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Post by SoccerMom on Oct 8, 2015 9:02:34 GMT -5
You can play soccer anywhere...
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Post by sidelinemama on Oct 8, 2015 13:13:12 GMT -5
LOVE THIS!
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Post by soccerfan30 on Oct 8, 2015 16:08:12 GMT -5
That picture speaks volumes as to why we are way behind in the soccer world. Until soccer becomes a part of our culture and kids are playing on their own all the time like kids in other countries we'll always be playing catch up. Forget the Jurgen argument, we simply don't have the players to compete.
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Post by zizou on Oct 8, 2015 17:01:05 GMT -5
Wait, are there restrooms? Concessions? You call that a pitch? No wonder players on those teams only use the BOOM. Not enough practice space. No way players can improve in that environment. Leadership has failed. Are the coaches even licensed? Once great club that is in decline. No way my kid is playing there.
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Post by stevieg on Oct 8, 2015 17:33:49 GMT -5
I was just going to say that field looks better than most of the ones at GSA...
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Post by fanatic21 on Oct 9, 2015 8:09:57 GMT -5
That picture speaks volumes as to why we are way behind in the soccer world. Until soccer becomes a part of our culture and kids are playing on their own all the time like kids in other countries we'll always be playing catch up. Forget the Jurgen argument, we simply don't have the players to compete. Completely agree with you. Until soccer becomes ingrained in our culture, until it becomes part of our life blood, our heart beat, we will always be behind. This is my argument against the birth year mandate. I think we are actually making soccer less appealing to the masses by not allowing kids to play with their classmates. More than mandating age group requirements and the number of players on the field for each age group, we need to be figuring out ways to make soccer more of a passion for more people in the US.
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Post by Soccerhouse on Oct 9, 2015 8:56:05 GMT -5
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Post by SoccerMom on Oct 9, 2015 8:57:31 GMT -5
That picture speaks volumes as to why we are way behind in the soccer world. Until soccer becomes a part of our culture and kids are playing on their own all the time like kids in other countries we'll always be playing catch up. Forget the Jurgen argument, we simply don't have the players to compete. Completely agree with you. Until soccer becomes ingrained in our culture, until it becomes part of our life blood, our heart beat, we will always be behind. This is my argument against the birth year mandate. I think we are actually making soccer less appealing to the masses by not allowing kids to play with their classmates. More than mandating age group requirements and the number of players on the field for each age group, we need to be figuring out ways to make soccer more of a passion for more people in the US. I disagree with your birth year mandate argument. one thing has nothing to do with another -- my kid doesn't play with her classmates and this has zero effect on her love for the game. Too many people see soccer just as a social event for their kids, they will make new friends and they won't lose their old ones just because they play on a different team. Kids change teams/clubs all the time and they remain friends, its impossible not to with social media. Unfortunately you cant teach people to love or have a passion for a sport . You either do or you don't. I grew up in a country were our soccer field was on the next block and it was made of concrete, and if it was full we would just play on the actual street and take turns being the lookout in case a car was coming down the road. our goals would be two rocks or maybe some shoes, whatever we could find...whatever worked, and no one had shiny cleats or shiny balls. Stadiums are filled with fans, and when games are on tv, kids are WATCHING the games, that's part of the problem, kids and adults don't watch the sport enough, therefore they don't understand it. You can teach a kid a bunch of plays but if they never watch a single game and don't know when to apply these plays they will never do them in real life. The passion will come from watching games all the time, becoming fans of a team, not just every 4 years -- The same way that they love their football and baseball
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Post by jash on Oct 9, 2015 9:47:33 GMT -5
I disagree with your birth year mandate argument. one thing has nothing to do with another -- my kid doesn't play with her classmates and this has zero effect on her love for the game. Too many people see soccer just as a social event for their kids, they will make new friends and they won't lose their old ones just because they play on a different team. Kids change teams/clubs all the time and they remain friends, its impossible not to with social media. Unfortunately you cant teach people to love or have a passion for a sport . You either do or you don't. I grew up in a country were our soccer field was on the next block and it was made of concrete, and if it was full we would just play on the actual street and take turns being the lookout in case a car was coming down the road. our goals would be two rocks or maybe some shoes, whatever we could find...whatever worked, and no one had shiny cleats or shiny balls. Stadiums are filled with fans, and when games are on tv, kids are WATCHING the games, that's part of the problem, kids and adults don't watch the sport enough, therefore they don't understand it. You can teach a kid a bunch of plays but if they never watch a single game and don't know when to apply these plays they will never do them in real life. The passion will come from watching games all the time, becoming fans of a team, not just every 4 years -- The same way that they love their football and baseball The problem here is you're talking about high-level players only. Passion for a sport that pervades a country happens because of participation at all levels and all ages. Sure, the high level players (the kids of almost every person on this forum, most likely) love the sport and don't play it solely because of friends. But the passion for the sport, when it infects the culture, has to come from every level. Most kids will never be a high level player in ANY sport, and many non-high-level players will choose to play a particular sport because their friends play it. That's not even debatable. But participation by all levels gets parents excited, gets siblings interested, and expands the passion from the ground up. Our pyramid of soccer participation is probably distorted by the money culture of select youth soccer, but even so, recreational and pick-up soccer should and do dwarf the select or high-level players. We can ignore their needs when it comes to high-level development programs (like DA) and that's fine. But we alienate them at a very high cost when we're talking about creating a soccer loving culture. The birth year mandate is wonderful for the highest levels (actually I think it's fairly irrelevant, but I don't really care because it won't hurt anything at that level), but it will have a negative impact on the lowest levels. That will hurt us overall in our goal to create a soccer-loving culture in the USA. It's short-sighted and elitist because it ignores the masses for the marginal gains of a VERY few.
