Soccer: The New U.S. Quick Fix

www.syracuse.com

The success of the 2011 U.S. Women’s Soccer Team has sparked an increased interest in a sport that in other countries is as big as “American Football”.  However, no one can really pinpoint why professional soccer hasn’t caught on in popularity in the U.S. and why each year it continues to take a backseat to other major sports.  CBSSports.com columnist, Ray Ratto, answers this question with, “Soccer as an event has made it.  Soccer as a sport…not quite so much” (cbssports.com).  As a culture of quick fixes, we will invest a couple of hours to watch an event where the best of the best compete and are guaranteed to be entertained.  But, it will take more than a quick fix like the one we saw at the Women’s World Cup to gain a permanent audience.

While Major League Soccer (MLS) and Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) have had difficulty capturing the attention of the majority of the U.S., youth soccer has found a way to hold its own.  Formed in 1974 with a little over 100,00 registered players, the U.S. Youth Soccer Association reported in 2010 growth of more than 3,000,000 registered youth players between the ages of five and nineteen.  The organization’s objective, “The Game for All Kids”, is to provide a “fun, safe, and healthy game for ALL KIDS…big kids, little kids, short kids, young kids, older kids…kids who want to play for one season, kids who want to play for twenty seasons, kids who play strictly for fun, and kids who want to compete at the highest level possible” (U.S. Youth Soccer).  They offer programs ranging from regional, state, and national tournaments to a development program designed to form a national team to compete internationally.  They also introduce soccer into communities that do not yet have a league through Soccer Across America as well as TOPSoccer, a training program intended to give children with disabilities the opportunity to learn and play the sport.

The unanswered question remains, what will it take for soccer to advance to the next level in professional sports? How will the MLS and WPS turn those 3,000,000 youth soccer athletes, their parents, their family, and their friends into more than short-term fans? While 2011 may not be the year that changes it all, each year of small growth brings the U.S. that much closer to making the international sport of football more than a must-see event.

Related Articles:

http://www.cbssports.com/columns/story/15330305/face-the-facts-soccer-has-found-its-niche-in-us

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/763489-soccers-popularity-in-america-still-likely-unaffected-by-wwc-win

http://detroit.sbnation.com/2011/7/17/2275146/womens-world-cup-2011-usa-mls-detroit

Coaching For Success

“Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.”

Wilma Rudolph

It was a cold, snowy afternoon when their story began to unfold and the first crack of a bat was heard at the ball fields this season. With a young team, only ten players, and for most, the first year of kid pitch, the coaches knew there was a tough road ahead.  Practices started and no matter the unpredictable northeast weather, snow, rain, or shine, the team could be seen catching or hitting balls.  As games began, their dedication and determination continued.  And throughout the entire season, they practiced hard, gave it their all in every game, and never once stopped believing that they could and would win the next one.  When I asked one of the players on the team, what do you like most about playing baseball this year, his eyes lit up, he got a big smile, and he said “everything”. 

The questions many coaches in youth sports should ask themselves are what determines greatness and success and how do they guide their players to grow into not just better players but people too.  As Rutgers Youth Sports Research Council at the State University of New Jersey describes, there are two extremes when it comes to the topic of winning.  The first is the belief that winning is unimportant in youth sports and the other is that winning is the only thing. The ideal is to find a medium between these two extremes because the essence of sport is, after all, striving to win (Feigley).  When asked about what defines success, Jerry Saxion, youth baseball coach with the Southington Baseball Organization, had this to say:

“Success is about how you take losing and even more about how you act when you win.  It is not about beating the other team, it is about executing and playing the best you can.  You aren’t winning or losing to the other team, it is about winning or losing to yourselves.  If you do not play to the best of you ability and win on the scoreboard, you actually lose to yourself and the same is true if you play the best you can and lose on the scoreboard, you win. So when I say winning, it is not a score on paper or on a board, it is the accomplishment and knowing you did the best you could as a team.”

Most of all coaches of organized youth teams should keep in mind that they have the choice to be a positive or negative influence on their players.  Coaches need to remember that the lessons their players learn from them or the examples of how they act will be lessons players will remember their entire life and although players often do not understand why a coach has them run or do a certain drill now, later in life many realize the real meaning and how it not only made them a better player but a better person (Saxion). 

Inspirational Story

Bear’s Motivational Baseball:  The Father’s Eyes

http://www.infosports.com/baseball/arch/1511.htm

Earn Community Grants For Your Team Through Responsible Sports/Liberty Mutual

http://responsiblesports.com/community_grants/community_grants_closed.aspx

Resources:

http://youthsports.rutgers.edu/resources/general-interest/the-role-of-winning-in-youth-sports