Our mission has evolved over the years and latest/current can be found on our website:
http://cainhoyathletic.com/about-usSince our inception we grew to include a wider geographic presence and operations across the broader Charleston area. We continue to push soccer into smaller, lesser served communities like Huger, Awendaw, and Hollywood with varying results but at the same time have seen growth in our more central locations like West Ashley, and Mount Pleasant due to our 'value prop'.
We do invest deeply and whenever possible in creating new playing spaces and will continue to do so (including this fall in tandem with MPRD). Our membership (2017-18 approx 1200) includes majority MP residents and our Office is in Park West adjacent to the MPRD rec complex. In many ways I'd suggest given that three of our primary match fields are in MP, we are as much a MP club as anywhere else. BUT, honestly the lesson I have learned over the years is that geographic bonding to a sub-community is not practical or necessarily wise. Most larger State clubs (the big two) avoided City or location naming convention and we even tried (without too much luck). If you look at our shield, the 'Cainhoy' is in small font to lessen significance compared to 'Athletic'. It even has a weaker color.
We have even considered changing our name more than once, but haven't as we sort of like our brand now.
If you want to support competitive, older teams you have to draw form larger populations and embrace a diverse, mixed population form all corners of a region and without that pull, it is unlikely (rare) any club in any one town or community will survive the drop out rate of youth players.
We welcome and support renewed interest and growth of soccer by the MP rec department and perhaps this new initiative will prove enough to warrant our offering moot and can step away, but until someone else offers what we do (affordable quality participation at low-high levels), we'll be here. And honestly with large growth in our organization outside of MP, I'm not sure MPRD and their sites would serve all our membership well. I'd suggest even our non-MP teams would represent mass larger than several other local clubs.
Our action against MPRD was based on a fundamantal equity issue we felt deserved to be raised and answered to. I actually liked the outcome and recognition by District Court Judge, Richard Gergel who in part C of analysis recognized a fairness shortcoming and then goes on to cede this is a political matter over legal and perhaps our case helped the current situation forcouncil to consider fairly all requests from nonprofit organizations serving town residents.
Again, we fully support any initiative by town or anyone to offer quality, affordable programming anywhere.
