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Does anyone know how the Cesa Columbia tryouts went. Being that this was the first year I would expect the numbers to have been low, but was just curious.

bamr1: I haven't responded to this question [I think someone else asked it earlier as well] because I don't know. I do know from talking to someone involved when they first announced CESA-Columbia that the folks there thought that the first year the turnout would be low and that they were most interested initially with getting just a few younger age group teams going. But I don't have a clue as to how it actually turned out.

bamr1,

My child wasn't able to attend the 2nd tryout but did attend the first tryout. The numbers were low but she had a wonderful time at the training session provided to her group by Jamie Smith, Chris Christian, and Andrew Fleming (there may have been one other that I'm missing, maybe Bert Molinary, I'm not sure). She said it was the most fun she had ever had playing soccer and felt like she had improved just from that one session. It was a very positive experience for her and she is extremely glad she went.

bamr1,

By the way, I heard the turnout for the 2nd tryout was a little stronger than the first, but still relatively low. I was thinking the 2nd tryout might be even stronger than it was because I thought more players that didn't make the team of their choice with other clubs might come and check out what CESA-Columbia had to offer. I imagine that other clubs' requiring players to accept offered spots by relatively early deadlines, probably "forced players' hands" to some degree, making some reluctant to take a chance on going to CESA-Columbia's 2nd tryout before making their final decision. I find it unfortunate that there is a pressure to accept what is offered before being able to explore all the possibilities.

sbs,

I have a couple of daughters playing in Charlotte and the "pressure" there is even worse. Three major clubs (Charlotte Soccer Club, Charlotte United and South Charlotte) all hold their tryouts on the same days and they ask you for a commitment after the first night of tryouts, either as you are walking off the field or via a telephone call as soon as you get home.

that sucks, that is a lot of pressure!

Hurst66, My little boy wants to start playing soccer but I am not sure of the best place around her is. He has already played successfully in other programs in other states but we just moved back into this area. Could you suggest a few places to start? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

cheers,
I see from your profile that you grew up in Lexington and you now live in Charlotte. I sent you a private message....I can help you with some info on local clubs over there.

$$$$

Hurst,

It does sounds like it might be even harder to make an informed decision there in Charlotte than it is around here. It must be tough if a coach is calling to offer a position and wanting a decision before the player has had a chance to go to any other tryouts, or explore other possibilities.
Aside from pressuring for a decision though, I will say that I do like the idea of a phone call from the coach, assuming he/she is willing to have a discussion with a parent. One problem we encountered during this particularly stressful tryout time, was that after my daughter's tryout number was posted on a club's website as having been selected for one of the teams she had been trying out for, we tried to contact the coach to ask a few basic questions before deciding whether or not to accept the position (we had never met him, and, to our knowledge, there had been no parent information meetings that we could have gathered any information from). We never received a response, even to this day. Attempts to obtain his phone number were also unsuccessful. Granted, he could have been out of town or something else could have been happening that kept him from being able to respond, but I think it's unreasonable to expect a player's parents to put down the type of money for registration and uniforms that this particular club was requesting by a certain deadline, without a parent being allowed a chance to speak with the coach either by parent meeting, or individually, on the phone. It might be a pain to make themselves accessible to parents but, like it or not, parents are the paying customer, not to mention the guardians of the children in question, and I feel like a little communication up front goes a long way.
In contrast, we had a positive experience with the tryout experience at another club she tried out with. Feeling like I needed some help sorting out the particular tryout situation that was facing my daughter, with conflicting clubs and tryout times, etc., and wanting to make sure we were doing what would be in the best interest of our daughter, I decided to muster my courage and go straight to the top. I emailed Andrew Hyslop of CESA and CESA-Columbia for advice, and he phoned me back right away, and could not have been more helpful in figuring out how we should approach the tryout process, especially in the event of conflicting tryout times between clubs. He understood completely the need to tryout at different clubs (if not for the benefit of different options, then at the very least as a safeguard) and rather than trying to discourage her from trying out anywhere esle, he, in fact, gave me advice that was based on the desire not to jeopardize her chances of making the team for a competing club. On top of that, he welcomed my contacting him again if he could give any further advice. It was nice to be able to bend someone's ear (who had great expertise and experience in the subject at hand) about our particular situation and have an honest, genuine, helpful response based strictly on the best interest of our daughter. As it turns out, we also received 2 phone calls from the head coach of the CESA team our daughter ended up trying out for- once, just to give us an update on where things stood, and a 2nd time later, to let us know which team she had ultimately been chosen for. On top of that, we had a face-to-face discussion (at his request; imagine that!) after one of the tryouts. And let me emphasize that none of these discussions were about trying to woo us to CESA (our daughter is not a highly sought after superstar, by any means, although we feel she has untapped potential :-)); they were strictly about keeping us informed during the process. It seems apparent to me that the focus of CESA and CESA-Columbia is not on getting necessarily all the best players or having all the best teams, but on providing the very best services it can to the most people it can, letting the results take care of themselves, and letting their merits stand on their own.

We have had the same experience with trying to decide what is best for my son in the upcoming season. I went to Andrew just for advise on what to do and he was honest, and upfront about everything. If he said I was going to be emailed or called it happened. Everything was handled in a professional and timely manner. My son will unfortunately not be able to play for CESA this season(due to family dynamics) but I will always be a "CESA fan" because of the way we were treated by the club. It makes it alot easier to pay the "big bucks" when people are receptive and are giving you feedback and support when even at times when it doesn't benefit them. I read on this site about people that don't want to give CESA any "props" but I tell people all the time, just have the experience. If your club is doing all these great things "toot their horn". It would be refreshing to know that CESA doesn't have the only good game in town(now towns).

Sounds like Andrew Hyslop went out of his way to give you all the info you needed. Good job by him. Testament to why CESA seems to have more players coming "in" the door than they have players going "out" the door.