Concerned about player development in the Chattanooga area, the Chattanooga Football Club convened a "soccer su mmit" on Feb. 12, to discuss how to produce more high-level players in the area -- players that be able to one day play in college or professionally.
More than 30 CFC officials, local high school and college coaches and leaders from the different soccer associations in the Chattanooga soccer got together for the discussion.
"It was just a meeting of all the soccer minds that we could find that touch college, high school and the local associations," CFC general manager Sean McDaniel said.
In its first season, in 2008, CFC's roster featured many players that were either from the Chattanooga area or had ties to the region. That number has decreased the past few seasons as CFC, an amateur club that plays in the National Premier Soccer League, has been able to attract more talented players from all over the country.
"[The summit] was our idea, and it was spearheaded from one of the things that CFC always wanted to do was keep and develop our local talent," McDaniel said. "We're recognizing that our best talent is either not staying here or not getting developed the right way, so we want to keep developing our young talent."
East Hamilton boys and girls coach John Millard knows soccer in the area about as well as anyone. Along with coaching high school teams, he works with select and state squads.
The overriding question discussed at the meeting was whether or not Chattanooga has a soccer problem, as it relates to developing players. The consensus answer, McDaniel and Millard said, was yes.
"I just think we're seeing that Chattanooga is not producing the caliber of player that it has in the past, for whatever reason," Millard said. "CFC, being an organization that has had a lot of success and has built a lot of awareness of the sport in our community, wants to see Chattanooga soccer produce more talented players to potentially play on their team."
There are no easy answers or solutions, Millard said, but the summit was a good first step.
"I left the meeting very encouraged and hopeful that we'll be able to take a positive step forward when it comes to Chattanooga soccer," Millard said. "It was time well spent as far as I was concerned."
Chattanooga FC opens its fourth season at Finley Stadium against the Knoxville Force on May 5.