Soccer in America

It remains something of a mystery as to why men's American soccer lags behind the rest of the world. Every available "pitch" seems occupied throughout the spring and fall with kids playing. Clubs flourish. And it has been this way for at least two decades now. Yet American players still don't seem quite up to snuff on the world stage.

America certainly had a late start. For years soccer was a sport played only in affluent areas -- top school teams came from the same schools that were at the top in other "money" sports: swimming, tennis, golf, etc. (American football -- which costs more than anything else -- remains and probably will remain an American anomaly). That soccer in America grew only in more affluent areas stands in stark contrast to the rest of the world where it is played by all at every economic level. The game's simplicity makes it available to all. All that is needed is a single ball and an open field -- or street. In America, though, soccer grew where the money was.

That soccer got such a strange start in America may have something to do with our limited success at the highest level. The game remains largely restricted to certain areas with a certain economic largess. Here in Bham, Bloomfield, etc. it is easy to forget that soccer is still relatively small compared to other home grown activities.

This is visible even in women's soccer where America has done well.

I was reminded of this over the past couple of weeks as I coached my daughter and several of her friends (many of them soccer players, of course) in "travel" basketball tournaments. The girls did well, especially given they had limited time for practice. Soccer is the priority. This isn't a complaint -- soccer provides great footwork and conditioning for all sports and basketball in particular: Akeem the Dream was the first NBA star to make this clear; Steve Nash credits much of his hoops' success to soccer (a Nigerian and a Canadian). But as we moved outside Oakland county we continually ran into very strong girls' basketball programs. Across the state, and especially in areas not connected with Michigan's most potent economies (Oakland County, the Grand Rapids area, Traverse City, etc.), basketball dominates -- even for the girls. My team found itself playing again and again against teams that play and practice basketball the way we play soccer ( 3x a week practices, camps, whole programs set up for development, etc.).

This surprised me, to say the least. I thought the whole country and girls' sports in particular had turned almost exclusively to soccer. Not so.