>>[Beezer] ALL age groups, both genders! It's ignorant for clubs and coaches in South Carolina to think with the "we have it all" mentality.<<
Isn't it equally ignorant to believe that based on demographics alone that a South Carolina-wide state team can compete with the top clubs? After all, Dallas as a metropolitan area has more people than South Carolina as a state. And the top Dallas clubs draw from an area much wider than the Dallas metropolitan area.
>>Men and women, the player pools ARE NOT deep enough to compete CONSISTENTLY and top players have to be together all the time.<<
Using population/demographics to predict competitiveness is an excellent foundation for any type of youth soccer discussion; however, it is extremely limiting if that's the only thing you're using. Basically, if you look at the top youth soccer clubs in the nation, you can find plenty of exceptions -- CASL out of the Raleigh area and ESC/HFC out of Oklahoma City are the most obvious.
>>A random example here and there doesn't equal improvement and consistency.<<
I agree that anecdotal evidence of one team isn't compelling. And yet assuming that the only thing we have to do is to form a statewide team and expect kids to spring up in Charleston and Greenville and Aiken and Rock Hill that are so ambitious with respect to soccer that they are willing to drive 1.5 hours to multiple training sessions per week doesn't seem valid.
In my opinion, if you're going to try to compete with top club teams nationally, the first and foremost thing to do is to increase your foundation of kids playing soccer. In other words, focus on getting more kids involved at the recreation and above level so that over time you can achieve a critical mass of kids that might be willing and able to participate more broadly on any team, regardless of geography, that has the ambition to compete regionally and nationally.
