"They give the sport up as teenagers"

Discussion in 'Soccer in the USA' started by Stan Collins, Apr 21, 2007.

  1. CeltTexan

    CeltTexan Member+

    Sep 21, 2000
    Houston, TX USA
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    How about talented young men in our nation growing up in a sporting landscape that offers more than one code of football.
    Ya know, like how it is in nations like Argentina, England, Scotland, South Africa, Italy Ireland and Oz to name a few.
    Dads, uncles and coaches have to be able to tell our boys that playing soccer AND gridiron will see one help the other. Chad Ochocinco says hi back Russ.
    Then when the time comes to choose, at least our nation's boys can never be faulted for not know which code they prefer.
    As far as strictly TV viewers go however, gridiron will long have that on lock in the South.
     
  2. AguiluchoMerengue

    Oct 4, 2008
    South Carolina
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    the south is a HUGE market that mls has forgotten.

    been in the south for about 8 years, everybody here is crazy about sports, and high school soccer is HUGE.

    like i told you, i went to a public high school where soccer isnt even the biggest sport, but sports are everything and soccer would hang with the big sports at least in high school.

    when you look at it at the soccer culture everywhere, i dont see how anybody would stop soccer from becoming one of the big boys next to football and basketball.

    think of this video for instance... this is a culture that is going nocking doors everywhere, and it seens impossible to stop, nobody is stopping soccer from coming in anywhere in the world, in fact, most countries just open their doors...

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgmAt3-ipM4&feature=PlayList&p=1246AE2CAD25950B&index=21&playnext=15&playnext_from=PL"]YouTube - Alex Gaudino Feat. Shena - Watch Out[/ame]

    gorgeous women involved with nice dressed ripped abs athlete, why would the south not open the doors for professional soccer?
     
  3. russ

    russ Member+

    Feb 26, 1999
    Canton,NY
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm not faulting anyone - just ponting out the reality of the situation.

    Not sure if you know this,but there is not as great a merging between codes as you might think in other countries.
     
  4. Stan Collins

    Stan Collins Member+

    Feb 26, 1999
    Silver Spring, MD
    Some of the Southern states where the ratio of soccer players to baseball players is the worst, are also the ones where it is improving fastest. The NFHS doesn't keep long-term archives like it used to, so I can only compare as far back as the 2002/2003 academic year, but I compared the state chart above to the one from then, and Arkansas and Louisiana, the second- and fourth-worst ratios for soccer, were first and third in terms of the rate at which soccer is gaining on baseball. Soccer has also posted solid gains in Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia, Texas and Tennessee, where the ratios all around 10% better (between 9.0% and 10.4%) than six years ago. (North Carolina, however, is the one state that's a real outlier on this whole trend--where other states whose ratio slanted more towards baseball did it generally because baseball grew, NC actually lost 2,654 soccer players, which is like a third of the soccer-playing population. That's enough to make me wonder whether it's a reporting error, so I'm going to look into it more.)

    The most amazing transition to me though was California. Six years ago HS soccer was already well-represented, but quite not as much as baseball. But in thos 6 years, HS soccer has grown by 15%, and there are now 2,500 more kids playing HS varsity boys soccer than baseball.
     
  5. CeltTexan

    CeltTexan Member+

    Sep 21, 2000
    Houston, TX USA
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Not gowing there in the first place, but I get ya Russ.
    What I am stressing is that even though gridiron rules in the U.S., I just want the gridiron junkies to be polished enough to know their place in the grand scheme of things.
    I.E. sure gridiron rules the South and sure the NFL is king for TV ratings.
    However, the Dallas Cowboys can never be a true, unifying America's Football Team when they as a club team generate heated rivals in great Americana cities like Philly, D.C. and Houston.

    Simply put, the gridiron gentlemen should be so confident in their status as #1 in our sporting culture that they are thus just as willing to back the soccer code of football even if it is just for World Cup Qualifying.

    This, and the ability to at least come close to England and Argentina for example that have two National Football teams to support but even the rugby guys know of the importance of their nation's soccer team.
     