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Post by fanatic21 on Oct 9, 2015 12:55:33 GMT -5
Completely agree with you. Until soccer becomes ingrained in our culture, until it becomes part of our life blood, our heart beat, we will always be behind. This is my argument against the birth year mandate. I think we are actually making soccer less appealing to the masses by not allowing kids to play with their classmates. More than mandating age group requirements and the number of players on the field for each age group, we need to be figuring out ways to make soccer more of a passion for more people in the US. I disagree with your birth year mandate argument. one thing has nothing to do with another -- my kid doesn't play with her classmates and this has zero effect on her love for the game. Too many people see soccer just as a social event for their kids, they will make new friends and they won't lose their old ones just because they play on a different team. Kids change teams/clubs all the time and they remain friends, its impossible not to with social media. Unfortunately you cant teach people to love or have a passion for a sport . You either do or you don't. I grew up in a country were our soccer field was on the next block and it was made of concrete, and if it was full we would just play on the actual street and take turns being the lookout in case a car was coming down the road. our goals would be two rocks or maybe some shoes, whatever we could find...whatever worked, and no one had shiny cleats or shiny balls. Stadiums are filled with fans, and when games are on tv, kids are WATCHING the games, that's part of the problem, kids and adults don't watch the sport enough, therefore they don't understand it. You can teach a kid a bunch of plays but if they never watch a single game and don't know when to apply these plays they will never do them in real life. The passion will come from watching games all the time, becoming fans of a team, not just every 4 years -- The same way that they love their football and baseball My kids don't play with kids in their grade either. Both of them play up a year and have developed as many friendships through soccer (probably more) than through school, so I'm not making the argument for their sake. I agree that you can't teach people to have passion for a sport, but anything that you can do to help create an environment where kids learn to love the game, like getting to play with their friends, can't hurt. The age group mandate will be taking this away from some kids (not all of course) and will cause all sorts of problems for older 8th graders and older Juniors - think it will add more frustration and disappointment (again for some) than it will add anything significant - that's why I think it will affect negatively (maybe not much but some) what we need more than anything - the culture as a whole embracing and coming to love the sport.
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Post by jack4343 on Oct 9, 2015 13:28:36 GMT -5
Just got a text alert from RainedOut...the Rio Dirt Field Complex is closed. Heard it was sprinking so you can't blame them. The Rio County owns the fields and it's their decision. LOL
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Post by guest on Oct 9, 2015 14:04:29 GMT -5
*snip* Kids change teams/clubs all the time *snip* Stop right there. Just re-read that a time or two. I know I am old-fashioned but this speaks volumes to me. We have switched clubs exactly once and that was when we moved. There are some positive things that can be had by staying put. Loyalty, building relationships, working through adversity, rallying around the concept of TEAM and not ME. Kids who have played with each other for years develop a sort of sixth sense. I know that if I put this pass right *there* my teammate will be there on the run. Or if I challenge this striker and get beat, my teammate will be in just the right spot to back me up. It's really cool to watch that synergy develop.
One other non-inconsequential reason to stay at a club is what would you as the parent do with all that spirit wear from the old club? :-)
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Post by SoccerMom on Oct 9, 2015 14:13:46 GMT -5
*snip* Kids change teams/clubs all the time *snip* Stop right there. Just re-read that a time or two. I know I am old-fashioned but this speaks volumes to me. We have switched clubs exactly once and that was when we moved. There are some positive things that can be had by staying put. Loyalty, building relationships, working through adversity, rallying around the concept of TEAM and not ME. Kids who have played with each other for years develop a sort of sixth sense. I know that if I put this pass right *there* my teammate will be there on the run. Or if I challenge this striker and get beat, my teammate will be in just the right spot to back me up. It's really cool to watch that synergy develop.
One other non-inconsequential reason to stay at a club is what would you as the parent do with all that spirit wear from the old club? :-)
FYI --- We have NEVER switched clubs
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Post by soccerfutbolfam on Oct 9, 2015 15:20:48 GMT -5
Americans are spoiled. We place so much emphasis on having the 'right' kind of field, we lose sigh in growing a love for this game or any game.... just my opinion.
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Post by parentsoccerfan on Oct 9, 2015 15:23:36 GMT -5
Having lived in Brazil, my first thought was that that field looks pretty good. All perspective I guess...
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Post by jack4343 on Oct 10, 2015 8:50:19 GMT -5
This field is on my route in Chamblee. Lots of games played there mostly by young adults. They even have team uniforms such as Barcelona replicas vs Real Madrid replicas. It's playground soccer in it's most pure form.
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Post by zizou on Oct 10, 2015 8:57:32 GMT -5
Do they use anti-gravity boots?
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Post by jack4343 on Oct 10, 2015 10:03:56 GMT -5
Do they use anti-gravity boots? Lol...yep. No rainouts either...the field just drains back into the sky. Maybe this is our rain out answer for our club fields. Ps...I have no idea how to flip the picture and it wasn't uploaded upside down either. Odd..
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