Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
July 5, 2002, Washington Post

Kids and Soccer: Having a Ball

The World Cup is over. Soccer's greatest spectacle featured Brazil's fifth championship, eight goals from the remarkable Ronaldo and a surprising performance by the U.S. team.

But sports fans in the United States don't seem to be talking about the games as much as whether this World Cup will finally help soccer become a popular, big-time sport like football, baseball or basketball. Those are the sports in the United States that are played in front of thousands of fans in packed stadiums and before millions more on TV.

I think all this talk about whether soccer will ever go big-time misses the point. Soccer in America is already wildly popular. With kids. The only thing is that kids play soccer. They don't watch soccer.

Almost 10 million kids between the ages of 6 and 17 play on an organized soccer team, according to the National Council for Youth Sports. That makes soccer the second most popular sport (behind basketball) for kids to play.

I don't need statistics to tell me that kids love to play soccer. I see kids wearing their soccer jerseys and a smile almost every Saturday around the streets and the stores of my neighborhood.

Kids love to play soccer for a bunch of reasons. Soccer is probably the easiest game to start playing. Hitting a fastball or making a shot on a 10-foot basket can be tough. But just about anybody can kick a soccer ball. And once you get started, soccer is a ball to play, with lots of action and running around.

With so many kids having so much fun playing soccer, so what if only 18,854 folks came out to see D.C. United beat the Los Angeles Galaxy, or only 5,761 fans were on hand when the Washington Freedom played the Carolina Courage? Maybe kids were too busy with their own games to watch the pros play.

You know what is supposed to be the red-hot sport these days? NASCAR. Thousands are flocking to watch car races such as the Daytona 500 or the Pepsi 400. Television ratings are sky high and NASCAR stars such as Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are showing up on everything from motor oil ads to cereal boxes.

There's one big problem with NASCAR. Almost no one actually plays the sport. Certainly no kid would be allowed to drive a souped-up car around a track at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour. Isn't a sport something you are supposed to play instead of watch?

So the next time you hear someone saying that soccer will never be popular in the United States, think of all the kids who play soccer. All 10 million kids.

Believe me, soccer is plenty popular.

Fred Bowen writes KidsPost's Friday sports column and is the author of sports novels for kids. Write to him at KidsPost, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20071. Or e-mail (with "The Score" in the subject field): kidspost@washpost.com

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