  6. JohnR

    JohnR Member+

    Jun 23, 2000
    Chicago, IL
    My son played a HS match last week against a muscular 6' 2" guy who ran a 10.5 100 meters last year as a junior. They had another guy on the team who ran a 10.8 or something.

    His own high school soccer team doesn't have anybody that fast, but it has several 11 flat to low 11s type sprinters. If you formed a 4x100 relay team, the soccer guys would give the football guys a pretty even race --and with one third as many athletes on the roster.

    So, I dunno. The whole athletes don't play soccer thing is no doubt true in many places in the U.S. (say, Baton Rouge, or Mobile), but not in many other places.
     
  7. AguiluchoMerengue

    Oct 4, 2008
    South Carolina
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    it just to be the case back in the days, of course soccer was a new sport with a bad image thanks to unprofessional espn commentators.

    i know so many former high school football stars that have turned into soccer players for many reasons but mostly bc they want to stay in shape, and they can use the soccer season to do that.

    the same with soccer, i have seen many soccer players going into football and im not talking just the kickers.

    soccer gives you great endurance, great foot work, and many things that help in football, and football gives strong and speed that you can use in soccer.

    there was a mega star at Irmo High School, I think his last name was Mullen, this kid was a mega star quaterback and a great soccer, player, really fast.

    at least in high school soccer is hanging, then in college is a different story.

    you can relate both sports.

    any time i saw michael vick at vt, i was like wow, he reminds me of ronaldo, they are so fast... its insane.

    any time i see tom brady, zidane comes to mind, their technique is so good, and they are so confidence in themselves...

    they can both be great for young athletes if both are taken serious, at the end, the kid have to decide which one is the best for him but i would not mind watching my kid running circles around dumb defenders with street moves, and workin his a... off at the gym becoming strong.

    nfl and college football are really big, true that, but to say soccer is never gone be there is dumb, soccer would hang but not just yet, it would take a few more years.

    most of the young generation of athletes are growing with soccer, and like i told you, every time you see more and more soccer-football mega stars.

    i wouldnt be surprised if i heard mark sanchez was a soccer stud as a kid.

    i personally think it will be great.

    to mix both sports for little kids.

    mls is not gone nock out nfl or ncaa just yet, but why do it? dont you think mls could used them as partners?

    i dont see why we have to nock them out, althouth is part of sports and life, for now is not gone happend, but mls could use nfl and def college football to advertize the league to more hardcore sport fans and athletes.

    in the long run, yes we may have to compete with the giants but for now, we are cool, and they know we're getting the best looking girls :p
     
  8. Throbbin Wood

    Throbbin Wood New Member

    Jul 26, 2009
    MN, from Manchester!
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    The sport in this country needs a Joe Namath type to get all of these little ********ers to want to be like him. Guy was a pimp, was controversial, had charisma, and the talent. Teenagers lap that shit up like a four year old drinking antifreeze. This was when nobody gave a shit about the American Football League, too.

    One thing that should be remembered - A good number of these lads go into sports watching a superstar that they wish to imitate and be like to a certain extent. It's someone they can relate to. The best coaches will play it in a way that prevents someone from, say, trying to play halfback like LaDanian Tomlison or in this sport, prevent someone from trying to play the wings like Ronaldo. But still, the young players will have these guys in mind anyway and when even the chance during a game, they'll try and imitate that.

    The more exposure they get to a player that catches their fancy and they feel that they can relate to, they might get the ideas of, "Hey... I can try and do that to. Then I'll be in all the chick's **************. Hell yeah!" Of course, most of them never get close to those flights of fancy, but at least you know you have your poster boy(s) selling the sport and getting more people to play it.

    I would also like to say that more colleges are starting a soccer program, and it has helped them draw more students. A junior college program will have a squad of about 15 in their first season (depending on many other things of course but I'm trying to simplify it here), but just having the program will be important for kids in the area that still wish to play the sport after high school. The next season, that same program can expect the need to turn people away the following season.
     
