SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP Atlanta Cup - Where are the SC Girls?

Big,
Its obvious that not enough people care if SC competes regionally or nationally, cause we are so far away from that reality. I don't think those that care to be competitive with Texas and Georgia and OK clubs are 'hyper competitive.' They just see that SC soccer is going in a positive direction and they desire to strive to be the best they can be. And to be the best you can be involves a different approach than is currently in place. When some in this forum do express their desires to see SC soccer advance to the higher level status, there are the comments about excessive travel and commitment to a particular club, as well as some comments that High School ball cannot be bypassed for year-round training. Lets assume that we now have 3 big clubs (Bridge, CESA, CUFC) and that all have a somewhat serious desire to excel at the next level, i.e. regionally. If the talent continues to remain diluted and spread within those 3 or other number of clubs, we cannot field the best players in one club to compete at that next level. So.......what will get us to the level? Since one state team is not possible and would not be supported by SCYSA, it is up to one club to show the way. I believe it also involves 2 factors: recruiting the best to your club and year-round ball.
The majority of soccer in SC is still played at a socially satisfying level which is acceptable to parents. Often times it is the parents who prove to be a hindrance to the best development for their talented players.
It just comes down to choices that you can live with.
With the level of coaching in SC at the highest level I have seen it in 10 yrs. and the quality of facilities increasing each year, it is time to see if anyone wants to reach for the top.

>>[futbol(soccer)] I thought NCAA did not allow these games any more.... or was it only off-season?<<

The NCAA only disallows for Division I schools (if you look it up on the NCAA web site, you'll see only the Division I folks ever voted.); Division II and Division III schools are still permitted to play clubs.

>>[Hurst66] I was talking about 2 hours each way. I don't know how those Mt. Pleasant girls do it. Also, how did Newberry stack up vs. NKU, in your humble opinion?<<

Sorry...I didn't say it well. After I pick up my kid at school at 3:15PM, it takes until 5:15PM to get to practice.

I would think a kid living in Mount Pleasant would have a 4 hour drive there and a 4 hour drive back.

I'd think that the further away you are, the more it would be important that there are local training opportunities, both CESA supplied and other.

It's so early in the season that a fair comparison really isn't possible since I'm sure that the college coaches are experimenting and the players are learning to play with each other. However, I can tell you that it seemed to me [as a dumb soccer observer only] that NKU was much more physical while Newberry had much more speed.

striker,

does the market create an opportunity? or do visionaries create opportunity? Sometimes both.

my main point wasn't the success or lack of......that has characterized our state at the highest level. my point was......is someone working to address it? And I think they are.....in part because, if they don't.....people will have choices a year or 2 from now than they didn't a year or 2 ago. Simply winning a handful of State CUps won't be enough to hold your star players.....

So CESA, Bridge, etc.......have to grow, have to build alliances. If they do......they will become even more successful. if they do't.....the best players will go to Atlanta, Charlotte, Greensboro, etc.

U-15 Girls division is loaded. Some pretty decent teams attending:

http://www.atlcup.com/TTTeamList.aspx?tid=atlanta

Atlanta Cup schedules are out.

Bridge FA U-16 Boys in a very competitive bracket. Looking forward to seeing their match against Boca Gunners.

http://www.atlcup.com/TTOneSched.aspx?tid=atlanta&year=2006&div=U16M01

Discoveries U-16 Boys draw a team from Arkansas, a team from Alabama, and a team from Georgia. Are the Cobb FC Chiefs Gold the only one they are worrying about?

How does it look for DSC in Atlanta?

If anyone is interested in watching complete Ga. State Cup matches-
http://www.cornerkickshow.com/GYSAstatecup.html

I see that many area teams had success this weekend at Disney, Raleigh and Greensboro.....but was the competition in any of these tournaments better than what was on display at the Atlanta Cup?

>>[Hurst66] I see that many area teams had success this weekend at Disney, Raleigh and Greensboro.....but was the competition in any of these tournaments better than what was on display at the Atlanta Cup?<<

Well...it seems that each one is different. The Disney Qualifier is about qualifying for the Disney Showcase -- so it's a tournament with a completely different objective. It's hard to fault CUFC for attending en masse with the goal of trying to get most of their elite teams into the Showcase. If you take the Qualifier and Showcase together; the competition in my experience is much better than the Atlanta Cup.

The CASL Kick-Off is not a highly ranked tournament; it's by its own description more for second- and third-league teams in the various states. So I'd have to say the Atlanta Cup far transcends this one -- but they seemed aimed at a different market.

Finally, the Greensboro event. I can speak best to the age group I follow the most closely this year -- U18G -- and say that the competition uniformly seemed better. Between Greensboro and the strong Northern Virginia teams playing there wasn't a weak team in the bunch.

But best of all, these tournaments weren't the spread out discombobulated mess that the Atlanta Cup so often is and because they are by their nature smaller didn't suffer from the inconsistencies and poor logistics Atlanta is so well known for. Personally...I sure didn't miss attending the Atlanta Cup this year.