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I was very disappointed in the state organization for not doing a better job of posting scores during the tournament.

>>[Flying Soccer] Chico what teams won Championships this past weekend? I can not find a complete listing of the Championship and finalist teams. Can you help a brother out?<<

Here's the data I have -- the format is bracket, winning club, losing club, winning team score, losing team score.

U15B: CESA MPSC 3 0
U15G: CESA CUFC 2 0
U16B: DSC CESA 1 0
U16G: CUFC CESA 1 0
U17B: LCSC CUFC 1 0
U17G: CESA CESA 1 0
U18B: Bridge CESA 3 0
U18G: CESA CUFC 4 0

>>[2004striker] Chico, Don't be so hard on the club!<<

I try to be equally hard on all of the clubs. I'm sure I fail at that and have biases, but my being hard on a club doesn't mean I don't think that the club is doing wonderful things. As I said, I'm impressed with CESA; I just want to see the club make greater gains and not rest on its laurels. And I'm not accusing CESA of resting on its laurels; I'm simply stating that I think that any organization can be and should be critically examined and be open to that examination if it's going to get better.

>>You indicated that 5 Challenge level teams made it to the semis, and some may have made the finals. That is a true sign of the overall quality of CESA -not just attaining a few state championships and a PL championship. Given that the U17G final had 2 CESA teams is a prime example of the total quality of the club.<<

I do agree with you that as a very good "intra-state" metric, the challenge teams making quarterfinals is a good one -- again, I just wish CESA had done better than that.

>>Maybe some of those Challenge girls should have made the Premier team during tryouts....I don't know. I would much rather be involved with a club that considers every single boy or girl on the field, no matter the level of soccer, as someone who can contribute to the success of their club in their own respective manner. I would much rather be involved with a club that has say 4 or 5 state titles, and 5 Challenge teams in the semis; than a club that has 8 state titles, yet has no other successs at any lower level. That is the real sign of a quality club.<<

I really do agree with the sentiment you are expressing. But let's turn it around. CESA had 6 challenge teams make the quarterfinals in fall 2005 and only 5 make it in fall 2006. Now, I'm not trying to say that this means there was a drop off, because I think statistically those are close enough to be a wash with that small a sample set. But I do think it's worth a discussion concerning how CESA can have more challenge teams get to the quarterfinals and semifinals.

The long-term answer to me is simple: CESA must increase the size of its recreation program. What I'm wondering about is how the club can make an impact on this in the next several years.

The long-term answer to me is simple: CESA must increase the size of its recreation program. What I'm wondering about is how the club can make an impact on this in the next several years.

The problem is not in the size of the rec program, but when it is time getting those kids over to the Academy Program. That is the trick.

bamr1: Benchmarking against CASL, I'm not sure about that conclusion...

We should not benchmark against CASL. They have a much larger population to draw from therefore a much larger rec program.

Talking Rec in Greenville what are the parents options; YMCA, Foothills, Greer, USA etc . . . Except for the YMCA the other clubs play in our Academy league.

I agree with you that building a bigger rec program gives you more kids feeding into the academy program. Thats a no brainer, but what I was trying to say is that the much bigger problem is getting parents to move their talented children out of the rec program and into the select academy program. This is an especially trying issue on the girls side of the equation. I used to think it was all about "education". Parents just did not know about the academy program. Although I still believe this to be a factor I am not as hung up on it as I was. Last year I assisted with handing out flyers to the girls (U8-U12 rec teams)and spoke very briefly with the parents and coaches. I expected at tryouts to see this overwhelming number of girls trying out at U-10 and U-11 and that just did not happen.

Chico,
did I see where you posted that CESA had 75% of the State Champions from the Fall Cup? Looking at your results posted above it looks to me like 50% (4 of 8) were CESA and the rest (4 of 8) from 4 other clubs. Is my math wrong or am I not seeing something with the Championships? thanks!!!

Mark Twain
--"The report of my death was an exaggeration"

CUFC dead? Hardly, but if I believed everything I read on this message board, I would be suprised that CUFC even HAD teams competing at the State Cup given the "sorry state" of soccer in Columbia.

(Remove tongue from being firmly planted in cheek!)

Seriously, did CUFC fall short/meet/exceed expectations? I don't know but my personal two cents is they suprised me in a good way on the girls side but I was diappointed on the boys results.

To have three finalists with the State Champions at U-16 on the girls side is a pleasant suprise. This is a testament to these young ladies and their coaches and all of their hard work throughout this fall season. CESA has certainly set the bar high on the girls side and they are to be congratulated on their continued winning ways with three champions but the showing by the CUFC girls in their first year hopefully bodes well for the future.

On the boys side, I had hoped for three finalists with a couple of champions. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The U-15s certainly underperformed in their upset loss to MPSC (the only upset of a CUFC team) and the U18 boys continued their "hard luck" experience in State Cup semifinals with a very tough loss to a gutty CESA Premier team in overtime. The U17 team acquitted themselves well with a 1-0 loss to a very good Lexington team in a game which had the potential to be a rough and tumble affair given the rivalry between these two teams. But, to the players on both sides credit it was an aggresive yet cleanly played game. Anyway, the boys side continues to show that they are competitive with other clubs in the state.

As RCates stated, parity is here on the boys side with champions from four diffrent clubs. Also, the results of the U17 and U18 support that fact as well--both of the finalists at U17 were the lower seeded teams and the semifinal games at U18 both went to OT with one of those to a shootout. (Did Clemson really end the game with only 8 players?)

Anyway, great soccer all around and all of these young men and women and their coaches are to be commended for the continued improvement in the level of play here in SC. The success of CESA has certainly caused SC soccer to get better--and not only in Greenville!

Flying Soccer: I'm pretty sure that I said that CESA had 75% of 2006 state challenge championships. If you could point out where I said 75% of only the fall state challenge championships, I'll be glad to acknowledge the error and correct it.

>>[bamr1] We should not benchmark against CASL. They have a much larger population to draw from therefore a much larger rec program.<<

Actually, Raleigh and Greenville in terms of metropolitan areas aren't that far apart compared to many clubs. However, the way you benchmark is by denominating over eligible people, i.e., people aged 5-18.

>>Talking Rec in Greenville what are the parents options; YMCA, Foothills, Greer, USA etc . . . Except for the YMCA the other clubs play in our Academy league.<<

Understood.

>>I agree with you that building a bigger rec program gives you more kids feeding into the academy program. Thats a no brainer, but what I was trying to say is that the much bigger problem is getting parents to move their talented children out of the rec program and into the select academy program. This is an especially trying issue on the girls side of the equation. I used to think it was all about "education". Parents just did not know about the academy program. Although I still believe this to be a factor I am not as hung up on it as I was. Last year I assisted with handing out flyers to the girls (U8-U12 rec teams)and spoke very briefly with the parents and coaches. I expected at tryouts to see this overwhelming number of girls trying out at U-10 and U-11 and that just did not happen. <<

You raise a great point. I had to focus on something else immediately after I posted my response to you and thought while doing it that I should have asked for more information. It's a fascinating perspective you have that the real problem is conversion of talented recreation players to academy and beyond. Let me ask you; have you shared this with the directors or anyone at CESA and gotten their perspective on this? Not doubting you...just wondering...