Calsouth NEEDS Paradigm Shift

U

uburoi

Guest
The driving needs to be curtailed and Cal South can help. This will reduce continued environmental impacts, traffic, safety, money, stress and time for all involved. This weekend CRL is a case in point. The rainout forced a drive back to Temecula for mileage ranges from 40-180 miles in order for some teams to play a club geographically much closer. For us, we played a team that is 5 miles from us but spent the entire day to do it. This is absolutely unacceptable. Even without the rainout this would've been the case.

Here is a possible alternative that could work for state/ national cup too, unless there's a knockout stage where two games in to be played on the second day. Day one when there are 2 games is a requirement for all teams. Day 2, allow teams to schedule locally. The referee could certify the game is played up to standard and sanctioned fields can be agreed upon with club management in advance of the tournament. Again, yesterday was a case in point. We should've had a field agreed-upon that we could've play on last Sunday, and that would've been much easier for all involved.

When I say paradigm shift, that's exactly what I mean. When initial scheduling is done, use the advanced software to tick the button that says local, or create this requirement in the system. There are a lot of teams now. This is not 2006. There is no need for everyone to drive so far all the time. That means teams play teams geographically far from them on the first day at a central location such as Silverlakes or Galway Downs, and the second day the local teams play each other on a field that is much more convenient. The team with the higher point total chooses the venue. Cal South needs to take the lead in this. What is happening and has been happening is no longer sustainable in the environment in which we live - the roads are too crowded, it's too much stress for all involved. I realize club sports is really a middle to upper-class endeavor; this will also allow those who are not as fortunate financially to participate much easier. That would help the soccer landscape for all of us.

This shift supports the players of today, and the players and families of tomorrow.
 
There should absolutely be a waiver that exists for Cal South events (at the minimum CRL) that both local teams can apply for and play the game locally. I do think it's too much heavy lifting for State Cups and National Cups with the bracketing and group play...I like your idea of if it is a single game day and both teams have a mechanism where they request a local venue. It might be too much to ask as it's short notice to get a field and ref etc etc. But for CRL it's a no brainer. To drive out of the city to play a local team on a one-off league like CRL, which really does it's own thing and is a finite group of teams is stupid.
 
Csl Premier does a good job making sure that the San Diego teams don't have to come to Irvine to play each other. Shouldn't be that hard for CRL league as well. The play in tournament I can see them not doing it.
 
It's more of a global change in thinking. Scdsl also is able to do this. There are always big tournaments and they are awesome, but if locations were slightly more flexible more would participate.
 
Competitive Soccer has it's dedication and comitment that you sign up and pay for.

AYSO/ City Rec in your neiborhood have great programs that are usually close to anyone that does not want to dive out of their confort Zone. You cam play up if you need your child to be challenged with competition.
 
The figurative driver is $$$. That means the literal driver is you.

Until that changes, don't expect much to be different.

How we've handled this in certain cases is that our team has given our club some pushback about playing tournaments far away, and requested a closer tournament instead. At least we don't end up traveling far. That has been met with some success.
 
Night Owl said:
Competitive Soccer has it's dedication and comitment that you sign up and pay for.

AYSO/ City Rec in your neiborhood have great programs that are usually close to anyone that does not want to dive out of their confort Zone. You cam play up if you need your child to be challenged with competition.
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You have to love this attitude that many of the soccer parents seem to have...lol..."we are stupid enough to do so if you don't like it then dont play here" Nothing is more frustrating than to have to drive to some out of the way field to play a team that is 15 minutes away from you. I remember going to Lancaster to play when we (a Temecula team) played a Carlsbad team, a San Diego team, and another Temecula team in our group. Between us and the other teams we would have had no trouble securing a field for the playing and everyone would have saved a 3 hour drive plus hotels....I know that is what we "signed up for" says the kool-aid drinking soccer parent who lives vicariously through their kid. If you dont like it don't play....common sense has never been a common virtue among the Cal South or youth soccer crowd...blind obedience and money has.
 
wildcat66 said:
You have to love this attitude that many of the soccer parents seem to have...lol..."we are stupid enough to do so if you don't like it then dont play here" Nothing is more frustrating than to have to drive to some out of the way field to play a team that is 15 minutes away from you. I remember going to Lancaster to play when we (a Temecula team) played a Carlsbad team, a San Diego team, and another Temecula team in our group. Between us and the other teams we would have had no trouble securing a field for the playing and everyone would have saved a 3 hour drive plus hotels....I know that is what we "signed up for" says the kool-aid drinking soccer parent who lives vicariously through their kid. If you dont like it don't play....common sense has never been a common virtue among the Cal South or youth soccer crowd...blind obedience and money has.
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Please join CalSouth board and make a difference for us.
 
Night Owl said:
Please join CalSouth board and make a difference for us.
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There is no way to "join the board". The electors for Cal South BOD positions are limited to the clubs who are the real "members". It takes about a decade or more of volunteer work for a person to get ot a point where he is recognized by enough clubs to have a chance at election.
 
