dallas Texans, and other teams that are there year after year, we can truly tell if the quality of soccer in South Carolina, is up to the level of the national champions. Changing subjects, at least now we may not have quality Carolina kids go out of state to play for "quality teams." (i.e. Tomek Charowski)

gamecockrich10

i think cesa has started developing south carolina soccer with sweeping the state challenge cup championships. it's the first step of a long process. the level of south carolina soccer will eventually rise to the level of national championships. give them time!

I agree completely soccermom. At the same time, I was speaking in the since of the national scene. None of the CESA teams had the opportunity to face a national champion at State Cup, so I don't think we can base their quality on the results of one weekend. It is the same way with high school soccer. Every year, people(on the national scene) view Irmo as "a good team", because no one has ever heard of anyone else. Therefore, they look at the quality of soccer played here as weak, where there is only one quality team.

The 2nd level, Challenge , B Teams for CESA were
involved in this weeks cup . Some lost in the first round and a few advanced and played over the weekend . All were very good and played great soccer during the season with some huge victories .
Congratulation to CESA for putting aside differences and showing the state what has to be done to reach the regional level. Being involved in the past, the feelings would rival Clemson / Carolina football.
The spring cuppers will be the future with CESA fielding 2 strong ,competitive teams . These kids will only benefit from the merger and will dominate the state scene unless the mid region and lower state pool their interests.
Did any one see Pearse this weekend
.

gamecockrich10: I think that soccermom1121's incredibly lucid point is that almost everyone associated with CESA understands that there's a difference between state, regional, and national play. For most teams that played in the Premier League this season it was a humbling experience and one that can't help but make anyone understand that we have a way to go to be a consistent regional and national contender at the club level.

To me, the most important thing about doing well in your state is that it allows you to not just play in the Premier League but also that you get entry into higher brackets in top tournaments. This is what allows you to play against those top clubs/teams you mention. It's kind of a pinball effect -- if you do well then you get to play again. This allows CESA to offer more and better services to highly ambitious and talented players. But I've got to tell you, I'm just as excited about CESA's U16G classic team that won the classic cup and with the CESA U16G Strikers and Starz teams that came in first and second in the American Cup (just examples). CESA isn't going anywhere unless it can offer superior services to players across the board; from recreation to premier. A dominant team was the U16G Classic team coached by Gretchen Lentz(combined score 60-1 and undefeated); that's the kind of record to which I think all teams everywhere aspire.

CESA is effectively just about six months old. No one at CESA is claiming that CESA is a "juggernaut" at a regional or national level. I haven't even heard anyone from CESA say that CESA is "dominant" in SC -- many of the games were very close and we certainly have to do better in more age brackets in the classic and recreation cups.

The merger seems to me to be going relatively well in the first six months -- but we have "miles to go" [apologies to Frost]. Most of the hardest work is in front of us if we aspire to offer the depth and breadth of services to SC players that you find in some of the major metropolitan areas nationally.

OK, OK, enough of this CESA Lovefest!! I too applaud the merger and acknowledge your accomplishments in one year, and Mark, as you may have surmised from all of my rants about a Cola merger, I only am pleading for the same in Cola. It is what Cola needs to keep up with you fine folks at CESA. And in the long run a merger here would make SC a stronger, more vibrant soccer state on the regional and national scene. But, for the sake of my personal sanity, can we move on past this Lovefest?
We in the midlands now need to hear from the respective area club officials -CRSA/CSC/LSC/NECSA- who have the power or position to discuss, review and consider a merger. But, my hopes have been dashed like Prancer too many times before with sounds of silence about the merger issue. The afore-mentioned midlands clubs clearly know what the future holds for them. As I have asked too many times before, do you want to field average, convenient teams that may, on occasional odd years, merely challenge for state championships or do you want to field consistent yearly teams that win those championships and go on to regional challenges? Midlands clubs, there is an open goal for a shot, but do you even make an attempt?

I saw Pearse Tormey at the U17/U18 boys games on Saturday.

