South Bay needs a strong ECNL presence. The large population of families with children has been arriving and migrating to the greater South San Jose area in recent years, including Campbell, Cambrian Park, Almaden, Santa Teresa, and even as far as Morgan Hill and Gilroy. The major reason for this phenomenon is the skyrocketing housing prices in the Bay over the past decade. Despite this price increase, the mentioned areas remain somewhat manageable (with an average single house price of around $1.4 million) and offer good schools, attracting many young families there.
Right now, two big clubs of Almaden FC and Los Gatos FC are both benefiting greatly from their strategic South Bay locations, which has led to abundant interest and player throughput among young and recreational players. Additionally, these two clubs have secured some key soccer fields (Creekside Park, O'Malley, Pioneer HS), simplifying weekly scheduling for parents as another big plus for them.
But these clubs have been somehow facing challenges in converting their large pool of young players into competitive teams as they lose their top-tier players to other ECNL clubs such as MVLA, Bay Surf FC, De Anza Force, and so on as these players get older mostly around the U13 timeframe. As everyone is aware, it usually takes years to build a nationally competitive team as the players can only allowed to move once a year around June tryouts within the academy clubs.
These clubs have also been grappling with their identity crisis: should they focus and maintain on recreational and above-average academy teams to turn profit or aspire to something more ambitious? Given their club size, ideal locations and large player pipeline in recent years, they have potential to play competitively at the regional or even national level now. But several factors may contribute to their lack of competitiveness and struggles such as coaching selection (Almaden is heavily from Europe to properly understand US soccer system), more paying roster to run their teams, and lagging Girls Academy (GA) representation to name a few.
If a reputable club could move or establish itself as a "strong ECNL" presence in South Bay such as in Santa Teresa area (leveraging on Santa Teresa HS fields - soccer fields need some work now), they could pull and tap into the area’s growing population of young families & even attract talented players from greater Gilroy area (driving proximity is much closer now), making it a promising way to set up a strong sister club to flourish.
Right now, two big clubs of Almaden FC and Los Gatos FC are both benefiting greatly from their strategic South Bay locations, which has led to abundant interest and player throughput among young and recreational players. Additionally, these two clubs have secured some key soccer fields (Creekside Park, O'Malley, Pioneer HS), simplifying weekly scheduling for parents as another big plus for them.
But these clubs have been somehow facing challenges in converting their large pool of young players into competitive teams as they lose their top-tier players to other ECNL clubs such as MVLA, Bay Surf FC, De Anza Force, and so on as these players get older mostly around the U13 timeframe. As everyone is aware, it usually takes years to build a nationally competitive team as the players can only allowed to move once a year around June tryouts within the academy clubs.
These clubs have also been grappling with their identity crisis: should they focus and maintain on recreational and above-average academy teams to turn profit or aspire to something more ambitious? Given their club size, ideal locations and large player pipeline in recent years, they have potential to play competitively at the regional or even national level now. But several factors may contribute to their lack of competitiveness and struggles such as coaching selection (Almaden is heavily from Europe to properly understand US soccer system), more paying roster to run their teams, and lagging Girls Academy (GA) representation to name a few.
If a reputable club could move or establish itself as a "strong ECNL" presence in South Bay such as in Santa Teresa area (leveraging on Santa Teresa HS fields - soccer fields need some work now), they could pull and tap into the area’s growing population of young families & even attract talented players from greater Gilroy area (driving proximity is much closer now), making it a promising way to set up a strong sister club to flourish.
