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Post by ibisduck on May 26, 2021 8:56:44 GMT -5
What if?
AFC, MOBA & SSA Coweta were able to put their egos and differences aside?
I think they would give the other super clubs a run for their money.
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Post by atlfutboldad on May 26, 2021 9:09:43 GMT -5
Egos aside? In youth soccer? Will pigs fly?
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Post by bogan on May 26, 2021 9:17:12 GMT -5
Not sure about SSA…but this was attempted at AFC and MOBA-and would make since as they are literally across the street (or pedestrian tunnel under the road) apart. MOBA wanted the older age groups to be under their sole control as I understand it and AFC balked. So, not gonna happen, but it would produce and ECNL quality team at each age group I would imagine.
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Post by soccerlegacy on May 26, 2021 9:23:44 GMT -5
Not sure about SSA…but this was attempted at AFC and MOBA-and would make since as they are literally across the street (or pedestrian tunnel under the road) apart. MOBA wanted the older age groups to be under their sole control as I understand it and AFC balked. So, not gonna happen, but it would produce and ECNL quality team at each age group I would imagine. Not saying there isn't enough talent there for an ECNL club, but I remember just a few short years ago there was no MOBA and all the talent was at AFC alone. All MOBA did was break it up into two clubs. AFC back then was borderline ECNL, but I wouldn't say a super club. I think they could at least field a competitive team and occasionally have an upper tier team or two, JMHO. |
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Post by bogan on May 26, 2021 9:26:11 GMT -5
Not sure about SSA…but this was attempted at AFC and MOBA-and would make since as they are literally across the street (or pedestrian tunnel under the road) apart. MOBA wanted the older age groups to be under their sole control as I understand it and AFC balked. So, not gonna happen, but it would produce and ECNL quality team at each age group I would imagine. Not saying there isn't enough talent there for an ECNL club, but I remember just a few short years ago there was no MOBA and all the talent was at AFC alone. All MOBA did was break it up into two clubs. AFC back then was borderline ECNL, but I wouldn't say a super club. I think they could at least field a competitive team and occasionally have an upper tier team or two, JMHO. No, I wouldn’t characterize any club other than AU as a super club. You also had Concorde South at the time with Steve pulling good talent as well. |
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Post by atlsoccer on May 26, 2021 9:39:55 GMT -5
I think you would have to go further than AFC, MOBA and SSA Coweta, to make them on par with many of the big 5, beyond what AFU is.Including Henry County (now AFU South), Red Star (now Concord South), Macon and Warner Robins or at least some of them is couple could put them on that level. Geographically far, but I have to think there are at least a couple players in each age groups driving further from each of those locations driving to Atlanta or BUSA. 1 to 2 players from each, and suddenly you are talking about 6-8 players and a completely new look to a team.
But I wouldn’t hold my breath.
