I was looking around the other day at the posts made after the fall challenge cup last year. A poster named "Eurofan" had some interesting observations back then. These are posted below (I've added a bold font in his original text to emphasize some aspects of a long post.)
One fascinating observation is how much disdain that he showed, and said that others shared, concerning his perceived tight coupling of CSC and high school. Now...I can remember years ago hearing about this...but knowing some of the coaches over there I never really bought into it.
I basically have two questions:
1) Is the perception of CSC as being some sort of "bias toward high school club" widespread outside of CSC and does anyone see that as having a negative impact on the merger. If so, how can you counteract this perception? [Note: I personally believe that CSC coaches are absolutely unbiased in terms of club player coaching versus the high school the players go to.]
2) How do you convince people like "Eurofan", who were trashing CSC a year ago (particularly compared to his relatively lavish praise of other clubs), to support the merger? What he's saying is really harsh...and from reading this I would think that there's a decent chance he has children involved in the merger.
One last note: there were a ton of misconceptions, and parents who didn't like the other club just as "Eurofan" seems to dislike CSC, between SGU and GFC when they first merged. These were overcome -- just as I'm sure this can and will be overcome -- but I think by talking about this (just as we did when SGU and GFC merged) you can only help. And I want to help...I think that the Columbia area needs clubs offering more services to more children and that mergers are absolutely a great way to get there.
Please no club bashing; I'm hoping we can get some meaningful discussion here.
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EuroFan
Registered Member
Member # 1976
posted December 16, 2004 05:57 PM
Observations from prior posts and from Mid-State Club's websites:
1. Comparing SCYSA Challenge Cup Fall '03 to Fall '04, did not St Giles and GFC combine to win or be a finalist in six of the eight U15 to U18 age group titles between them in Fall '03 and by merging, they managed to pick up 2 more Premier League births by going 8 for 8 this year? In other words, the merger allowed the 6 former GFC and St Giles teams to maintain their titles in those age groups and it strengthened the GFC and St. Giles teams in the two other ages groups so as to allow them to with those to age groups this year as well. Those teams did not magically attain some recent level of tournament success just because two youth soccer clubs merged. All CESA teams that won this past weekend are quality teams formed from two former quality clubs who have over the past 6 to 8 years put player development and Club development well ahead of high school soccer. And while CESA did go 8 for 8 and "hats off to them" they had at least four golden goal overtime wins on Staurday and Sunday, didn't they?
2. If anyone knows, please tell me how many current CESA Premier Level team coaches are also the head coach high school soccer team in the Upstate. Could this be one of the major reasons why those two Clubs were able to do such a great job in pulling off their merger?
3. Recently, I examined the websites of Congaree, CSC, NECSA and Lexington. What is clearly evident is that:
A. Congaree is indeed a feeder program for Brookland-Cayce High School and a few Dreher players. Just go look at their Board Member composition and look at their rosters. I believe all are shown to be teachers or administrators or boosters from BC. Some may not like that heavy a school affiliation within a club but at least those parents are stepping up to the plate and are volunteering their time for kids. The fact that so many BC kids and a far lesser amount of Dreher kids choose to play for Congaree teams is not surprising since the Club's leading coaches are Kevin and Todd Wilkerson (ex Dreher coach and current St. Joe's Elementary School teacher/admin.) Indeed, even at a young age it seems that Congaree is interested in allowing kids from one school play together in their U9 and U10 Sandlapper League teams. For instatnce, just go take a look at the U9 and U10 rosters on Congaree's website and see how many go to the same schools. Again, there is nothing wrong with that. If that is the philosophy that a youth soccer club wants to go in it is their choice. They are exposing many kids to the game who might not want to otherwise play club if they cannot play with their classmates.
B. CSC is heavily laidened with School District 5 coaches who also happen to have very successful high school programs from within the same District. Inherent within that coaching structure, as it would be in any Club which is so heavily laidened with high school coaches, is a natural fear from parents that Johnny will be favored over Joey because Johnny plays at school x where the club coach coaches. Add to that, the fear that if you are not a student in District 5 and you are thinking about trying out, you go into tryouts with the fear that the Club coach will take a player from one of the other District 5 teams whose coach coaches in the Club over you. Again, no one in their right mind can argue that Irmo, Chapin and Dutch Fork don't have solid high school programs led by incredibly talented coaches. They clearly do. But the question is whether each gifted player and that player's parents in the Columbia area would ever want to be in a Club that is so heavily alligned with high school coaches. Clearly, some do.....those in District 5 and at CSC. Clearly, some don't.....those at CRSA, NECSA and LEXINGTON.
C. As many have elluded to, at NECSA, Tripp and his staff have long taken the position....and gotten both slammed by many and applauded by many....that if you are going to play U13 or U14 in the Spring for a NECSA Classic team, you may not play jv high school soccer. Time constraints on the student, physical demands on the students' bodies and the level of play being engaged in at the jv level are such that in his judgment, it is better for the players' overall well-being to be focused and train and play on just one team - with a Club coach who is not alligned with any particluar high school. Again, that is not a wrong approach either. But because there are so many high school coaches coaching Club in the Midlands area, Tripp always gets blasted for taking a hard line when he tries to keep the better players from picking up bad habits from jv coaches who are not, for the most part, as knowledgable as him and his NECSA Club coaches. Again, not wrong....but not well received by the Midlands High School coaching community in general, and definately not well recieved by the Richland Two and Cardinal Newman coaches either. But at least everyone, including his players, know where Tripp stands on Club player development and commitment.
D. At Lexington, they have a wonderful new facility and excellent leadership at the top of the Club(s) in Rick Cunningham. There appears to have been much divison amongs the girls in the county and the boys in the county at the Classic level. One of their websites says that the Lex Girls Soccer Association and the Lexington Classic Soccer Association are merging...so that will definitely help. But from year to year, their Classic coaching ranks have not been consistantly deep for some reason. Their participation numbers show they are a very successful Club and they have done extremely well in the Recreational and Classic Cup Divisions, but they have not experienced a sustained level of success in any one age group in the Challenge division over the last few years as has CSC and NECSA in certain age groups. That does not mean they aren't successful as a Club. They are just not as successful as of late in Challenge Cup play as the active "posters" to this site seem to always want to focus on every chance they get!
4. And so how does a Club define "Success"?
A. If it is by this year's Challenge Cup Wins and losses, then CESA wins hands down.
B. If it is by having top high school coaches in your Club program, then CSC wins hands down.
C. If it is developing a feeder system for your own high school program and keeping classmates together on teams, Congaree wins hands down.
D. If it consistantly focusing on Club soccer and training your players for Club level play to the exclusion of high school soccer coaches and their influence, NECSA wins hands down.
E. If it is facilities and strong Classic Cup level play, Lexington wins hands down.
5. I congratulate all persons in the Midlands who dedicate their time to offer up soccer opportunities to the youth of our community. Success is measured in different ways by different people with different objectives. If you are helping children learn valuable lessons in life through sports and you are doing it in a positive way, then no one coach or club is a looser. With maturity and responsibility come that realization.
Each parent will, in the end analysis, do what he or she feels is best for his or her child's level of soccer development and corresponding desire to develop.
Each Club will, continue to serve its membership, do what it deems is best for its membership and measure success as it deems fit. If that means one or none or all merge with another I for one say "so be it".
In my opinion, winning is not everything but teaching a child how to work through adversity with the goal of winning is....and that makes the win and the lessons learned through the beautiful game that much more valuable!
And thus ends our reading from the third chapter of the book of EuroFan!
Happy Holidays to you and yours.
Yours in Soccer,
EuroFan
