I know I shouldn't but again, "better suited to converse within the community or asked to various other clubs."
Why are players being held at clubs just because of the threat of not playing other local teams?
Not sure what that means but if this is about CPL, see next one. Beyond league play, you can only play other teams that are covered under the same affiliated ORG (insurance coverage) for very good liability reasons. Or perhaps are part of a tournament that covers broader scope and approval of play. SCYS will only support affiliated play under registration and why (correctly) you can't scrimmage a high school team or rec program (unless also affiliated under SCYS). Why you also have to have special waivers and permissions for out of State and travel etc. Getting off beat as this question asks about local teams so must be geared toward Coastal, CPL or Rec play (and by association insurance applies).
If new leagues are being created, why would CBSC not be invited? CBSC absorbed Summerville Soccer Club who own their own facility, why were they not invited?
I can think of several different reasons why any club might be excluded from a particular league or organization by any other club, rule, policy or forming committee. Ranging from business interest, pride, profit, philosophy, size, history, scale, mission, like mindedness, relationships, poor partners, community focus, nonprofit status, etc. - I would suspect the answer might come down to a combination of several of these (depending on who you ask), or another I'm not surfacing.
Does Summerville own their own facility? I thought it belonged to Dorchester County (deeded by Westvaco) but true, SSC (Battery) has control. A less sensitive answer for Junior Academy is that player count is largely in central/north Charleston/Mount Pleasant and for younger age groups, Summerville as nice as it is, isn't well liked for games due to its distance and I can't imagine would be considered the best spot or major driver for inclusion. For U8-U12 I'd suggest Patriots or Trident Academy far preferable to many, but I'm biased and part of the East Cooper mass. Ashley Phosphate and Drayton Hall other good options for JA local play but SSC, Carolina Park and our Awendaw fields, sort of at the edge and distant for many.
Why are clubs requiring parents sign up within 24 hours or their kids will lose a spot as a scare tactic? Shouldn’t the clubs be supporting whatever opportunity is best for the kids?
I agree 24 hrs is insane, but not much better than 48 which I believe is standard at CBSC. Some clubs even require same day. I went to an eval with my son a while back and was told to bring my checkbook to pay if he got selected at the last tryout (and of course he was - last time we tried out at that club). We should all offer everyone ample time to consider all options. But having said that, for everyone offered at the better programs, there is likely at least one on a waitlist so only fair to them to ask for some haste. Candidly if I had it my way, we would eliminate evals altogether and do like EPL and have a transer window where you could invite kids to training sessions over a month and ease into teams. This madness is created indirectly (with all good intentions) by governing bodies and recruiting rules (rule 43 in particular that identifies when you can start - and then comes the stampede). And in my opinion fails to recognize High School season and ample buffer beyond (make June transfer window).
The player pool in our region is not that large where we can afford NOT to include all players
Agreed and another club just dilutes that talent further. I suspect lowcountry competitiveness at the top level will dip now (at least for a while) and some kids will miss out of surrounding themselves with the very best (if that is what you want)
If the Battery had the so-called highest-level team in a certain age group in town, would other clubs NOT want to play them?
I have (at least) a couple of issues with this question. Why worry about the highest level teams? I'd be more concerned with the lower level teams: Top teams in a region like ours deserve to be going a little farther afield anyway. Families on an elite team are there because they want to go to regionals, nationals, east coast, etc. You don't get that level of play in Coastal or Charleston anyway. At younger levels U8-U10 no one should be thinking that way (in my opinion) and honestly I'd say that should be U8-U12. And I'm certain there will be many opportunities to play top teams in 'open' tournaments locally and regionally where Battery could get tested by others if they want to including those run by the Battery. Ugh... but this focus on "highest-level team". 60/40 please and all of us grow the sport.
