>>[Hurst66] I think what we are talking about here is the very tip of the top of the iceberg. If a Bridge team makes RIIIPL and puts up a -40 GD their first year, and they want to be successful the next.......yes, the answer is to merge that team with the CESA team in the same age group.<<
I couldn't agree more that we are talking about is the tip of the iceberg. And the biggest problem is that you can't have a high tip without having a really wide base. Likewise, SC can't consistently have regionally and nationally competitive teams from relatively few youth soccer players -- we need as many as we can get.
>>But we don't need to "merge" these kids from all over the state at the U-12 classic/challenge age group, do we?<<
I honestly don't know the answer to this -- specifically at what age should certain decisions be made -- because I think it's a decision players and parents have to make. If your kid eats and breathes and sleeps soccer and wants ever-increasing challenges, then you probably want her/him on the best team possible with the best players and the best trainers possible.
What I hate -- absolutely hate -- about the Rock Hill area is that South Carolina seems to be an exporter of soccer talent to North Carolina in that area (note: there are certainly exceptions -- but overall I hear about more SC kids playing in Charlotte than I do NC kids playing in SC). I was pleased to see the CESA training in Rock Hill as a way for South Carolina to possibly keep some of its best talent from being sent away -- and longer-term I'm hoping that we might start drawing more kids from North Carolina either as the result of CESA's presence, the existing clubs doing something different, or some combination thereof.
