Sean_McLoughlin

Soccer on the Rise

Written, designed, and photographed by Sean McLoughlin

1

Dedication

I dedicate this book to my family for showing me dierent sides of culture throughout the world.

2

3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special Thanks to, Vava Marques, Donnie Ecker, and Essilla for allowing me to interview them.

4

5

6

Table of Contents Foreword.........................................8 Introduction.....................................11 Chapter One....................................14 Chapter Two...................................20 Conclusion.......................................26

7

Foreword

Irish heritage is how I obtained my passion for playing soccer. Most of my family lives and was born in Ireland, so growing up I was constantly traveling back and forth from Dublin. Whenever I would travel I would see kids all over the streets playing soccer, including my cousins. I loved how tied in everyone was with the sport, people are either watching, playing, or talking about soccer. I thought it was just people in Ireland that have this obesity over soccer, until I traveled to other parts of Europe. I came to realization after traveling more and more outside the US, that Americans don’t share this same passion that almost everyone else has. I’ve always wondered what Americans have against soccer, and will soccer in the US gain in popularity, and someday be how it is in Europe or Southern America. After doing some research I found that soccer is only the fourth most popular sport in the US. This shocked me, how could such a widely appreciated sport lack so much passion from Americans.

8

The goal of this research paper is to establish what draws Americans from soccer, and if the soccer population is increasing or decreasing in the U.S. After interviewing a soccer coach who grew up in Brazil, a Triple A baseball player, and one of the only soccer stores in the bay area I got a better insight towards people’s feelings towards soccer. My soccer coach Vava talks about a camp he runs where he brings American kids to Brazil. He talks about how much of an impact it has made on their perception of soccer. The interviews with the Triple A baseball player named Donnie and the All-Star Soccer shop owner named Essillo showed multiple viewpoints towards the lack of appreciation the sport has in America. After gathering a substantial amount of information I have been able to determine what the US soccer world could possibly be like in years to come.

9

10

Introduction Have you ever wondered why soccer is not as popular in America compared to the rest of the world? Statistics show soccer is the fourth most popular sport in America. Why is this, and what are Americans attitudes towards the game that unites the rest of the world together? As a soccer player myself I understand what the soccer world is like in Europe, Brazil, or anywhere else. I found my passion for playing because of how fast paced the game can be and how you’re always moving.

11

12

Anyone can play soccer. It is easy to understand, and all you need to play is a ball.

This is a major reason why places in poverty such as Haiti and some parts of Africa have many people who are soccer fanatics. Here in America soccer is not nearly as appreciated, instead it is made fun of a lot. Sean Joyce, an American writer of an online article shows his anger by listing several reasons towards his hatred for soccer. He says, “this a girls sport it penalizes people for barely touching the opponent and encourages players to take more dives than Michael Phelps”(Joyce). This comical statement made by Joyce shows the lack of appreciation some Americans have for the game. I believe it is important for Americans to get involved with soccer, because playing the sport is like understanding and communicating a language. Once you know how to play all you need is a ball and a few players, it doesn’t matter what country they’re from or what language they speak, all that matters is the interest we share.

When the World Cup comes into action every four years countries and people all across the world come together and complete in or witness history. Your country doing good or bad in this exhilarating tournament puts a label on where you’re from. What do you think of when someone mentions Brazil? Most people immediately think of them being amazing at soccer. This is because they’ve earned themselves such a good reputation through the sport. Americans on the other hand are looked down upon, but they are becoming better. This is because soccer in the U.S. is not ranked number one on the popularity list by Americans. ESPN recently made a poll to see what Americans favorite sports were. Ranked number one by a large margin was football with 38.8% of the vote, and with 42% of those were avid fans. Soccer was ranked number four with 8.2% of the vote, with 11.2% of that being avid fans. Yes there is a huge difference between fourth and first, but what people need to realise is how much the popularity of soccer has risen. The title of the article ESPN released stated that soccer was now a part of the “Big Four” sports. This is intending that soccer is finally becoming mainstream in the U.S. Countries such as Brazil, England, Ireland, Portugal, Germany, Argentina, and many more still proceed with soccer being number one.

13

Chapter One

When I was visiting Spain on vacation I saw a few kids playing a soccer game on the street; They didn’t speak much English, but they asked me to join them in a game. It didn’t matter if we spoke the same language or not, playing with each other brought us closer because we shared the same interest. Now everytime I go back to visit Europe I have multiple friends who I can hang out with. This is one of the ways I found my passion for soccer, the sport is so accessible and easy to compete in.

