Striker
In reply to your sarcastic conspiracy theory of an effort to restrict CESA in their pursuit of regional recognition i think you will find that a club in SC has already achieved this.
Aiken- whose Fire team of a few years ago made it to the nationals on more than one occasion.
I guess we should just have one club in SC (cesa) let all the players play there and see if we can get regional recognition then. Hey we could even get a t-shirt that said CESA all state championships everyone else 0.
The way to grow the skill level of SC youth soccer is not for one club to try and engulf all others. It is to promote soccer to the masses of kids at age 4 and 5. Encourage coaches to gain licensure and education and to provide a sense of loyalty and integrity within the each club and more importantly the game. Then when these kids are 13 they will have a love and understanding of soccer. Lets try and keep the coaches coaching and not recruiting. The reason CESA has won many of its cups is due to the fact the better kids are enticed to go there by coaches/parents and players.
The most current example is the u14 boys divison. Last year Tega Cay u13 finished 2nd in the cup thus qualifiing them for region 3 play. That was until their best players miraculously appeared on the much travelled Nick Finottis CESA team. Tega Cay, after having been much weakened by this, have withdrawn from their spot in R3P. My point to this is that the coach of tega cay had down a great job with limited numbers only for it to be in vain. SC would be much better served by having coaches like him develop local talent in a loyal enviroment that would create a challenging state wide league not made up of 3 clubs.
The coaches are out there. In fact CESA actually does not have the most highly qualified coaches. That accolade goes To Columbia United who has more A and B licensed coahes then anyone else.
The key to advancing the level of SC youth soccer is to start young and coach the kids up. We need to encourage coaches who love the game not the $.
