Oakwood

[Unregistered]

let's stop pretending that the offer was actually made when it wasn't

Sporting had a tremendous battle just getting that turf installed (good for them getting it done) so I cannot imagine how much pushback they'd get buying another club. I agree with you; this "offer" is just rumor.

[Unregistered]

Are you claiming that Sporting is a town entity run by town parks and rec. or something? Or, is it a non-profit or other corporation?

Here's a clue, the name of the parent organization is "Middletown Youth Soccer, Inc."

Demonstrate the town has any involvement whatsoever, otherwise it's just a name.

[Unregistered]

Demonstrate the town has any involvement whatsoever, otherwise it's just a name.

Sporting is a private corporation, hence the name of the corporation. They certainly can buy another corporation, such as OW, if the price works and they want to.

[Unregistered]

Sporting is a private corporation, hence the name of the corporation. They certainly can buy another corporation, such as OW, if the price works and they want to.

Exactly my point - it has nothing to do with the town whatsoever.

[Unregistered]

Exactly my point - it has nothing to do with the town whatsoever.

LOL, of course not. When it came up I thought it was another bad TS slam on a club for being "bad", like, "they're a town travel team". Sporting is a private club that has a home facility in Middletown and has nothing in the world to do with Middletown the city.

[Unregistered]

LOL, of course not. When it came up I thought it was another bad TS slam on a club for being "bad", like, "they're a town travel team". Sporting is a private club that has a home facility in Middletown and has nothing in the world to do with Middletown the city.

Sporting is another town premier program like Shelton Cheshire or Prospect. They're an arm of Middletown Youth Soccer.

[Unregistered]

Stop being so jealous and act like we suck

Just being honest

[Unregistered]

Sporting is another town premier program like Shelton Cheshire or Prospect. They're an arm of Middletown Youth Soccer.

What league do these “premiere” town teams play in? NPL?

[Unregistered]

What league do these “premiere” town teams play in? NPL?

I'm talking about how these clubs are structured from a business standpoint, not what's going on in the field. I believe they are all in EDP.

[Unregistered]

I'm talking about how these clubs are structured from a business standpoint, not what's going on in the field. I believe they are all in EDP.

Thanks my question was more out of ignorance of their existence. From a community perspective it makes sense if you want to try and develop. It’s interesting the towns that chose to do this vs. those who didn’t yet.

My town doesn’t do this and I think it’s fairly tight fielding a travel team due to a could private premier clubs headquarter in a 10 mile radius.

[Unregistered]

Thanks my question was more out of ignorance of their existence. From a community perspective it makes sense if you want to try and develop. It’s interesting the towns that chose to do this vs. those who didn’t yet.

My town doesn’t do this and I think it’s fairly tight fielding a travel team due to a could private premier clubs headquarter in a 10 mile radius.

Most of the towns that have premier teams are larger with a well established soccer community and program. Starting a premier program will siphon off some travel players, weakening those teams. You also need a strong enough premier program to attract out of town players. In other words you have to compete against other clubs so the coaching needs to be solid. If it's not run right it won't go well. Also if it's not run well the political issues between what's basically A and B teams can get nasty

[Unregistered]

Most of the towns that have premier teams are larger with a well established soccer community and program. Starting a premier program will siphon off some travel players, weakening those teams. You also need a strong enough premier program to attract out of town players. In other words you have to compete against other clubs so the coaching needs to be solid. If it's not run right it won't go well. Also if it's not run well the political issues between what's basically A and B teams can get nasty

Town premier programs play absolute havoc with the travel program. It tends to gut the travel level so the club is reduced to rec-level and premier.

[Unregistered]

I'm talking about how these clubs are structured from a business standpoint, not what's going on in the field. I believe they are all in EDP.

Shelton is in some low tier EDP level. The EDP is such a mess.

The "town team as premier" thing is interesting on paper, but the execution dosen't really make too much sense. They're travel teams, and not very good ones at that. It's a good way to TRY to retain talent I guess. But you need like 6 teams for EDP to accept your club and that's got to be hard for Shelton, Cheshire, Prospect.

West Hartford used to have a "premier" team that was pretty good, then the whole Soccer+/FSA thing happens and I don't think they exist anymore and are just FSA now.

[Unregistered]

Shelton is in some low tier EDP level. The EDP is such a mess.

The "town team as premier" thing is interesting on paper, but the execution dosen't really make too much sense. They're travel teams, and not very good ones at that. It's a good way to TRY to retain talent I guess. But you need like 6 teams for EDP to accept your club and that's got to be hard for Shelton, Cheshire, Prospect.

West Hartford used to have a "premier" team that was pretty good, then the whole Soccer+/FSA thing happens and I don't think they exist anymore and are just FSA now.

I'm friendly with a town board member, and several years ago discussed how premier came about in my town. The board was sick of losing the best kids to outside premier clubs, so started a premier level. I can see that type of thinking, however I've kept an eye on the teams (my kids' ages) over the years and the best kids still leave for ECNL and OW. By HS age the town premier teams are almost exclusively travel-level-only players. Towns are between a rock and a hard place with this.

[Unregistered]

I'm friendly with a town board member, and several years ago discussed how premier came about in my town. The board was sick of losing the best kids to outside premier clubs, so started a premier level. I can see that type of thinking, however I've kept an eye on the teams (my kids' ages) over the years and the best kids still leave for ECNL and OW. By HS age the town premier teams are almost exclusively travel-level-only players. Towns are between a rock and a hard place with this.

Towns were always limited by rules that required they not take players outside their geographical boundaries, which premier clubs didn't have to follow. The problem for towns, though, is that with the geographical restriction, while they might have one or two teams with very good players, most teams were average at best with no opportunity to recruit. So, they could field a couple of decent premier teams out of all age groups and that's it. Then, while town premier teams could recruit, who would go to Griswold Town Soccer Premier over, say, Oakwood, or Southeast Premier, etc.?

Then, coaches at the town level are often lacking time and commitment, if nothing else (because there are a lot of former h.s. and college players around who are parents and do coach town). Additionally, parents are idiots who leave a good town travel program, and injure that program by doing so, to go to clubs like CFC Premier Lite United, Celtic, etc. But, it doesn't stop there.

With some "pseudo premier coaches" whose kids play with a poor quality "premier team" being on town soccer boards, town soccer clubs often work with parasitic premier outfits to share players, which further damages the town club. Shared players are never really dependable for town play, and if you have too many shared players, you can't field a functioning team. It's a mess. Don't get me started.