My soccer coach Vava Marques grew up in Brazil which is one of the biggest soccer countries, and found his passion for playing soccer there. “In Brazil it is a soccer country everything you do in terms of fun has to do with soccer. Either I was playing soccer or I was in school”(Marques). He was around it all the time, and it was a huge part of his culture. Growing up and playing in Brazil gave Vava such a great passion for the sport that when he moved to America he felt inspired to bring children back to where he grew up.

Vava started a camp called Vava Marques, his goal was to show kids a more respected side to the sport. “It shows the kids what soccer is like in other parts of the world. When they see the stadiums, how committed kids are to soccer, and how it is a passion for them. It reflects a lot in the American kids playing when they come back not only in the sport of soccer but their attitude towards everything else. Its good for the kids because they are traveling for something they love to do, and it shows a different side of the game of soccer.”(Marques) In Brazil basically every kid is brought up playing, watching, and constantly talking about soccer. Playing soccer is a huge part of their culture, and it is the same in Europe and most countries. Vava bringing the children to play in Brazil gives them an opportunity to see a much appreciated side of soccer. He said that after the kids go to Brazil their attitudes change towards the sport, and it reflects in their game.

14

In the past certain soccer stars such as David Beckham and Thierry Henry have come to the U.S. with a goal to inspire Americans to get more involved with soccer.

Both of these players were top players in Europe, and have had many people around the world who have looked up to them as heroes. Since Beckham’s appearance in MLS soccer, “it has become a more broadly recognized entity, up seven franchises from the twelve that existed when the star midfielder arrived. With the Cascadia Cup driving additional fandom in the packed stadiums in Vancouver, Seattle and Portland, and soccerspecific facilities in thirteen of the league’s nineteen markets, and the growth of ticket sale”(French).This shows the potential of soccer in the US. The MLS has only been going for about ten years, and already popular soccer stars from Europe are competing and making an impact on American soccer.

15

Inexperience is a key issue the MLS has at the moment, and it’s understandable having only been around for ten years. After interviewing the All-Star Soccer shop manager named Essilla he felt as if, “The coaches in the MLS don’t change their style, eventually they’re going to change, because they want to make it more exciting for people to watch. They need to be more creative, today its like follow 1,2,3, but they will learn more and become more intelligent.”(Essilla) The MLS needs to change their style of playing, many people say they play to reserved and don’t add enough excitement to the game. The way players in the MLS play is a huge factor towards it drawing attention. On ESPN they cover the top ten plays every week. How often do you see an MLS moment on the top ten? Yes over the past year ESPN has increased their coverage of soccer, but its not MLS highlights. Instead they show highlights from other countries such as England and Spain. England and Spain are a couple of the many countries who have earned themselves respect for the sport. The way they play is so exciting, and people come from all around the world just to watch them play. That is what the MLS needs to be like, it has to earn itself some publicity. This happening needs to be initiated by the coaches, and as Essillo said they will learn to coach more creatively.

18

19

Chapter Two ` “America doesn’t care enough about the beautiful game to field its best athletes. The

20

greatest American athletes, these commentators perhaps correctly note, are focused on other athletic pursuits like basketball, baseball and football. You know, the real football”(Joyce). This quote shows the incentive of an American’s perspective towards sports. This is also a vital reason why there aren’t that many soccer hero’s in the US. The best athletes in the US who are American grew up playing American sports. Imagine if these athletes put their time towards soccer. Kids growing up would be more tied in to following soccer because the big athletes would be drawn to play soccer.

Donnie Ecker a post triple-a baseball player and current baseball coach feels as if the media is what makes an impact on Sports. Donnie said, “I think the media plays a huge part with kids having heros in certain sports. Little kids in Portugal are growing up watching Cristiano Ronaldo play, and their going holy cow you know I want to be like that guy so they’re going to go pick up a soccer ball and go play”(Ecker). Broadcasting a simple soccer highlight on the TV will get kids to see the “cool” things you can do with a goal, ball, and some players. These kids will gather up their friends and try imitating the goal or move that was shown on the TV. It’s that simple kids seeing an athlete doing something spectacular is how they acquire role models, and this is the reason why baseball, basketball, and football are more popular than soccer in America. Those sports are designed to have breath-taking moments, consisting of last second buzzer beaters, and high scoring games. On top of that all of these moments are being broadcasted on all sports channels with little coverage of soccer. How is an American kid supposed to have a soccer role model if theres nothing seen to idolize? This leaves US soccer with a deficiency in the race of becoming the most popular sport.