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Post by bogan on May 26, 2021 9:47:55 GMT -5
I think you would have to go further than AFC, MOBA and SSA Coweta, to make them on par with many of the big 5, beyond what AFU is.Including Henry County (now AFU South), Red Star (now Concord South), Macon and Warner Robins or at least some of them is couple could put them on that level. Geographically far, but I have to think there are at least a couple players in each age groups driving further from each of those locations driving to Atlanta or BUSA. 1 to 2 players from each, and suddenly you are talking about 6-8 players and a completely new look to a team. But I wouldn’t hold my breath. I never say never, but put the odds at greater than 1/100 |
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Post by soccerlegacy on May 26, 2021 9:55:17 GMT -5
Not saying there isn't enough talent there for an ECNL club, but I remember just a few short years ago there was no MOBA and all the talent was at AFC alone. All MOBA did was break it up into two clubs. AFC back then was borderline ECNL, but I wouldn't say a super club. I think they could at least field a competitive team and occasionally have an upper tier team or two, JMHO. No, I wouldn’t characterize any club other than AU as a super club. You also had Concorde South at the time with Steve pulling good talent as well. Ya, I was only referencing the OP's words of " giving the other super clubs a run for their money". |
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Post by ibisduck on May 26, 2021 11:28:31 GMT -5
I think you would have to go further than AFC, MOBA and SSA Coweta, to make them on par with many of the big 5, beyond what AFU is.Including Henry County (now AFU South), Red Star (now Concord South), Macon and Warner Robins or at least some of them is couple could put them on that level. Geographically far, but I have to think there are at least a couple players in each age groups driving further from each of those locations driving to Atlanta or BUSA. 1 to 2 players from each, and suddenly you are talking about 6-8 players and a completely new look to a team. But I wouldn’t hold my breath. You can always hope that some soccer dad wins the lottery big and buys out all of them? I forgot that players from Lagrange, Columbus, Macon, Warner Robins would travel to the southside of Atlanta to compete on an ECNL team. Not that HS soccer is the end all or, Travel soccer wouldn't exist, but I do believe looking at State and National rankings of HS Soccer give a very clear regional view of where the hotspots are. Fayette and Coweta county schools always have highly ranked teams ie Dalton was listed as #1 in the nation by maxpreps, but what travel team are they playing on? www.maxpreps.com/rankings/soccer-spring/1/national.htm |
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Post by atv on May 26, 2021 11:42:33 GMT -5
Two competitive clubs in the same community should be pulling their resources together to better serve their stakeholders in that community but instead egos and power always get in the way. There are way too many examples of this in Georgia but none more apparent than the Southside where the beautifully maintained AFC fields and very modern and equally beautiful MOBA complex are right across the street from each other. LOL … maybe there is something that could incentivize these two groups to join forces, however, sadly probably will never happen.
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Post by bogan on May 26, 2021 11:53:59 GMT -5
Two competitive clubs in the same community should be pulling their resources together to better serve their stakeholders in that community but instead egos and power always get in the way. There are way too many examples of this in Georgia but none more apparent than the Southside where the beautifully maintained AFC fields and very modern and equally beautiful MOBA complex are right across the street from each other. LOL … maybe there is something that could incentivize these two groups to join forces, however, sadly probably will never happen. It took me several years to realize there is a pedestrian tunnel from MOBA to PAC (AFC). I kept playing Frogger trying to get across highway 74… |
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Post by atlantasoccerdad2020 on May 26, 2021 12:55:44 GMT -5
Two competitive clubs in the same community should be pulling their resources together to better serve their stakeholders in that community but instead egos and power always get in the way. There are way too many examples of this in Georgia but none more apparent than the Southside where the beautifully maintained AFC fields and very modern and equally beautiful MOBA complex are right across the street from each other. LOL … maybe there is something that could incentivize these two groups to join forces, however, sadly probably will never happen. My guess is that they were denied entry into ECNL as a combined club so they opted to stay separate |
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Post by slickdaddy96 on May 26, 2021 15:17:44 GMT -5
SSA will never relinquish control of SSA Coweta, and I don't think the powers that be down there will revolt either.
Seems AFC only cares really about their top team and really couldn't care less about the 2nd team down and it shows in most age groups there. SSA doesn't really care that much about the SSA Coweta location in my humble opinion except for the money and still poaching the occasional superstar.
It seems good to above average kids (lower 1st team to upper 2nd team) on the southside from both AFC and SSA Coweta have been slowly but surely migrating to MOBA over the years.
Funny the other poster said something I have always said to people, if I win the lottery I'm building my own facility in Coweta somewhere and trying to take over the southside either by merger or buying people out. I don't like how youth soccer is run really, and I would try to do it better.