  9. AguiluchoMerengue

    Oct 4, 2008
    South Carolina
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    When I grew up there were 2 mega starts, Ronaldo and Baggio, everybody wanted to be like them.

    Either fast and phenomenal like rony or stylish and classy like roberto.

    American soccer needs a lot of things, and i wont get tired of saying this, putting trash who never played sports like jim rome off the map would help a lot, A LOT!
     
  10. AguiluchoMerengue

    Oct 4, 2008
    South Carolina
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    high school soccer in south carolina is only getting bigger and better ;)

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtzROK3ZcZo"]YouTube - NorthWestern State Championship Final Soccer by Herald Newspaper[/ame]

    you should send this video to espn.
     
  11. G Enriquez

    G Enriquez Member+

    Apr 1, 2002
    Tampa
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  12. Absolute

    Absolute BigSoccer Supporter

    Aug 18, 2007
    Green Hell
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  13. Stan Collins

    Stan Collins Member+

    Feb 26, 1999
    Silver Spring, MD
    That is pretty fricken cool. Great sample of what HS soccer can be in terms of growing the culture of the sport in the country.
     
  14. #1 Feilhaber and Adu

    Aug 1, 2007
    Really, it can get even bigger if soccer added more roster spots to its teams like Football has. Soccer can recruit the athletic Football and/or Basketball players to its teams ala Danny Cruz to stay fit and learn the sport. More players means more friends coming out to the game which also means bigger event for the school in general.
     
  15. AguiluchoMerengue

    Oct 4, 2008
    South Carolina
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    in many california teams, they have 3 teams, they have a "c" team which they call it fresh/soph or something...

    does middle school compete? we used to compete in middle school back in El Salvador, and some of those games were hardcore, sp when in my school we had about 5 players in the top club in the country and 2 of them in the u14 national team :p

    appart from getting high school more competitive nationally, and by that i mean "premier" high school competition, set up the best high school programs in the state to play vs each other and not more 15-0 regional games.

    having a high school national championship would not hurt, they do that in high school football dont they?

    last but not least, cheerleaders for high school soccer would be awesome, or maybe soccer can get their own type of cheerleaders, and we can call them dancers or something...

    high school soccer would be HUGE to improve the soccer culture in this country.

    the mls academies would create ronaldinhos, and the high school soccer would create beckams :p
     
  16. DavidP

    DavidP Member

    Mar 21, 1999
    Powder Springs, GA

    When I was a teenager (late 1970s-early 80s) I read in Soccer corner magazine about a town in Ohio (I think) where the soccer team got just as good a crowd as the football team did (5-7000) for a game.

    I think HS soccer is more or less poo-pooed in favor of travel teams and ODP nowadays. I reffed HS ball about 10-12 years ago, and there were some rule differences (two of those goal celebrations (NW's 2nd goal and Irmo's PK) could have gotten at least a yellow, and possibly a yellow/red sendoff in HS ball, back in the day), and HS ball emphasizes participation as well as winning (we played a JV team once that basically had 4 squads; we played four 20-minute quarters, and this team trotted out an almost totally different lineup each quarter. I know they had four goalies.). Plus, with tournaments and such, a player on an Elite team can play lot more games than can a kid on the HS squad, and can almost play year-round.
     
  17. Stan Collins

    Stan Collins Member+

    Feb 26, 1999
    Silver Spring, MD
    I have not found any numbers on it. I would guess that generally most middle schools do have boys' soccer, though.

    The problem with middle school soccer, at least in the late 80s/early 90s when I went, was that the coaches were the 8th grade math teachers who got roped into it because no one else wanted to do it, where in many other sports you had kinda the opposite--guys who only taught classes because you legally had to in order to coach a sport, and schools that were basically OK with the academic class being second priority.

    Now, I imagine things could have changed slightly since that era, but I wouldn't be too shocked if they haven't changed that radically. After all, it takes a long time for there to be enough people who really like soccer and who are qualified to teach to percolate down to the massive number of middle schools in this country.

