In The Beginning, There Was Soccer

A “Football”

I am not sure what this Substack will become or what direction it will take, but all I know for sure is I have completely and utterly fallen in love with the game of soccer.

Let's step back and let me introduce myself. I am an American, 36 years of age, and I have watched, participated in, and loved all of America's big four sports. Basketball, Baseball, Football, and Hockey. Some I did as a youth, some more as an adult. I excelled at some and could have been better at others. Never once in my 36 years did I play an organized game of soccer. Why is that? Why was it that in the late 90s and early 2000s, soccer wasn't popular? Is it popular now with the youth? Will it ever crack the top four in America?

That could be the jumping point to this thought bubble. Why wasn't I introduced to soccer as a youth? I grew up in a small/medium town in Montana called Butte. As a youth, my Dad introduced me first to T-ball (baseball), then to wrestling (hated that), and then to grade school basketball. From there, I advanced in baseball (my best sport back then), and in the 4th grade, I put on the pads and helmet to play organized Little Man Football.

I wasn't a massive fan of football at first, but I grew to like it, and as I grew older, I grew to tolerate it all the way through high school. Basketball was the funniest but always seemed the shortest season. Baseball sucked up all of the Spring and Summer months, and that was ok by me because I enjoyed the hell out of it. I knew where I was in the pecking order in baseball; a handful of kids were better than me, and I, for the most part, was better than most. Basketball was different. I was skinny and lanky and didn't have the muscle to really heave up long shots, so I was relegated to post moves, which I wasn't very good at because I was of average height and weight.

During all of this, I never once touched a soccer ball. Not in my yard, not at school, and certainly never in gym class.

Hockey was different. Hockey was for rich kids, and that's no joke. The cost of entry, equipment, and, most importantly, travel was too much for my middle-class parents, and honestly, I don't blame them for steering me away from it. In Montana, winters are a bear, and driving in snow and ice is no fun. Montana is the union's 4th biggest state, so playing in Bozeman or Missoula, living in Butte meant an hour's drive on the highway; now add terrible winter weather, and it's possibly a 3-hour drive. You get the picture.

Of all the sports a youth can play, soccer is one of the least expensive games. Grab a pair of cleats (called boots overseas), some shin guards, and one ball, and you are set to go. Compared to hockey or football, soccer looks free by comparison.

If my parents were concerned about money (not sure if they were), others were too. Then why was youth soccer never an option for me?

Growing up, I personally thought soccer was for dorks. I didn't understand the rules. I thought they were pretty boys and rich kids whose parents sent them to expensive camps over the summer. I viewed the sport as lesser than the big 4 in America. Now, one isn't born with that view. That kind of mindset is learned. Where the hell did I come up with that idea?

If we go by monetary reasoning, soccer would be perfect for those parents with lower incomes who still want to get their children into sports. After hockey, football was probably the next most expensive, with possibly baseball then basketball to follow. So why did I think soccer was for rich kids and losers?

World Cup Winner and Gold Medalist Goalkeeper Hope Solo famously said in a speech that soccer in America is "a sport for rich white kids", and it turns out, thanks to many studies, it kind of is. The resources for inner-city children to play, develop, and be seen by recruiters are essentially zero. Almost all big soccer hubs and havens are located in suburban areas, leaving inner-city youth with multiple challenges, one being transportation and the biggest being money. It's reported that it costs $2000 a year for an 8-year-old to play soccer in the US. That's because, in this country, we use the "pay-to-play" model unheard of in overseas countries. Overseas, like in Spain, Germany, and England, the big clubs have academies whose sole purpose is to recruit and train youth players at no cost to the family. The most famous story is about the GOAT, Lionel Messi, recruited out of Argentina by Spain powerhouse Barcelona FC. Barcelona brass saw a highlight tape of 11-year-old Leo dominating on the pitch. The news came to the club that little Leo had growth hormone issues and needed medical treatment to grow to his full potential (a typical condition for malnourished and poor communities). FC Barcelona brought Messi and his entire family to Barcelona, paid for all his medical expenses, and trained and mentored Leo into possibly being the best soccer player of all time.

Can you imagine that happening in America? Well, it does happen in some sports, for some athletes. Think LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony going to high-level private high schools for gifted basketball stars, but those players still go on to either college or play overseas before jumping to the NBA. There are academies in the US for hockey and tennis, but it is typical for a big soccer club to have an academy in the United States.

So, is soccer in America only for rich white kids? Right now, US soccer seems to be run by rich white men. Statistics from 2020 show that MLS (Major League Soccer), the US domestic soccer league, is 88% white while the US Women's National Team is 99% white.

So maybe, inherently, simply by being aware of my surroundings and watching an adequate amount of SportsCenter as a youth, I observed the fact that minorities are disproportionate in the game of soccer.

Rich white kids play soccer in America because they have more access to the sport. The hubs are in their towns, their parents have the flexibility to take time off work to coach and transport, and the areas in which they live can accommodate the spaces to train appropriately. Suburban kids have the money to pay for jerseys, coaches, camps, and special equipment. So, being a kid from a very white town in Montana, I noticed that the elite kids were playing soccer, and maybe a few of the middle class, like me, were as well. But the poor and disenfranchised have been priced out of game that cost almost nothing to play.

Now that we have a little understanding of why I didn't play soccer as a youth and maybe a top-level look at why the suburban kids are at an advantage over inner-city kids when it comes to advancing to the higher levels of soccer, we can take a look at some of the other issues with Soccer in American. Why is soccer the most prominent sport worldwide except in the US (oh, and Australia, big rugby guys down there).

I have a sneaking suspicion that a soccer revolution is on the horizon here in America, but that is post for another time.

Here are a few things I would like to cover in this series about soccer in America.

-The Rules and Strategies!

-Soccer History

-What if?

-Moving Forward

-Late in Life Love Affairs with Soccer

-Using Soccer to Make Friends

-Barriers for adults to break into soccer

-How to make the USA the next powerhouse in international soccer

-How the women of the USWNT changed the game forever around the world.

-And some more random stuff