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Post by atlsoccer on May 26, 2021 15:33:30 GMT -5
SSA will never relinquish control of SSA Coweta, and I don't think the powers that be down there will revolt either. Seems AFC only cares really about their top team and really couldn't care less about the 2nd team down and it shows in most age groups there. SSA doesn't really care that much about the SSA Coweta location in my humble opinion except for the money and still poaching the occasional superstar. It seems good to above average kids (lower 1st team to upper 2nd team) on the southside from both AFC and SSA Coweta have been slowly but surely migrating to MOBA over the years. Funny the other poster said something I have always said to people, if I win the lottery I'm building my own facility in Coweta somewhere and trying to take over the southside either by merger or buying people out. I don't like how youth soccer is run really, and I would try to do it better. If I had a dollar for every time someone said, club x only cares about top teams. I think its fair to say a lot of people say that about every club, true or not I don’t know. But with that dollar, I don’t think I would need a lottery for this super south side club takeover idea. But isn’t that exactly what MOBA tried? From reading the forum over the years at least, I remember several people saying MOBA talked to AFC, SSA, Concorde about a deal but wanted complete control and no club would agree to that so went about it on their own. Weird situation for the clubs with all the players so I don’t blame them. But also for MOBA, with a huge investment in facilities, but no players. I don’t think I’d say AFC or SSA kids are surely moving to MOBA at all though, except for case when a coach moves clubs. And with the landscape of youth soccer in Georgia, and MOBA not having access to any club wide league I’m not sure how anyone comes to that conclusion. But maybe you know more than me, they do have a few good teams. |
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Post by soccergurl on May 26, 2021 15:38:02 GMT -5
|will not work, most talent on northside|
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Post by bogan on May 26, 2021 15:51:17 GMT -5
If I had a dollar for every dollar I spent, I’d have all my money back. The “to MOBA, to AFC “ happens every year-it ebbs and flows. I haven’t found a utopia yet, but I will say that the communication at MOBA has been better than any club we have been at. My son enjoys the kids and coach. So, until something changes we will stay at MOBA.
I have heard that this year in particular there seems to be some discord at AFC (Boys). Not sure what it’s about or whether it will mean pick ups for MOBA and others, but somethings in the water.
We had good years at AFC, but we knew when it was time to go…
I wish them luck-there are some good folks over there.
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Post by slickdaddy96 on May 26, 2021 16:44:30 GMT -5
SSA will never relinquish control of SSA Coweta, and I don't think the powers that be down there will revolt either. Seems AFC only cares really about their top team and really couldn't care less about the 2nd team down and it shows in most age groups there. SSA doesn't really care that much about the SSA Coweta location in my humble opinion except for the money and still poaching the occasional superstar. It seems good to above average kids (lower 1st team to upper 2nd team) on the southside from both AFC and SSA Coweta have been slowly but surely migrating to MOBA over the years. Funny the other poster said something I have always said to people, if I win the lottery I'm building my own facility in Coweta somewhere and trying to take over the southside either by merger or buying people out. I don't like how youth soccer is run really, and I would try to do it better. If I had a dollar for every time someone said, club x only cares about top teams. I think its fair to say a lot of people say that about every club, true or not I don’t know. But with that dollar, I don’t think I would need a lottery for this super south side club takeover idea. But isn’t that exactly what MOBA tried? From reading the forum over the years at least, I remember several people saying MOBA talked to AFC, SSA, Concorde about a deal but wanted complete control and no club would agree to that so went about it on their own. Weird situation for the clubs with all the players so I don’t blame them. But also for MOBA, with a huge investment in facilities, but no players. I don’t think I’d say AFC or SSA kids are surely moving to MOBA at all though, except for case when a coach moves clubs. And with the landscape of youth soccer in Georgia, and MOBA not having access to any club wide league I’m not sure how anyone comes to that conclusion. But maybe you know more than me, they do have a few good teams. I've seen with my own two eyes what MOBA has done to the upper Boys age groups of SSA Coweta. 