Doc Know and kids: Give them back their game!

I think there's a crucial variable you touched on, Dr. Know, but didn't really flesh out:

I'm dismayed that this wasn't expanded on, because I think it has more to do with the point - getting kids to play soccer as opposed to other sports - than anything else mentioned. Not to take away from them, they matter; but where the initial desire, from what I understand, is what we're trying to answer.

How does someone begin to like soccer at an early age? Do we show them soccer when they are really young? Give them an early gift of a soccer ball? Do we let kids run around or enroll them in leagues ASAP?

Is it even possible to influence what sport a kid likes, much less has passion for? I played a lot of rec sports and ran around a lot sans park and yet my favorite sports is something I never done yet (ice hockey) followed by football (a game I never played recreationaly) and soccer (which I did a little local rec soccer and sometimes mess around with other people today). How did that happen when I grew up in a decidedly Mets and Giants supporting household (little hockey, no soccer outside rec soccer)? Why don't I like baseball, much less have any passion, if I seen so much of it when I was younger? OK, I know the answer to the second question but all the same I wish I knew of the process it took to develop an appreciation for a sport; then I'd have more to say.

Which is why I was hoping more on the actual desire/liking aspect would be in the article.

 

The point is that you cant make the child favor a particular sport. If he would RATHER be playing football instead of soccer, then it wont really be 'fun' and he'll not put in the effort to learn.

On the other hand, one of my sons' buddies told me that he wished he could have continued playing soccer, instead of going to football, because he liked it better but his dad wanted him on the HS football team... and he screwed up his knee.

But the son who ended up loving soccer the most was initially indifferent and wouldnt take coaching.
Until the year we couldnt get together a club team and we helped start the local pee-wee football club. He had a former HS coach, and that experience made him REALLY appreciate soccer and he went on to star on the HS team.

 

And this is why the odds of any child becoming a good, and not even really good, pro sports player are a long shot. Having a very active three year old, I've had to think about these things. There are sports that I would like to see him play, and I imagine I will promote more interest in those initially, but I will not be forcing him to play anything. Perhaps based on Don's examples, I should, but I won't.

 

I've experienced a similar issue as Optimizer. I grew up playing gridiron football from 3rd grade and continued through college. I played baseball and basketball and tennis. I probably made fun of soccer in high school.

And now soccer is my favorite sport.

I wish I would have appreciated it earlier. I always wonder, could I have made it further in soccer than other sports? If I'd grown up in England, playing soccer instead of gridiron from the 3rd grade, could I have made a career of it?

The problem is American sporting culture is not encouraging towards soccer. For example, my hometown is an American football town. It lives and dies by the high school team and a record of 6 wins and 3 losses in the regular season is considered a bad season. Soccer is a third tier sport. There are so few local soccer teams that the nearest match they can find is nearly 3 hours away.

Now imagine if it were a soccer town instead. I probably would have played soccer, maybe gone on to play in college, etc. So I think the environment you grow up in can have a huge effect on what sport you develop a passion for. It's not the only factor but for some kids, it's a big one.

 

That's a familiar refrain for all of us former pointy football players, and probably not without merit. The best athletes gravitated twoards pointy football first, and basketball or baseball next, then maybe soccer.

 

Not always... in my little wide place in the road it was often the opposite, much to the disgust of the pointy-ball people.

The reason being, of course, that the soccer programs got a very good organization started and got the kids involved at 6 years. Of course that led to some interesting incidents, such as when the U15 club back 4 were all 5'10" or more, and pushing 180 lbs and constantly under charges of being ringers.

They stayed intact all through HS, though and the class of 89 'D' were 6'1" to 6'4" and all weighed more than 200. The Gridiron parents just HATED the waste of resource.

What's better is that after the season, the soccer team played the football team in a challenge game of football and usually won.

Generall, we need to forgo the excuse that youth soccer isnt popular enough , though. The facts dont back it up.
Soccer's been, far and away, the youth sport with most players for more than 10 years. You might make the case that its very popularity for youth organized sports contibutes indirectly to the problem.
"It's just a game for kids"

 

Hmmmm off those schizo-meds, are we?

I guess I need to totally rewrite that piece. For a guy who knows a graaber Head gets the readers, that's the FIRST mistake.

Then I got all muddled in the lede...

Just goes to show ya.... everyone needs an editor.

Quick, someone else write something so I can get that off the front page

 

The perception of soccer as a dirty, undesirable, even "gay", thing is changing all the time. It will be a very very long time before football loses its kingpin status in the high school landscape but attitudes have changed.

I suppose it would differ by region, Georgia must differ from Minnesota for example, but based on my experiences soccer in high schools is really not viewed in a negative light at all. Sure you find the occasional second string lineman who is all to willing to spout the old tired lines but on the whole soccer is viewed by young people in a positive light, much more positive I'd argue than many of the more traditional sports. This I'm sure has improved greatly in the last 10 even 5 years and will continue to for the foreseeable future.

 

Spencer, I think you're right and hope thing continue that way.

I part of the reason kids don't participate in soccer beyond their youth is that until recently, professional soccer for US players wasn't a very lucrative career. I mean, if you're 6'3" and 220 pounds, you probably have a better chance of making good money in football, baseball or basketball. However, as we all know, US exports to the big European soccer leagues is increasing all the time and so the chances of a lucrative soccer career for US players are getting better and better.

Plus, again, the culture issue is a factor. I think you have a better chance of sticking with a sport if you are exposed to it all the time (TV, in magazines and on the radio, parents taking you to games, etc). Soccer in the US is starting to have such a culture but it's not big enough yet.

Someday the future Michael Jordans out there may elect to play soccer instead of other sports and the US team will be a serious force to be reckoned with.

 

Fulham fan Gloss White just pointed out he recognizes the same problem has helped start a movement in England to address it.

Give Us Back our Game has an impressive list of endorsers includiing Sir Alex Ferguson and Volzy.

 

That was my point in the article... it's nice to wax nostalgic about what neighborhoods were like in the old days, but that's got nothing to do with the real problem. Suburbia didnt change things, the school playgrounds and parks still werent that far away {as a farm kid I used to ride a bike up to three miles to play} the abuse of tort LAW and overeducated idiots like Dr Spock changed things.

I dont really care about the outing. I'm using DRKNOW for writing articles I want to be taken seriously. And will keep pettyfog as editor.

 

Nothing like rewriting history, Don....

I doubt any of that is true... it was our fathers' generation that finally passed the civil rights act, we all applauded the Rosa Parks sitdown, and we all thought that affirmative action was a good idea. It's only SOME of us think affirmative action is STILL a good idea. "Welcome to the Democratic state party convention. Which caucus will you be attending; the 'victim' caucus or the 'benevolent protector' caucus?"

But I'm not talking about Spock's touchy-feely politics... I'm referring to his idea that man alone of all the animal species was irreparably harmed if he wasnt constantly 'nurtured' during childhood. Which many took to mean watched over and supervised at all times. And heaven forfend if you swatted your little sweetie's backside when he misbehaved.

And the reason tort lawyers, who were the ones who think it's a good idea to sue schools and municipalities if your child is hurt while on public grounds, contribute to the Dems is because they, like the Dems, are strong believers in 'victimhood' and can be counted on, more than republicans, to try to pass stupid legislation like putting baking soda behind the counter and making buyers sign forms to buy it because it's used as a base in Meth production.