Have to look at basketball as a contributing factor to the decrease in youth football numbers as well. Basketball is a year round sport now. Same as soccer.

 

And baseball. Fall baseball didn't really exist 20 years ago.

I think Clyde started this thread just so he could sucker me in to tick a few people off.

 

Soccer sucks, it is a boring game with no scoring. The interest in soccer is because it is cheap to play and eveeryone can play it especially at a young age.

Hardest feat in sports it to hit a baseball. if you are sucessful 1/3 of the time it is considered good. Plus when you are at the plate you are exposed. Everyone is watching your success or failure. When a ball is hit to you, you catch it or you don't. Football requires speed and or strength with a rediculous amount of practice and conditioning. The skill positions are the ones that are exposed and people evaluate the most.

Basketball showcases 5 kids at a time on a very small setting. You can make a basket or you can't. If you can't dribble everyone sees it.

Soccer is a recreation (I have a hard time calling it a sport) that anyone can play. The kid that is not very athletic can be hidden on the soccer field and not embarrassed. The better athletes play the more challenging sports. That's why when you do get a true athlete that plays soccer they stand out in the crowd. How good would LeBron James be on the pitch? Don't hand me that crap about how fast and how much one has to run during a game. Have you played it? The ball comes to your area and you kick it to someone elses. There is a lot of drifting or hanging around during the game. It is a great opportunity for kids to participate at a team level. Plus you get to have snacks and wear reallly cool socks.

 

Thanks for letting me vent Clyde.

Can somebody PLEASE start a thread about the best 2 year-olds in NKY? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

Be careful what you ask for. I wouldn't be surprised to see someone talk about it in the next few years the way youth sports are going.

It's very, very, very sad the way some people treat their 2 and 3 year olds in u4 soccer.

Soccer is an incredible sport. I've coached youth soccer for almost 10 seasons now and it is far from boring.

 

Anyone who says it is boring doesn't fully understand the sport. There's a lot more to it than scoring goals.

Attaboy Clyde......

 

I have a couple thoughts on this.....

 

First and easiest.....the publicity that Football is receiving about concussions may be driving parents at the early ages towards soccer.....

 

Right now on TV....cable or satellite.....you can watch 4 professional league soccer games during the week, and at least 3 games before the college football games start on Saturday and a couple on Sunday. There is more the out there...at a professional level for exposure.

 

Just like football or any sport, if you understand it, you can see the games within the game.......OT vs DE for example......

 

The biggest changes are at the soccer club levels. They have moved from Recreation to businesses. To be successful, these business models must charge enough to keep them open all year, and therefore must provide year round services (training, year round leagues, etc) to make the amount they are charging (up to $2000 per year per player) seem valuable. The time required by the players is what may be pulling numbers.

 

IMHO

TAC I believe you said it best, very easy to be unathletic and a part of a "team"

I think the nice thing that is happening now though is that there are U-3 and U-4 flag football leagues beginning to pop up more and more. Its not exactly football but it introduces the kids to play design, catching, and throwing which is a great beginning.

 

To me it's footballs way of trying to contend with the soccer leagues. My nephew just recently started playing in one, I'm hoping it will get him to love football enough to play for the school in pads soon.

I will admit I wondered over to the Soccer Forum after reading this thread. Forgive me.

Soccer will never over take football in popularity in the United States. Interest will continue to grow, but it will never over take it. Soccer is the hip thing to get into now a days, so that's what people are doing.

I think Clyde started this thread just so he could sucker me in to tick a few people off.

 

Soccer sucks, it is a boring game with no scoring. The interest in soccer is because it is cheap to play and eveeryone can play it especially at a young age.

Hardest feat in sports it to hit a baseball. if you are sucessful 1/3 of the time it is considered good. Plus when you are at the plate you are exposed. Everyone is watching your success or failure. When a ball is hit to you, you catch it or you don't. Football requires speed and or strength with a rediculous amount of practice and conditioning. The skill positions are the ones that are exposed and people evaluate the most.

Basketball showcases 5 kids at a time on a very small setting. You can make a basket or you can't. If you can't dribble everyone sees it.