Here is the complaint that I have had along the same line. In the Temecula/Murrieta area we have Arsenal, Legends, Temecula United, Temecula FC, Temecula Hawks, Murrieta Surf, and Southwest. Do you suppose these teams will scrimmage each other in a friendly? No. If one club hosts a tournament will the other clubs enter teams? Rarely. Why not? I asked to the coach . The answer...What if they beat us? Then all the parents will be taking their kids there next year. The coaches from ____ are always trying to snatch up our girls, we dont want to give them a chance. They have been directed by their directors to not play other local teams if possible....crazy to us normal people but not soccer people..
 
I heard you also have to be sponcered by someone on the board as well.
Kinda reminds you of the mafia movies "Friend of ours"
 
These governing bodies like Cal South, Scdsl are all closed systems to us parents and as was said above, The only say we have is to participate selectively when we can. Times are changing and thus these institutions should adapt over time to the needs of their customers. I do believe there is also an ethical reason as well. Traffic is getting worse, resources are not unlimited. I love it that my kids play, but when I tell people at work that I drove to the end of the world and back on the weekend, I'm not bragging. I'm lamenting the fact that it doesn't always have to be like that. People complain about cal south all the time so to some I'm just another complainer, but the reality is that the system can be adjusted without changing it completely. Isn't DA a way for some organizations to find another way that works better for them?
 
wildcat66 said:
You have to love this attitude that many of the soccer parents seem to have...lol..."we are stupid enough to do so if you don't like it then dont play here" Nothing is more frustrating than to have to drive to some out of the way field to play a team that is 15 minutes away from you. I remember going to Lancaster to play when we (a Temecula team) played a Carlsbad team, a San Diego team, and another Temecula team in our group. Between us and the other teams we would have had no trouble securing a field for the playing and everyone would have saved a 3 hour drive plus hotels....I know that is what we "signed up for" says the kool-aid drinking soccer parent who lives vicariously through their kid. If you dont like it don't play....common sense has never been a common virtue among the Cal South or youth soccer crowd...blind obedience and money has.
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The flip side of this is that many players and parents enjoy the large-scale tournament sites, and traveling on occasion for a weekend. We enjoy seeing players on other teams/clubs (kid's friends) in between our games, talking to other parents and friends at all different age levels. You can't do this when you are all scattered at different sites. Traveling for tournaments as a team (staying together, playing at a pool, going out to eat together, etc.) also is what most of these kids wiill remember most about their youth soccer days.

I have been in tournaments as both a coach and parent where we have been relegated to the "high school field", while everyone else plays at the large tournament site. Its simply not as fun for the participating teams.

But I get how traveling far for 1 game against a local club would be a drag.
 
@uburoi, the economics are not in favor of your plan. Here is why:

To the extent a regional tournament (State and National Cup) can be broken up into regional play locations, while still maintaining the balance of the brackets in a fair manner ... great its a fine idea, as long as you/teams/parents are prepared to pay the additional costs.

A venue such as Silverlakes can easily handle tournaments of up to 288 teams (24 fields x 6 games per day = 144 games or 144 team @ 2 games/day or 288 teams @ 1 game/day) and Cal South's deal with Silverlakes is a "complex" deal, which means Cal South pays over $16,195 per day for the facility. (see, https://emma.msrb.org/ER958862-ER749578-ER1151172.pdf, page 115 for rates). The formula is 6 games per 11v11 field and 9 games per 7v7 or 9v9 per field.

Cal South needs to centralize as many games at one facility because its means fewer costs/expenses in field marshalls, referee coordinators, staff, EMTs/Athletic Trainers, etc. The use of Silverlakes and the other complexes just makes good economic sense if you are trying to keep registration fees low and centralize the management. In addition, these complexes do a lot of the heavy lifting by delivering fully set up fields (lined, goals with nets and no holes, corner flags, etc.).

Once Cal South (or another league, CSL or SCDSL or USYS) pulls the trigger on using a large facility, it needs to fill up that facility to the max if it is going to keep its costs under control.

The solution you needs to present is that if teams want to opt out of going to the large facility for CRL play-in, etc. those teams need to be prepared to undertake the additional costs and expenses of:
  1. Acquiring the field location ($100-$650).
  2. Field set up ($150/field).
  3. hiring an EMT and Athletic trainer at $35-$45/per hour person (4 hour minimum)
  4. Cost of Field Marshall ($20/hour, plus travel and lodging)
  5. Cost of additional Referee Coordinator ($20/hour) (Ref Crew was already included in the tournament fee).
 
timbuck said:
Probably true. I'm sure there is some agreement with silverlakes and other venues that they'll have X number of events there per year.
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You are correct, at least with Silverlakes, Cal South is required to use the facility at least 13 times per year (see, Page 111, Section 4.1 of https://emma.msrb.org/ER958862-ER749578-ER1151172.pdf).

It really comes down to this: Does Cal South and the greater SoCal soccer community want large venues that invest in the fields and are available to host regional tournaments? If yes, these facilities need to be able to pay for their expenses and make a profit, which means charging for parking and higher field fees. If no, then be prepared to play on crappy public parks, school fields and go to tournaments where you will spend as much money on gas traveling to multiple fields than you would to simply pay for parking.
 
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