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Carolina clubs join forces to create 12,000-player Independence SC

Charlotte, N.C. (Via Charlotte Independence) — The Charlotte Independence announced a historic formation of the Charlotte Independence Soccer Club, which becomes one of the top-10 largest, youth-to-professional clubs in the United States.

The Independence SC player network will consist of close to 12,000 members, formed from existing youth soccer clubs of Carolina Rapids Soccer Club, Discoveries Soccer Club, and Lake Norman Soccer Club. Together, Independence SC is positioned to build a better club in serving the surrounding Charlotte-area soccer communities.

“The launch of the Charlotte Independence Soccer Club is a monumental building block for soccer in this city,” said Jim McPhilliamy, Independence President & Managing Partner. “Our goal is to make Charlotte a better place through soccer and this new club provides us an opportunity to continue this community’s success of developing top-level talents. Together, we’re going to be able to raise the profile of soccer higher than we could as individual organizations.”

Independence SC is a comprehensive soccer club with playing levels for boys and girls ranging from recreation levels, ECNL, NPL, Development Academy, USL League Two, to the USL Championship. The creation of Independence SC from Carolina Rapids Soccer Club, Discoveries Soccer Club, and Lake Norman Soccer Club allows for pooled resources from all clubs, which effectively elevates player experiences and club programming, increases in coaches development opportunities, and strengthened partnerships with local municipalities and sponsors. The affiliation with the Charlotte Independence professional soccer team provides players a clear pathway to the highest level of professional soccer.

“The Independence Soccer Club is a formation of organizations with the same common belief — to create the best youth-to-professional soccer club, possible,” said Thomas Finlay, Independence SC Chief Executive Officer. “Being able to merge assets allows us to move the game forward in this city. Collectively, our aim is to advance the player and fan experience at all levels of the club.”

In addition to the formation of the new club, the Independence announced an expanded partnership Novant Health as the kit sponsor for all competitive youth teams. The integration of the two brands align Independence SC with the same look as the Independence USL Championship team.

The announcement of Independence SC comes two years prior to the Independence professional soccer team moving into a renovated 10,000-seat American Legion Memorial Stadium. This formation of Independence SC will enhance marketing efforts, increase sponsorship opportunities, and facilitate future infrastructure development.

Not sure why anyone would want to. Way too easy for kids to get overlooked and marginalized in a club that size.

Totally disagree. North Carolina has a ton of great colleges. Rest assure those schools won’t have to go very far to recruit. Other parts of the country have a tremendous advantage over NY. Not only the weather but also the fact that they have soccer complexes, where the entire club practices together. Here in NY our practices are in many different locations and our coaches waste so much time commuting from field to field.

Uh, there is no way this new super club is going to exist in a single complex. It's 12,000 kids. That's a medium size college.where every single kid is playing the same sport.

I think a lot would have to be proven logistics-wise and most soccer clubs are not very transparent about their operations, selection processes and coaching assignments. I also would have concern about the size of the organization and how easily kids can be overlooked. With a club this size, the top of the pyramid has to basically "take the word" of coaches in the lower rungs and with our record of talent selection in the USA i see way too much potential for nepotism and politics based choices.

We sorta already do do this - it's just not organized and branded as such,,,

Look at NYCFC - they are affiliated with DUSC (1,150 kids), MSC (1,500), MO (200), NYSC (590), TSF (700), WC (800), & SUSA (2,000). That's around 7,000 kids with a variety of levels of competition, from travel to DA with a pro team at the top. I'm sure if you include NYRB and affiliates you're over 12,000.

source: https://www.nycfc.com/academy/youth-affiliates

The NYCFC affiliations are little more than marketing gimmicks.

Totally disagree. North Carolina has a ton of great colleges. Rest assure those schools won’t have to go very far to recruit. [/quote]


So you figure UNC, Duke, NC State and Wake can now do all their recruiting in Charlotte now. LOL


The things you find on the internet. Priceless.

