Its good to here that NECSA may be open to merger consideration. It really is the best way to proceed so the Cola. area can become consistently competitive, and not just produce a great team like the Storm every few years. With a merger there will be state-wide competitive teams in every age category. But the biggest problem will be in getting started, and creating valid discussions among the associations- LSC,CRSA,NECSA & CSC. With such a merger there would be almost 20 fields available for play. A two tier configuration of challenge and classic teams would work initially. Then as the challenge teams succeed, you may have several teams qualify for the U-15 and up premier league for fall play. The classic teams will receive exceptional instruction and coaching and probably still have that sense of community....meaning that most players who make classic teams will probably chose to play in their own area and not have to travel from say Irmo to NECSA to practice. Yet, the challenge and premier players would not mind the relative short trips from NECSA to Irmo for practice. As I stated in an earlier post, this would be much better than traveling to Greenville 2-3 times a week for practice, as many from Cola. players now do. Yet, I fear that the associations will be reluctant for 2 reasons: 1)Don't want to give up some power and sense of community 2) Too much work to get the merger started and functioning. But,if you are passionate about the game of soccer and really want to see Cola soccer succeed consistently on the state and hopefully regional level, then you put aside egos and the 'my club' attitude. There are plenty of talented people in this community who can get it done....Let us be determined to begin the process............
