The Official 2024 San Jose Earthquakes related Blogs/Press thread

Interesting they claim a drop off in youth soccer participation.

 

I'm wondering if it may be due to many young families not being able to afford to live in the area and are moving (and taking their soccer playing kids) away. Many of the elementary schools in our area have shut down due to low enrollment. Back in the day, our youth soccer league had 1250 kids at it's peak. Not sure it even exists anymore.

 

They are sitting on the couch playing FIFA.

 

I think the main concern is "growing fandom and awareness" of the sport and yet stagnant participation. The drop-off they refer to is between ages 9-11, which may not be anything new I would imagine? In any case, I wonder if the changing demographics of the Bay Area is also a factor.

Across the country, while fandom and awareness of the sport is growing, soccer participation has been stagnant, largely because of resource and access challenges in communities where there are lots of kids who might otherwise play. Even in places where there are good participation levels, there is a steep drop off between the ages of 9 to 11,” said Dan Howald, senior vice president for AYSO. “We hope that by coming together to address this issue, we can provide a pathway for more children in more communities to learn the game, develop their skills, and ultimately, fall in love with the sport.”

 

Or pickleball :-(.

 

Actual pickleball would require physical exertion.

 

It's somewhere between FIFA and soccer. Better than baseball though. What a waste of time that was for me - that's what I played during those youth years. The team aspect of it was good but mostly you're standing around or sitting in the dugout.

 

I played baseball in the summer, but, in the fall for awhile I played both pee-wee football and soccer at the same time. The pee-wee tackle football was pretty hardcore, we practiced 3-4 days a week, with games on Saturday. Soccer had practice the day of the week we had no football and games were on Sunday. Fortunately for my parents both practices were only a few miles from home. After a few years I gave up the football (and then baseball) and just played soccer.

 

The pay to play system that exists only in the states doesn't help at all. I found this video pretty interesting and gives a pretty good explanation of the differences..

 

“Unstructured play.”

Also, the club-member-as-de-facto-scout is something I raised with David Alioto in 2007, before the reborn Quakes ever played a game. Lots of Quakes fans know their shit and the team could have developed an informal scouting program along these lines back in the day.

 

Back when I was coaching in the 80s and 90s, the drop off didn't happen until the kids went to high school, around 13 or 14. For at least the competitive boys teams, football was the biggest reason.

Here in Almaden now, if I drive by the schools fields during the fall, they are full and I know the league doesn't have enough space for the teams.

 

In the area / time I grew up, little league baseball was king and I don’t remember knowing anyone who played in a pee-wee football or soccer league. :-( We did play basketball and football recreationally - our own games at recess or after school. But not soccer. There was one teacher in grade school, Mr. White, who’d organize soccer at recess and chug around with the kids. I wish I’d joined. He was an amazing teacher.

 

The only structured sports I played before junior high soccer was cub scout softball (hated it). I played lots of unstructured (pick up) sport, though, including soccer, though can't recall how early soccer was in the mix.

 

https://www.sjearthquakes.com/news/...ade-cowell-to-club-deportivo-guadalajara-of-l

 

I'm going to try so hard to come to

May 4th, especially because I want to meet Oswaldo Sánchez sooo bad.

June 29th is another one I want to try to attend.

Sadly, at some point I'm going to have to attend games at PayPalPark when my kids old enough, I need him to have the full experience I did and enjoyment when he's older. Long ass commute though but worth it. I'll have to bring my chaperone along @Beerking Apparently I'm not allowed to touch the stereo however. He says none of that loud rap music.

 

It's true, no Rap. Maybe Cypress Hill.

 

He says I'm not allowed to drive either LMAO

 

[QUOTE="Kaitlyn, post: 41980375, member: 237645" Long ass commute though but worth it. I'll have to bring my chaperone along @Beerking Apparently I'm not allowed to touch the stereo however. He says none of that loud rap music.[/QUOTE]