Do tell, how will a kid get "overlooked?"



Let me give you a clue. No one is at any advantage or disadvantage. If the athlete is a player, they will be recruited.


This has got to be one of the all time moronic posts here.

So you figure UNC, Duke, NC State and Wake can now do all their recruiting in Charlotte now. LOL


The things you find on the internet. Priceless.

Do tell, how will a kid get "overlooked?"



Let me give you a clue. No one is at any advantage or disadvantage. If the athlete is a player, they will be recruited.


This has got to be one of the all time moronic posts here. [/quote]

How will a kid get overlooked? Let's see. 12,000 players divided by 10 age groups divided by 2 genders and figure on average 15 players a team (taking into account younger ages play small sided) and that's 40 teams deep in every age group. Kids get lost in the shuffle at clubs with 4 or 5 teams in an age group. Now we are talking 10 times that number.

How will a kid get overlooked? Let's see. 12,000 players divided by 10 age groups divided by 2 genders and figure on average 15 players a team (taking into account younger ages play small sided) and that's 40 teams deep in every age group. Kids get lost in the shuffle at clubs with 4 or 5 teams in an age group. Now we are talking 10 times that number.
[/quote]

Forgot about intramurals. So maybe 20 to 30 teams deep per age group. Same problem though.

Seriously, only a club coach or DOC would be so confident as to claim they don't overlook players. It happens all the time and then add in the nepotism and money factors and favoritism and you can see how clubs either miss some kids or simply choose some based on politics.

We just watched the doc on Griezmann last night on netflix and it was pretty amazing to see how many times he was cut from teams at tryouts or bounced out after short stints all the way up until age 15. Then suddenly finds the right situation and goes on to become a world class player. All those teams cut him in favor of kids who went on to become nothing so who knows what they were all thinking!

Bingo! This is why cutting kids is stupid. Cutting kids is talent identification not development. If you develop kids and wait for them, you'll find more talented kids!

Case in point: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/28/...E1Xjs-dsU1fCIZYeIE6F4clgzauedNntSE5J4hho

12,000 players. You know what that is?? It's called a lot of freaking money. That's what it's all about. Money. It's always about money. It's not about the kids. Nothing in youth sports is about the kids. It's about adults competing with adults using kids and taking money from the parents. Nothing more, nothing less.

Can totally be done. There are already places all over tge country with 20 plus fields in one location. Ny is tough. No land

I love the person who referenced and laughed at the idea of the Carolina colleges recruiting in their back yard. It happens on a regular basis. Not sure why the poster thought it was funny. Just look at their rosters. Plenty of local kids to be found. Clemson for example has 10 kids from North/South Carolina. Smarten up. One giant quality club would have plenty of benefits, however its impossible to achieve in the NY area. No land, too much traffic

I always thought Long Island should do this. There is plenty of land out east - could turn a location into a legitimate soccer factory....maybe even regional/national.

I think that’s what Surf thought they might achieve. What ever happened the New York Surf?

Forgot about intramurals. So maybe 20 to 30 teams deep per age group. Same problem though.[/quote]

excellent and great idea...would be great for LI/NY to do this but way to many egos in place to pull this off. 12000 players constantly being evaluated and funneled through the system constantly being classified as good, better, best, elite, gifted...and so on....this is how it should be.

Long Island has always been way too fragmented. 3 players here, 5 there, 8 there but no real powerhouse rosters from 1-22.

In a regional pool LI would have some teams second to none!

Wasn't LIJSL SElect and ENY ODP supposed to solve that issue? Yes they were years ago, but arrogance and short-sightedness on the part of the LIJSL Executive Bunch and the ENYYSA Executive Bunch were not smart enough to see past their faces and let the changes happen as we see it today by not partnering and accepting US Club into their league and not allowing academies to also join in.

I know what I am saying because I told both organizations to do just that and I was dismissed. You are correct. LI youth soccer is nothing more than a money pit for parents and a pot of gold for all the soccer organizations.