I think we agree on some points. It was and is a bold and risky move for the club to take. Some of this also still has to play out though, particularly the exposure to top college coaches.
Dealing with the exposure to college coaches. Are the top programs in the state of SC going to be traveling to Va, OH, CA, TX and other places to watch 1 or 2 games over the weekend? How many SC players are really seeking to go out of state to play collegiate soccer?
As for exposure to national team coaches, how many national team players has SC produced? Is the academy program really going to help further that, from the SC perspective?
I don't mean any of this to slight the efforts or people involved in any way. But, what is really going to change to "develop" SC players into national team players or major college level players? The core group of players, and the core group of trainers, have not recently produced state champion teams in the age groups involved with the academy program.
If you look at the progression of levels of play in this country, US Soccer has taken a step with the development of the Academy program to essentially replace the ODP process for identifying national team players. With that said, it's somewhat shortsighted to believe that any one team/club in this state has all the players with the potential for national team play. In looking at the age groups involved 1990 and 1991, SC enjoyed tremendous strides in the ODP Region Pools this year. However, to my knowledge, none of these region pool players are part of the academy program at Bridge FA. Maybe in time that will be the case.
While I see tremendous benefit in this program, I still see a place for recreation, classic, challenge, and RIII play in the development of players. To essentially shun the other programs discredits the benefits of those programs.
If this is the future of the top level of soccer in the nation, then in my opinion the best place for this program would be at the SCYSA level. Only then will the top players thoughout the state be able to unite and play representing the entire state of SC and their local clubs.
I wish Bridge FA well with this endeavor, and I hope I'm totally wrong, but I don't think Bridge FA is mature and stable enough as a club, with the organizational structure necessary to be able to sustain this program.
