SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP New Fort Mill Club - Tega Cay Soccer Club

scsoccerman

you say that you have no interest, yet I remember you continually putting down the Northwestern boys soccer program. Now you are attacking a DOC of a club that you say you have no interest in. What gives?

scsoccermann,

The personal attack on Lou Pantuosco is not necessary and not warranted. As I reminded you on a prior post, Lou, along with myself and Bob Blaschke (see above), started a club from scratch five years ago and quickly built it into a contender. Northside has been able to field competitive teams in many age brackets. A large part of the success of the Fort Mill boys (#6), Fort Mill girls (#2) and Northwestern boys (#3) programs can be attributed to the foundation that was laid by Lou Pantuosco. Lou also played an active role in recruiting the Northwestern boys varsity and Northwestern boys JV coaches to relocate to this area.

In addition, the Fort Mill girls varsity coach, the Northwestern girls varsity coach and the Fort Mill boys varsity assistant coach have all been on the Northside staff.

What's happening now is much like the break up of a marriage. People change, people get other ideas, people want to move in other directions. There are no villains in this and your attempt to label Lou Pantuosco as the primary cause is wrong.

Let's hope this divorce doesn't get too messy and let's put this issue to rest. No more commentary from Hartsville please, you're out of the loop.

scsoccerman: These last two posts are "reasoned arguments"; you're on your own, dude!

Hurst66: Is there any reasonable way to encapsulate the philosophical differences among these three clubs? I understand that there might not be, or that you might not feel comfortable talking about it -- I just wondered.

Why am I asking? Honestly, it's pure interest regarding merger and spin-off activities of youth soccer clubs. It seems to me that there are good reasons for mergers/alliances, and good reasons for spin-off's, and then there are some questionable reasons. A clear difference in vision/philosophy would seem to be a really good reason for a spin-off/new club.

I really thought SCYSA was discouraging the spin-off of club teams. Back many years ago, it was a very popular idea to just create your own club. I remember their being several 2 and 1 team soccer clubs because of this. I guess it is just a cycle...

Any updates on coaches for Tega Cay or Northside? Also, the last I heard neither team was certain there would be enough players for some teams. Any news?

scsoccerman

The person informing you is not feeding you the correct information. The merger meetings started even before I came up here. They were not initiated by Lou or DSC, but rather by the Rock Hill Rec Dept. They have been trying to get the clubs to merge so that there will be one club when the new Manchester Soccer Complex is completed.


Secondly, the new club in town was started for selfish reasons, not what was best for the kids. I will not tell their reasonings public, but if you wish to know, you can private message me and we will talk. As far as parents and players leaving, how do you argue your point when the club in the last 5 years has grown from nothing to 19 teams this past year (more than DSC)?

You are correct that the club situation is not the best in this area. However, placing all the blame on Lou is neither correct nor fair.

The Tega Cay club leadership has not commented. Their press releases say what they are doing, but not why. It seems appropriate for them to step forward with SOME statement.

Davis in all due respect, unless you are on the board of Northside, I don't think you really know what is going on in the community. RHPRT did have discussions about merging, but Lou also had discussions beyond those. I will not say publicly, but everyone involved in soccer in the Rock Hill area knows what the problem is. By the way I have been gone the past few days moving back to Rock Hill. Perhaps I can be more active now.

Board - no. Trainer - yes. still dont think I know whats going on? I know exactly what the problem is. This area can not support 3 clubs. But please enlighten me as to the problem that you precieve. I noticed that DSC just hired a new DOC. I never saw that job listed publicly. Did the board make this hire?