Why did Surf stop playing in Presidio in the first place? Anyone know the story?
Maybe someone else can chime in who knows more of the details, but when I was there during the switch they sold the parents on "better competition" in SCDSL and the ability to easily club pass players to different teams.
On the boys side, in the u12-u14 age groups there was arguably stronger competition at the Flight 1 level and the club pass in theory was appealing to help players move up the ladder.
But in actuality, the Flight 2 & 3 levels in SCDSL offered identical competition to those found in San Diego (Presidio). And at the younger age groups, San Diego already provided plenty of competition even at the Flight 1 levels. Also instead of the club pass being used to reward hard-working "B" team players or give struggling "A" team players more playing time, it was used to basically place ringers on the lower level teams. For example, you'd see star "A" team players being club passed to Flight 3 "C" & "D" teams to help get results. Not exactly development.
As for the politics, I believe at the time Surf was looking to heavily support SCDSL. SCDSL had rules that were very "super-club" friendly and allowed rapid expansion. For instance, SCDSL allowed an unlimited amount of teams in a single age group and the DOC could place their own teams in whatever flight they want (it wasn't until a few years later an approval committee was setup after mass abuse). It's why when you look at a single bracket in SCDSL, it's possible to see 4 Strikers teams, 2-3 Surf teams, and 3-4 Pats teams. It wasn't unusual to see a 14 team league from just 3-4 clubs.
SCDSL basically allowed these clubs to create new teams on the fly at try-outs. 80 players at try-outs? Attempt to make a strong flight 1 team, then divide the rest into 3-4 teams and throw them in a flight 2/3 SCDSL league == Profit.
My guess the return to Presidio has to do with the Polo Field deal. They had to show continued use of the fields by San Diegans as a whole and not just a handful of rich north county families. Having the younger Surf teams play in regular Presidio league games means more local teams and players will actually get to set foot on the Polo Fields. Also, with DA starting even younger, I think Surf is having less use for SCDSL Very soon SCDSL will be a third tier league behind DA and ECNL.