Soccer is definitely getting more popular in the U.S. Soccer coach Vava said, “I don’t know if anyone is noticing, but I have because I’ve been coaching soccer for a very long time, I have noticed that the number of kids playing soccer now is unbelievable. If you look around you can see how people are facilitating the sport. Those sports are still the number one sports played by Americans. Soccer is no doubt the number one sport in America”(Marques). Not only can Vava a full time soccer coach see this change, but statistics show it. Over the past decade soccer has been continually on the rise, a team in Kansas City named Sporting has the biggest average increase within one season going from 10,287 to 17,810 fans. That is almost twice as many fans they had before, and they will undoubtedly get more.

21

When I asked the owner of All-Star Soccer Essillo if he thinks soccer in America will someday be as big as it is in Europe or Brazil he responded and said, “I have no doubt about it, I believe they are going to be one of the best soccer nations. Here in the United States we have people from all around the world, and those kids who are born in the United States mixing. Eventually to me, maybe i’m not going to see it but I believe the US will be number one for soccer. In my mind there’s no doubt about it they’re going to be the number one nation in soccer”(Essillo). I completely agree with Essillo, there are many people who are immigrating from different countries to the US. Most of these immigrants will come and try get involved with soccer. The combination of all these immigrants with some Americans is what will help give U.S. soccer the reputation in it deserves. Also the latino population is increasing significantly, “The Wall Street Journal echoes these statistics which estimates that by 2040, Hispanics will comprise 50.8% of the total US population.What does this mean? For nearly all of the rising ethnic groups, soccer is the primary athletic activity and spectator sport”(Mathews). This happening means there will be more Americans playing soccer both competitively and recreationally and even more people will start watching the game.

22

Post Triple A baseball player and current Los Altos High baseball coach, Donnie Ecker.

23

24

25

Conclusion After hosting the 1994 World Cup the U.S. soccer population has been on the rise. ESPN has recently started showing highlights of soccer games going on around the world. Some of my friends who don’t even have an interest in soccer have been coming up to me and talking about a goal they saw on ESPN. That suddenly happening just shows how easily soccer can be appreciated like it is in the rest of the world. Americans before have put a blind side toward the sport, but it has been getting better. The publicity of soccer in America is getting more attention now compared to when it used to, and results show. It is expected in the next few years soccer will pass baseball in American popularity. This is amazing considering the U.S. didn’t even have a professional soccer league ten years ago.

To the left is a picture of the AllStar Soccer store owner named Essilla

26

27

Being the only sport the whole world watches, competes in, and bringing together almost every country to play against each other every four years, soccer has earned its spot as the world’s most popular sport. Americans getting involved with soccer is important so the U.S. can earn respect from other countries. With more and more immigrants coming into the U.S. the diversity will expand, and so will soccer in America. This mix of people from all the countries will make the U.S. the number one soccer nation. It will take time, but there’s no doubt it won’t happen. It starts with superstars such as David Beckham and Thierry Henry coming, soon everyone will want to play in America. Looking at statistics, seeing the extended coverage on American sports channels, and watching the amount of people starting to get involved, soccer is soon to take over the U.S.

28

29

Bibliography Scott French. “David Beckham Happy with MLS growth.” ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 20 Jan. 2012. Web. 03 Apr. 2012. <http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/soccer/story/_/ id/7481044/david-beckham-happy-beginning-again-los-angeles-galaxy>.

Ecker, Donnie. “Americans Perspective.” Personal interview. 20 Mar. 2012.

Essillo. “All-Star Soccer Store Manager.” Personal interview. 29 Mar. 2012.

Furlong, Ron. “MLS.” News, Opinion, Photos, and More. Web. 03 April 2012. <http:// bleacherreport.com/mls>.

Joyce, Sean. “World Football.” Bleacher Report. Web. 03 Apr. 2012. <http://bleacherreport.com/articles/164778-the-top-ten-reasons-to-hate-soccer>.

Marques, Vava. “Soccer on the Rise.” Personal interview. 21 Feb. 2012.

Mathews, Jason. “Five Reasons Why Soccer Will Continue to Gain Popularity in the US.” HubPages. Web. 03 Apr. 2012. <http://jasonmatthews.hubpages.com/hub/Soccer-onStorm>.

Wilt, Peter. “Soccer Cracks the Big Four Sports.” Pitch Invasion. Peter Wilt. Web. <http://1863.pitchinvasion.net/post/19398491502/soccer-cracks-big-four>.

30