There are exceptions and most of those are from such large populations with alot of players to choose.
As far as driving 1.5 hours, one-way three times a week? That's not alot considering what's going on around the country. It's the norm and there are alot of players doing at least that to get what they need. There is sacrifice involved.
I agree with better development at younger ages, however, there is always a time when the best can go with the other best to make things the highest level possible. Whether you have 50, 500 or 5,000 players, there is always the top 18-24 that can push each other to the next level. And that needs to start young.
In a state like SC, you have to pull from everywhere. For years, it's always "wait til this generation" or "when they get older." The numbers are always present in youth soccer registration in the U.S. But they are just numbers and not national-caliber quality. Also, there's not enough quality coaches to develop all the numbers.
ODP administrators, at least with the women, pick coaches, when a, and what, meeting is training or a match and what events to do. And, yes, quality coaches are missing. Just look at the list of coaches on the women's side. A DOC with a coaching technical board needs to all that. The administrators just collect money, email, assist tryouts, hotels/travel, etc. That's it. NOTHING soccer related.
As far as the point about enough top competition? Correct. A top pool of players can play Premier League, top tournaments, out-of-state friendlies, State Cup and most of all train with another and play 8 v 8, 11 v 11, etc if the pool is large enough.
It takes a DOC summit to do this and, again, there is too much result and financial-oriented issues for each DOC to give in, even if they know its right. And CESA thinks it has it all but it's not close in Region III and the country on a consistent basis.