06B, 07B, and older all had decent Classic I or upper Classic II or better teams especially the 06B and 07B (this is pre-SCCL), and then MOBA opened up and it was the shining city on the hill. Most of the best players left especially after the first year of some of their teams being in SCCL-P at SSA (before it was P1, P2, P3...) Yes they are bringing in more kids, but those kids are generally kids that have never had anything but recreation training and will take 1-2 years to see full progress. I imagine most of the above average kids in these groups that have been there many many years in SSA Coweta will probably look elsewhere next week but we shall see at tryouts I suppose. Now don't get me wrong I believe the new director down there is doing a great job building back up the Academy program, but for the 07 and up age groups in both girls and boys I feel like it is too late to salvage those teams to make them anymore than a P2-P3 caliber team in SCCL before the kids turn 18 and go to college. As for AFC, you can see from the tables how well the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc... teams at AFC do in both boys and girls. They recruit heavily for their 1st team but the talent severely drops off after that in most age groups. I've heard some horror stories from former SSA players that got stuck on a 2nd-4th team where the coach really didn't care and half the players didn't even care to show up or didn't care when they showed up about actually playing well. The parents words were their kid was stuck on a "very expensive" "glorified recreation team". Take that for what it is worth. Its just what I heard. MOBA definitely has syphoned off a lot of very talented players that either didn't want to commit to make the drive to Cobb for SSA or didn't make the 1st team at AFC (but I know some that more than should have, but politics is what it is). Bottom line though if anyone can figure out how to get all the egos to play along creating a super club out of AFC/MOBA/SSA Coweta would be a club that could make a 1st team that would definitely compete in most age groups at least ECNL/NPL type level. I don't even think you need to bring in Douglas, or Troup, or Henry to make it that good either. I think there are plenty of enough kids from Coweta and Fayette alone to make a very good team. Not to mention the kids in outskirt counties that would flock there as well. It's pie in the sky talk though. |
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Post by bogan on May 26, 2021 16:58:06 GMT -5
“ As for AFC, you can see from the tables how well the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc... teams at AFC do in both boys and girls. They recruit heavily for their 1st team but the talent severely drops off after that in most age groups. I've heard some horror stories from former SSA players that got stuck on a 2nd-4th team where the coach really didn't care and half the players didn't even care to show up or didn't care when they showed up about actually playing well. The parents words were their kid was stuck on a "very expensive" "glorified recreation team". Take that for what it is worth. Its just what I heard.”
There is a lot of truth here.
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Post by southsoccerfam on May 26, 2021 17:06:21 GMT -5
Agree w some of slickdaddy sentiments.
SSA has not put much stock in Coweta other than to pick off players to head up to metro teams. There are a whole lot of Coweta players that travel out of county to play soccer. It's a shame that one of the bigger clubs will not buy out SSA Coweta and start over. With a little bit of dedication and effort, they could have something great and pull from even more counties south of Coweta.
With AFC, a very large amount of their players have migrated over from Coweta due to lack of developmental programming at SSA Coweta. This year it seems that the few (girls) teams that would have been interested in staying at SSA have no choice but to go to AFC or in some cases Moba because there are no other options within an one hour commute.
Yes AFC has some really good people and some good coaches but the emphasis is definitely placed on the top teams with very little on the 2nd or 3rd teams . If a club would only realize the key is to develop the younger player instead of putting 95 % focus on the top team , then in a couple of years they would have a vibrant club with more players than they knew what to do with!
I have always been impressed with MOBA but it seems they cannot get the numbers to make their teams competitive across all age groups .
It will be interesting to see how AFC does with GAL and DPL as well- my fear is they will only be able to hang in a couple of the age groups and the other teams will not be able to compete- thus in the end creating an exodus of players who won't enjoy playing games they are not suited for..:
In a perfect world:
A big club needs to buyout SSA Coweta and overhaul the whole thing.
Coweta Parents would then return to Coweta for soccer
AFC and MOBa could make peace and form some type of alliance to have all age groups covered.
But we all know how soccer egos work! Hahaha!!
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