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I've often wondered about a system of promotion and relegation between the classic and challenge divisions. This becomes most interesting in the U-13 and U-14 age groups where they play a fall season and a spring season with essentially the same teams. Just out of curiousity, I took a look at the top two teams in each classic division and the bottom two teams from each challenge division in the fall. It's interesting to see what teams elected to move up or move down.

Of the bottom two teams from each challenge division, 5 moved down to classic and 3 stayed in challenge. Of the top two teams in each classic division, only 2 moved up to challenge, 5 stayed in classic and 1 appears to have disappeared.

I'd be interested in what motivates a team that was undefeated in classic to not upgrade to challenge, or a team that didn't win a game in challenge to stay in that division.

Just in case you're wondering, and don't want to look it up yourself, the most "questionable" classifications are:

U-14G: Florence Flame went 8-1-1 in classic and did not move up
U-14B: Tega Cay 91 Gold went 2-9-1 in challenge and did not move down
U-14B: NECSA Cosmos went 8-1-1 in classic and did not move up
U-13B: CSC 92 Navy went 0-10-0 in challenge and did not move down
U-13B: Carolina FC 92 went 6-0-1 in classic and did not move up

So, is it a question of enjoying the success in classic or a matter of bragging rights that you're playing challenge?

In my mind if the intent (as it should be) is to develop good players then competition will do it. Therefore SCYSA should initiate a promotion/relegation system. Currently it is left up to a coach/club to decide the caliber of the team and the perceived caliber of the competition.

I will say however that I have seen it backfire... I have seen high level classic teams completely demolished in challenge. This you would agree it is not conducive to development.

So where do you draw the line, for my two cents promotion/relegation is in order as the gain from competition outweigh the other issues.

A good coach will see the past the scores and determine the level of development. Parents are another issue...

I like the idea in theory but scanning the GA forums. This always causes problems because the decision becomes political in nature which is never a good thing, especially when players move from one club to another. So the current system works well. I have seen teams that stunk it up one season become top of the heap the next because of injuries. For example the Tega Cay 91 might have lost their starting goalie and mid-fielder to injury and will be back in perfect form for the spring season. Only a coach would have the insight to make that decision.

Decisions for moving up or down between challenge and classic between seasons is probably a gutch wrenching issue for teams on the bubble. Perhaps a more likely rationale is the objective of the team/club. Some clubs might recognize that they don't have the demographics to compete for state cups on a regular basis, and have basically opted for developing the player as best they can. In these scenarios a club might opt to stay at the challenge level. (Sometimes an 0-2 loss agains a superior opponent results in better player development than a 2-0 win against a less experienced team.) These teams might also off set their poor challenge records with mid-level tournaments, while top-end classic teams might play up a bit at tournaments to get the extra challenge.

In any case it would be difficult for SCYSA to institute any hard and fast rule as suggested by previous posts ... so I'm personally in favor of leaving this alone.