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Bear I think you got this one right. It seems like Anything but Bridge Alliance. Talk about puuting differences aside. I guess kids from MT P and CUSC would be barred from attending Bridge tryouts......
I’m curious about the details of this partnership.

Here is a question I would like to see answered. A few years back Mount pleasant Soccer Club instituted a Commitment Fee at tryouts $50 or $60 plus a try out fee I think. What this essentially said was if you are placed on a team and decided not to play for that team your forfeit your commitment fee. I find this absurd for the following reasons.

If a kid tries out in Mount P and makes the team they are stuck there or forfeit 50 or 60 dollars.

If Bridge FA or another club has tryouts for a Premier Team (better opportunity and better exposure) and you elect to tryout only there and don't make the team you have nowhere to play if you didn't post your commitment fee.

What is up with trying to hold kids hostage? If I have a kid playing for me and they have a chance to got to a Premier Team, play in a better league, play in better tournaments and get more exposure; why would I dream of holding them back.

I encourage my players to tryout for as many teams as possible and see which result gives them the best opportunity to develop and succeed. That means weighing your options. I've talked with other coaches for them, if you are going to be the last off the bench or in slot 16 through 18 respectively on a premier team that may not be the best opportunity for development. You may be better off starting every game and playing more minutes with the challenge team. It bothers me to not see coaches weighing these options with the players. I would rather carry a roster of 15 than have three 3 players that get little game time throughout the year.

This applies heavily to U-15 through U-18 as those are the years they get looked at by most colleges.

Mount Pleasant, The Bridge FA and CUSC all need to give some. Mount Pleasant had the best facilities and some good coaches as well. They should have equal status on the board and input into the running of the club.

I guess for now we will continue to try to divide the baby 3 ways and let the kids suffer because the adults can't play nice!!!!!!

MRoss
Stop making so much sense!!!

I'm going to leave the commitment fee alone.

However, we are starting to scratch old topics.

Bridge FA was initially envisioned to have 4-5 board members, one for each major club, SSC, JIYSC, MPSC, and CUSC.

Bridge FA was intially envisioned to have 4 "directors" positions, Executive Director, Director of Boys, Director of Girls, and Director of Player Development. Same 4 clubs. It is commonly felt that "soccer people" need to make soccer decisions. If you have a flat organization, with each director having equal status, that forces the BOD, made up of volunteer parents to mediate and ultimately make soccer decisions. So the concept was to have the ED with 3 departments under him. There's the rub, who is the ED and what club did they come from.

When only SSC and JIYSC committed to it, naturally there wasn't any representation from MPSC or CUSC. One year goes by, and discussions were entered again with MPSC and CUSC, and the same organizational structure was proposed. Again, no commitment.

Now coming into year 3, more discussions, same structure but now include Rec and Classic. For whatever reason, that didn't work out either.

Simply put, equal representation was desired and requested.

Bottom line, I agree all need to give, and until they do, we'll continue to split the baby.

I think you only HAVE to pay the $25 tryout fee at Mt. Pleasant tryouts. That is what is posted on the website.
Last year, I noticed at club night after tryouts some parents had already paid $50 and had it credited to their fees, but some had not already paid $50. You definitely have to pay the $50 commitment fee at club night. By that time you should have had the opportunity to check out the teams offering the player a position.
I agree it is better to play at the challenge level vs. sitting the bench on the premier team and you would need a little time to check out the situation best for your player.
It would be great if the "powers that be" in the Charleston area could get it together.

I am curious to see how this will work as well. Last year MPSC and CUSC fielded 2 strong U15 girls classic teams. They should be able to field a competitive challenge team from these teams. If half are from MPSC and half from CUSC, that will leave each club without enough girls for a classic team. How are these girls served, if each club is going to have their own classic teams? Common sense dictates that they merge the classic players as well. The question will be under which club do these teams play? CUSC can not afford to lose the $$$$ if they all play under MPSC.

This will be very interesting to see how this plays out.

lowcountrydad - You are right. Those two clubs together could field a competitive challenge team, which is a good thing.
It would be great to know how the classic level would play out BEFORE tryouts.
Another option is a combination of MPSC and CUSC challenge level players in this age group to form another challenge team at Bridge. Just a thought.

Lowcountrydad,

We are combing our efforts to place every player on an appropriate team. If a majority of players are from one area we will place that team with that club. This is no different than we have done in the past, communicating to help place every player. The only change this year is that we are making these improvements to help serve the soccer community:
1. We are having one combined tryout for U13-U18 players. Saving you time and money, plus making our selection process a lot less confusing (having everyone attend the same tryout allows us to see the whole talent pool at one venue.)
2. We are working toward offering local training opportunities, by sharing venues and services.

Hope this explains,

Andrew Grist
Director of Coaching
Charleston United Soccer Club
DOC@Charlestonunitedsoccer.net www.Charlestonunitedsoccer.net
(843)452-8338

Andrew,
If the is split is down the middle or you have players from three different areas on one team will you consider using both venues? I,myself am not a big fan of area teams practicing at one venue..Somtimes people will manipulate the system to ensure that they are the ones not doing the traveling..Coaches,managers and board members to name a few...I feel that if you are willing to play at the challenge level then you should be willing to make that trip across town once a week and then these teams will not have players participating for the sake of convenience

Any predictions on how many challenge level teams would be form at Charleston United based on this population model and partnership with Mt P?