    Actually, last I knew they didn't, the national championships of all HS sports are "mythical." Teams do play across state lines more and more to get strong games, though.
     
  18. atlantefc

    atlantefc Member

    Jul 18, 2006
    F*dabig4neveryleague
    Club:
    Charlton Athletic FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Mexico
    majority of rednecks live in the south thats why futbol isnt big there lol
     
  19. DavidP

    DavidP Member

    Mar 21, 1999
    Powder Springs, GA
    As if you knew.

    Some of the top high school and college programs in the country are in the South, as are some of the biggest youth leagues. Do a little research, you'll be surprised at what you'll find out.

    Idiot. :mad:
     
  20. AguiluchoMerengue

    Oct 4, 2008
    South Carolina
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    it is big here, is just that there is not mls teams in the south, and it more like tradition like anything else, but the south is pretty hardcore in any sport.

    funny you say that, and jim rome is from calabasas, california :p
     
  21. AguiluchoMerengue

    Oct 4, 2008
    South Carolina
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    by the way i gone try to make it to the wake forest vs south carolina game tonight, wf is # 3 in the nation, so people is getting all hyped up about the game.

    last years clemson-carolina had about 7,000, let see how many people they can get today.

    the college soccer boys are promoting the game hardcore on facebook ;)

    that is great, since they never really get any attention from the media, high school soccer does get great attention from the media though, i guess with the time college soccer wont unexistent also.
     
  22. DCUdiplomat96

    DCUdiplomat96 Member

    Mar 19, 2005
    Atlanta, GA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    sad to say it but Title 9 hurts college soccer, cause in the NCAA demands treatment not just on gender but also on low budget/revenue sports, it would be nice if the soccer body did more to show the games yeah your occassional FSC game, but not alot of people have FSC, and the ESPNus and FSN can only go so far??!! uS soccer bodys need to work better collectively, I think.
     
  23. DavidP

    DavidP Member

    Mar 21, 1999
    Powder Springs, GA

    Your last sentence could be a thread in and of itself. It's one of the reasons soccer and hockey will trade the 4-5 positions in the sport hierarchy for the next 100 years.
     
  24. Stan Collins

    Stan Collins Member+

    Feb 26, 1999
    Silver Spring, MD
    Title 9 reduces the number of men's college teams and players, but whether it "hurts college soccer" . . . well, right now, if anything, college soccer talent isn't concentrated enough from the lower ranks. I'm not sure it would help if college roster spots were even easier to get.

    What would help more is what University of Maryland Head Coach Sasho Cirovski suggested. . . that Divison I be split-up a la football, into a small first division composed of the schools that are willing to fund an entire line-up (meaning 11. . . the limit is 9.9 right now) of scholarships, and then a lower division where 'fully funded' means only 5 or 6.

    Supposing 30 or 40 of the couple hundred college programs out there were willing to do that, those schools would have a pretty high level of play, and cream-puff games would be greatly reduced.

    Meanwhile for all the rest, college soccer would be cheaper, so it's likely that more schools would carry it.
     
  25. AguiluchoMerengue

    Oct 4, 2008
    South Carolina
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    both, colleges and high school soccer should come up with their own "premier" leagues, and get the best programs in the nation playing at each other.

    untill we get the mls academies well stablished, i dont see any other way of improving at a faster way.

    plus, we have all agreed that college soccer and sp high school soccer would be great for the soccer culture, and yes college soccer needs to be more in the pop media. mls is still unexistent, college soccer is worse, even in the newspapers.

    epl beats all :confused: i dont see why somebody would want to spend 6 hours everyday reading and watching games of people who lives in the other side of the world, when they can just drive a few minutes to attend high school games, or college games (the places where there is not professional soccer).

    i mean really, i have met soccer studs, former odp players that watch and read about epl everyday, but yes they dont know anything and i mean ANYTHING about american soccer, and not they dont have an accent or their parents are not "foreigners" they are from here, from the south..
     

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