I would personally like to see Mt. Pleasant, James Island, and Summerville clubs merge (along with the girls program from West Ashley) to challenge CESA.

But what about the players (and there are many of them) that are not top-level and don't want to travel 30-45 minutes for practice twice a week, but simply play with 5-6 of their high school buddies on a decent classic team without aspirations of Regionals or even State Championships? I think this would limit these players and from what I can tell, that's the majority of U15-U18 players in this state (or at least our area).

Hey Striker,

what's your deal with club soccer in the midlands? Do you have kids playing club ball in columbia? It appears that a club could use someone with your passion for a merger to help make it happen.

I am just a lowly, frustrated parent. The DOCs and club boards need to become passionate about it and address this issue themselves. I have seen no passion or significant interest in a merger here. I have ranted about it long enough without any progress in sight.

Here is my humble suggestion . Have every parent check out the the CESA website. If that does'nt give Charleston and/or Columbia teams motivation to merge I dont know what will. You don't have to dig through it just the front page.

Hey scdad,
I will save the club DOCs and club boards in the midlands the time and effort it will take them to visit the CESA website. Anything I can do to create aggravation and agitation in the local clubs, I will do. Read it DOCs and become inspired for once. This can happen here in Columbia. The main headline reads:

CESA Wins 8 State Championships
(Greenville, South Carolina – December 14, 2004) - Carolina Elite Soccer Academy (CESA) has convincingly become South Carolina’s leading youth soccer club. This stature was achieved with the club’s boys and girls teams winning all eight state championships in the South Carolina Youth Soccer Association’s Fall 2004 South Carolina State Challenge Tournament (December 11 and 12 in Lexington), which is for the under 15, 16, 17, and 18 age categories. In the history of organized youth soccer in South Carolina, no club before has ever won all the championships in the State Challenge Cup Tournament.

“The reason we created CESA by merging St. Giles United Soccer Club and the Greenville Futbol Club was to offer more opportunities, including chances for success, for all of our players,” said Pearse Tormey, co-executive director for CESA. “We're thrilled that each one of our teams in these age groups will have the opportunity to compete at the regional championships in Dallas this summer. This will also allow us to dramatically increase the number of teams that want to participate in the tournaments we host throughout the year, thus having a multi-million dollar positive impact on the local economy.”

“We're pleased with the results,” added Andrew Hyslop, co-executive director for CESA. “It’s an important first step in our quest to bring home a national championship for South Carolina and CESA in the next few years. It’s also critically important in helping our teams gain entry into higher level tournaments and for our players to be seen by college and university coaches and even national team coaches. Plus, these results support our mission to build a youth club that services all ages and abilities because it allows our younger players a chance to have fun learning about soccer while also watching the older players in the club, who win championships. The success of the older players provides our younger players examples of what they may someday achieve.”

Don't it make your blood boil?

Makes me think that these guys are not just focused on winning state championships, and not even just on regional/national competitiveness, but on the services that they provide all of the CESA players and the surrounding community.

By the way, here's the very next paragraph on the web site:

Hyslop and Tormey were both highly complimentary of the teams from the other clubs that competed for the state championships. Both noted that most of the games were very close and that several went into overtime. Both also stated that the level of effort of all of the clubs competing this year was the best that they had ever witnessed.

Columbia and Greenville are like keeping up with
the Jones's .
i.e. Peace Center -- Kroger Center
New Library --- New Library
New Colisuem ---- New Coliseum
New Schools well thats nation wide.
Columbia it will happen just give it 3 yrs max.

Charleston well all I can say is Them Northerners are coming!!!! You all I can't figure out what or when.

