Select Program

CESA’s competitive program is a wide-ranging program designed to meet the needs of players that desire a more challenging playing environment than that provided by our recreation program. There is one primary goal associated with our competitive program: to enable each of our players to achieve her or his individual goals with respect to soccer. Since we service a wide range of players in our competitive program, this means that we must offer a number of different levels of competitive play.

CESA makes every attempt to field at least three teams per age group and gender each season. These three teams are determined during our open tryout process each year and are selected based upon the coaching staff’s appraisal of each individual player’s talent coupled with the ambition of that player.

CESA’s competitive program consists of three categories of teams:

• Premier Teams
• Challenge Teams
• Classic Teams

CESA provides training four nights a week, from Monday through Thursday. Each player on a premier team is expected to practice at least three times a week, while players on challenge and classic teams are expected to practice at least two times a week. Practices last roughly one and one-half hours; each week part of one practice is dedicated to speed training with specialized speed and strength coaches.

CESA has a policy allowing players to "play up" as the USYS recommends for players who have the talent and ambition to do so. CESA has an open training policy in which players can train with other teams. CESA also offers training on certain nights in Columbia for players commuting from the Columbia area to play on CESA teams. CESA will be expanding training to other municipal areas in the future. All of these policies and training opportunities are put in place in order to allow players with strong work ethics to have the best opportunity possible to realize their ambitions.

There is a correlation between the type of team and the league in which that team plays. Premier teams are those in which the goal of the team is to at least compete in the USYS Region III Premier League. Challenge teams are those in which the goal of the team is to at least compete in the SCYSA Challenge League. Classic teams are those in which the goal of the team is to at least compete in the SCYSA Classic League.

The privilege of competing in the USYS Region III Premier League must be earned; thus, there are times in which a CESA premier team at a specified age and gender may not earn the right to play in the USYS Region III Premier League and will play in the USYS Challenge League. If an opportunity exists, CESA will attempt to place one or more teams in Premier League play even if it means that the team must concurrently compete in other leagues as well (e.g., SCYSA Challenge League or Classic League play). Regardless of whether a team is premier, challenge, or classic, the goal of the team is to challenge each player to be her or his best and for the team to compete and win in the league in which it competes.

In keeping with our primary goal of enabling each of our players to achieve her or his individual goals with respect to soccer, it is the goal of our Premier teams to be highly competitive in Region III play and to win regional and national championships. This is a difficult task, and yet one from which we don’t shrink; after all, if we’re going to provide the challenges and resulting opportunities that our players deserve, we have to be willing to dream as big as they do. After all, not many of our players will end up playing professionally - but helping each to learn to dream and to work hard to achieve that dream is something that will stay with that player forever.