Soccer is a recreation (I have a hard time calling it a sport) that anyone can play. The kid that is not very athletic can be hidden on the soccer field and not embarrassed. The better athletes play the more challenging sports. That's why when you do get a true athlete that plays soccer they stand out in the crowd. How good would LeBron James be on the pitch? Don't hand me that crap about how fast and how much one has to run during a game. Have you played it? The ball comes to your area and you kick it to someone elses. There is a lot of drifting or hanging around during the game. It is a great opportunity for kids to participate at a team level. Plus you get to have snacks and wear reallly cool socks.

 

Thanks for letting me vent Clyde.

 

I'll add wrestling; the sport I lettered in.

 

Talk about exposure. Either you're better than the other guy or you're not.

Which sport has more concussions - high school soccer or high school football?

 

Which sport has more injuries - high school soccer or high school football?

 

My guess on the two questions above:

 

- More concussions in football but closer in number than most expect.

 

- More injuries in soccer than football. A Dr. at Children's Hospital once told me they see way more soccer injuries than football injuries - including more serious knee and ankle injuries.

 

Note to Clyde: One of the best thread titles ever on BGP. If you cared about likes, I would give you one for that.

1. I would love to see football and basketball players play soccer...in the spring. Placing soccer in direct competition with both excludes some of the best athletes in the state.

 

2. Soccer is just as dangerous is football and would be more so if the bigger, stronger athletes played like they do in football.

 

3. The game needs an update. Allow offsides, widen the goals, shorten the pitch, add more players...just something to increase the scoring.

Clyde don't need no stinkin' likes.

Some of the best athletes in the world are soccer players. They score very well when entering those "whose the best athletes" comparisons between sports. I'll bet Boone Co varsity football coach would love to have a few of those soccer players on the gridiron. I will give you this fact, the majority of the best athletes don't play soccer because it still not that popular in America.

 

TAC is right about the scoring. Too little scoring to hold many people's attention. That's why pro football has rigged the game to favor the offense. But one advantage of so little scoring is that in most soccer games, both teams are in it until the very end and every goal counts. Actually, in a lot of ways, it makes the game very exciting.

 

For many people who think soccer is boring it has to do with the low scoring/attention span issue. It also has to do with a lack of understanding of the game. It's with any sport, if you didn't grow up playing it then you probably don't understand it all that well and so it is less enjoyable. For instance, lots of people think boxing is boring unless there is a knockout. If they understood more about the science of pugilism then the match ups that don't include a knockout would become more entertaining when you understand the intricacies.

 

We didn't have soccer where I grew up. I am a football guy. But I wasn't ready to let my son play football at a young age because it required 3 nights of practice each week during school and I am an academics first-type parent. So we let him join a rec soccer team. Mind you, every time there was an athletic field day at his school all the football parents and some coaches would ask if he played football and invited him to their team. By the time I was ready to let him go out for football because I saw he could handle the time for practice academically, he loved soccer and didn't want to play football. He's really enjoyed the sport all these years through high school. It was an excellent choice for him.

 

My youngest son switched to soccer the moment I would allow it. He's found his niche. He played soccer like a fullback any way (American football) and now he is one on the gridiron. Good choice for him.

 

My thought on the OP is that yes, soccer is taking some talented athletes away from football. Not in bunches yet, but enough to make a difference and its effect will only increase. More sporting choices mean there will be fewer athletes to go around in any one sport.

 

BTW, look at the kicker for Boone--not the one who kicks off but does the extra points. He is a senior on the varsity soccer team--big body and strong. I'll guarantee you the football coach would love to have seen him come out for a field position on the football team.

Which sport has more concussions - high school soccer or high school football?

 

Which sport has more injuries - high school soccer or high school football?

 

My guess on the two questions above:

 

- More concussions in football but closer in number than most expect.

 

- More injuries in soccer than football. A Dr. at Children's Hospital once told me they see way more soccer injuries than football injuries - including more serious knee and ankle injuries.

 

Note to Clyde: One of the best thread titles ever on BGP. If you cared about likes, I would give you one for that.

 

In today's concussion protocol world there is no way someone could successfully head a ball and not have a "concussion".