All of the discussion about creating new regions so teams can face competition on their level has a flaw.
It's a quick fix.
High school soccer is not a revenue sport, thus regions won't be re-aligned for soccer, whereas for football they will.
But club soccer is a revenue sport in a way. It costs money to play. Lots of money. Schools with a lower poverty index have more kids that can afford to play club; thus, more often than not these schools are better at soccer year in, year out.
High school football doesn't cost $500 to $2000 dollars to play in the off-season if a player wants to be the best on his high school team. He simply hits the weight room, trains, goes to summer and spring drills, works hard, and gets better. Little to no cost incurred.
Thus in high school football, a less-affluent school can be successful against a more affluent school. They can be consistently successful.
If inexpensive, high level club soccer training was available to every kid that really wanted to play, at every school with a high poverty index, you would see a big change in the powers that be in South Carolina High School Soccer. Teams that had never been soccer powers would become very competitive within a short time, the playing field would be leveled throughout the state in most classifications, AAAA down to A, and the argument of realignment for soccer would become a moot point.
I wish the US was like other countries and soccer WAS our national sport. It is not. Football is. Football is cheap and affordable to inner city, poor, and affluent kids alike. Thus more people can identify with it, it draws crowds, it makes money.
If CLUB football existed, and cost $2000 dollars, and out of season soccer training was free, this argument would be reversed. Soccer WOULD be our national sport. And crowds would number in the thousands, they would fill stadiums, while football crowds would dwindle to a two bleacher, handful of dedicated parents, who had invested countless years and countless thousands to see their child succeed.
Kevin and Kyle (and I'm sure others) have a done a great job in the West Columbia area with the CRSA club, by making it very affordable and thus getting a lot of kids participating year round that otherwise would not.
It takes deep pockets for a school in south carolina to be ELITE in soccer. Deep pockets fund the strongest clubs (CESA, CUFC, Bridge), because parents that can pay make sure their kids get the training they need to be the best.
If club were free, or cost little to nothing, the landscape would change. I doubt that will happen, and I doubt South Carolina will realign anything for soccer.
