SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP Bridge FA

Who exactly is the director of this new club? How are coaches selected for these teams? Will these teams train at one local area or will they train at the alliance clubs? any talk of getting the Battery involved with this?

Actually Undertaker, the upstate has already done their thing with CESA. It's Columbia that needs to do something.

Finally! It appears that SC youth soccer is starting to move out of the dark ages! First CESA now Bridge FA. This is a wonderful concept and works well if run properly. US Club Soccer is the perfect venue for this. I know I pointed this out in past postings; the Alliance Football League (outside of Cleveland) ran a program just like this. The teams were called the Northern Ohio Alliance and drew from all the member clubs of the league. Players stayed with their regular club team and continued to train and compete, however for those players that were seleced for the Alliance team, they trained once a week as a team, and then would compete at a regional level. We had a great exeperience. I hope this concept takes off and I look forward to following this program.

Striker,
Very positive discussions are taking place with MPSC. Most coaches would probably agree that even the successful teams have room for talented players. As successful as MPSC teams have been, with a couple of players in particular age groups, they would be more competitive on a larger stage.

Undertaker,
There is an executive board in place made up of people from the clubs in the alliance.

Lowerstate,
Each director of the alliance member clubs have a position on the coaching board at Bridge FA. Coaches will be selected by the coaching board. Teams will train at alliance member clubs, based on individual team makeup. Many options for support are being looked at.

OPG,
Bridge FA doesn't completely match your Ohio example. Right now, yes Bridge FA will only be competing under US Club Soccer, and players remain rostered with their local clubs. However, after tryouts in May, these teams will be rostered under SCYSA, and compete in the SCSCL, beginning Fall 05. Some teams may remain dual rostered for other benefits that apply. But you're right, US Club Soccer does provide an avenue to at least test the concept, and in some cases get other teams together.

Bridge FA is a great idea, and you canb count on me for the try outs of the upcoming U-15s...would write longer but i gotta go!

Bear,

What will be the cutoff between Bridge and the old clubs? For example, will Bridge have a structure similar to CESA (Premier, Challenge, Classic or A,B, and C teams) or will Bridge field only one team per age group per sex. Will the cutoff be that only Bridge teams play in the Challenge (and Premier if applicable) league no matter how many teams they have and the old club teams play PMSL?

Bear,
I know you love all these questions coming at you, but here are some more......
Players can be dual-rostered since they are registered with 2 separate associations: US Soccer and SCYSA? What are the expenses like for a player? Does he/she pay for 2 teams? I gather that after this fall the players will move to one premier-type team and not continue to be dual-rostered? Or am I totally confused? OPG said in Ohio that players train and play with a club team(I assume challenge) and then if selected for an alliance team, they compete at a regional level. I don't know if that would work in SC, but it is interesting to consider. Is this the way Bridge FA functions?

ConerFlag,

The Bridge structure is different than the CESA structure. As I said earlier, Bridge FA will field teams where numbers and ability allow it. Currently this is considered to be a maximum of 2 teams per age group, per gender. So Bridge FA will have an A & B team, or gold and red, or something to distinguish between the two.

To be a full alliance club member, with a seat on the executive board, and a position on the coaching board, the club agrees to not field challenge (or premier if applicable) teams. Member clubs would then field classic teams, and play PMSL.

I don't really like the connotation of "the old club teams". Many people would probably agree that there are some players on some of the current "challenge" teams, that may be better suited to be playing "classic" soccer. There are many reasons for this, player ability, commitment level, want to play with a "local" team, etc.. PMSL, SCSCL, and the Premier League are all "competitive" soccer leagues. All of these leagues have State, Regional, and National Championships. So not playing on a "challenge" team with Bridge FA, does not keep a player from playing competitive soccer, and striving to represent his/her club at a National Tournament. However, playing on a Bridge FA team will allow for further development because the player will be training and competing with a full squad of players at the same higher level.

The goal of Bridge FA is to unite the top players from the respective clubs with the formation of teams, and provide opportunities for those players to train and compete together.

Presently each club in the area does a good job of training in the recreation and classic areas. However, when each club then tries to field the most competitive teams and play challenge, competing against each other for both players and coaches, you end up with a dispersed talent pool, of both players and coaches. If you have 4 or 5 of the top players from each club, (more if warranted by ability) then you have a more competitive top tier team(s), therefore, you can now truly provide the full service spectrum of player development in the area. Individually soccer clubs strive for player development. Only united will the low country clubs be able to provide full service player development.

Within the present models in the low country, we don't really have a system to fully develop this top tier player. These players then supplement with ODP, or driving long distances to other clubs, and jumping team to team, to fill this void.

Bridge FA is a cooperative attempt to recognize this, and move away from it. Uniting the top players, and coaching staff, will add stability to the soccer landscape in the low country, while increasing the competitiveness of these teams in other regional competitions.

Striker,

Not picking a fight here, but why do you not think the format that I discussed would not work in SC? The point that I've tried to make in the past, and am still advocating here is that the major metro area in SC do not have the player base to support several clubs/teams that want to compete at a higher level. For those players that want to compete at the next level, there is no alternative but ODP. We dilute the talent by having a number of clubs all trying to go to the next level, but not necessarily the talent to do so. However, if this talent was pooled, I think that these alliance type clubs can compete at the next level.

It sounds like from Bear's previous response to me that those players on the Alliance team would only play for that team/club and not maintain any affliation with their "home" club.

Striker,

Actually, these questions are exactly what I was hoping to get. This forum being open and all, others will be reading, and probably have the same questions.

Tough answer to write, but I'll give it a go.

Dual rostering, is allowed because of the two different organizations, and does not automatically imply dual team fees. There is a slight increase, $14 per player, to be rostered with US Club Soccer. Actual player fee structure has not been finalized.

Beginning with the Fall 05 team formations, it is anticipated that each Bridge FA team will also be rostered with US Club Soccer. There simply are multiple reasons to do this which make sense, too many to really to discuss like this. So while this one team will be dual rostered, it will be one team with one set of fees.

The Ohio model does not match Bridge FA. Bridge FA will compete in SCSCL or Premier as appropriate, and supplement with friendly/tournament play. The dual rostering helps with the friendly and tournament play. The Ohio model under US Club soccer is very similar to ODP with USYSA, and Super Y, where players are on a club team and then move to another team for specific training and competitions. This is where the difference is with Bridge FA, in that these players will play for Bridge FA, either in USYSA, or US Club Soccer competitions. Bridge FA is already a US Club Soccer club, and anticipate being a SCYSA organizational member very soon.

The Ohio model as presented by OPG in my opinion is very similar to ODP, but under a different sanctioning body. Something that I don't really want to get into with this discussion, as it gets beat to death routinely.