I believe my cousin did something like that in north carolina where he played for high point for state play and then joined a team at CSC (Charlotte) that practiced together for a while then went to regions and nationals

why not join for just higher level teams instead of merging the whole club and all of their lower level, developmental teams?

they might have dominated in the fall, but in the spring the U13 CSC boys are definetly going to win states. U13 CESA is a good team but CSC will beat the because of Joey De Mare and Leo Mukofsky, the 2 forwards. Joey was top 5 in the whole league in points with 39 points. 17 goals and 5 assists. Leo had 7 goals and 4 assists, 18 points.

oh, and in the u18 bracket CESA won only because of a cheap PK. CSC dominated that game and their keeper, Austin Moody was the best.

cesastinks..

if you watched the u18 boys final you saw that csc got a questionable pk also...

sounds like you have some deep seeded hatred of cesa.. i believe gfc and st giles won 5/8 u15-18 championships last year, with 4 finalists... so winning all the championships shouldn't be that much of a surprise to anyone..

try and be part of the solution...
put your energy to a positive use!

as they say - let it go..just a bunch of kids playing soccer..maybe the spring will bring different results..

soccermom,
ok so csc did get a questionable pk, but they still dominated most of that game.

i do like cesa but some of the teams are a bunch of kids with big ego's.

and i do congratulate cesa on having a very good fall season. the reason they are so good is because they are serious about their soccer. other clubs like csc are in it more for the fun. i know it is important to have fun but there has to be a certain degree of seriousness.

To everyone: Well the u13 boys csc will win state cup instead of CESA for that age group CESA is a good team and all but CSC u13 can over come that when state cup comes around. Don't get me wrong CESA will make it to the finalsand come close to CSC but CSC is overal a better team. But thats only when they want to be a good team and have thier mind set to play to the highest level they can. I've seen both teams play numerous of times and i think csc is a better team.

2004striker, Well CESA might have done good in the fall season but the spring has yet to come!!
Also, CSC is a great club don't make it sound like there is no other good club other than CESA to win the State cup. You haven't seen the u13boys CSC play they'll beat CESA in the finals mark my word. Also the u11boys CSC will prob. win it too there a real good team and the u18 for CSC boys came real close in the final it came down to a pk to win it. Well the u13 will win it they are a real good team and have the best chance out of all the CSC teams. CESA is not the only good club or the onlygood teams in SC.

you have to understand that cesa dominated U15 through U18 boys and girls but what is more important is to see how U11 through U14 fair. they are the cesa of the future. that will be the interesting part of all of this. not to take anything away from all of the older players and cesa but they were already developed heavily through gfc and st giles and many more players came from other clubs to play for the cesa when they merged. we will soon see the long term effect form all of this.
by the way, watch out for mauldin this season we are taking it

rock,
What was the CSC U-13 vs CESA Challenge score Saturday?

I know that the kids in u 11 are young but the other teams from around the state are killing the u11 CESA Developmental teams.

I believe CESA is using a "pool" system for the Academy kids ... Meaning that their is no set team, but simply lots of players in a specific age group in the "pool" and on given match days, they simply assign various players to the several teams ... It's a good system, but one that parents/supporters need to understand prior to gauging simply on "wins/losses" ... Kudos to CESA for experimenting with this ... I believe Spartanburg is doing something similar as well ... I believe if wins/losses were the ultimate measure at U11 that CESA could put quite a formiddable team on the pitch, but that's not (and should not be) the goal at U12 and younger!

Yes, You are correct in stating that CESA is "pooling" What I meant is that the "pooling system for the other clubs is doing well when compared to the Cesa teams. Not counting win/losses. I would say that all the teams are improving though at a fast rate from what I have seen.

If I am correct, CESA took the top kids in the U11 group this year and formed a premier team that plays U12. I do not believe that that team is playing the small sided games that the other kids are playing. I'm not completely sure, but this is what I believe is happening.

CornerFlag, for the most part, that is correct about the CESA U11 team, at least for the girls. The reason they play U12 is to play 11 sided games. This was how they played in the fall in PMSL. If they've played Sandlapper, then they played U11 8 sided games. This spring they played in the SCSCL against U11 teams for the most part. Some U12 games were "cross-over" games from PMSL.

They are a good team. They appear to be very disciplined which keeps them a head above their competition. I've only seen about four of their games, but it doesn't seem like they have star players, but a good strong, solid team in all positions. And let me emphasize, very disciplined.