From VOA Learning English, this is As It Is.
I'm Anna Matteo in Washington!
Children all over the world spend countless hoursoutside kicking around a ball on the ground. Soccer is a game beloved from South America to Europe, fromAfrica to Asia. At its simplest, soccer involves a footand ball. But in the United States soccer can involvemuch more than that – parent, schedules, mini-vans! Let’s just say … it’s complicated.
Mario Ritter explains.
For many around the world, playing soccer is as naturalas breathing. The fact that the game is so pure is partof its beauty. All you need is a ball. And even that doesnot stop a child who wants to play. They will just makeone.
Soccer’s free spirit is captured in a new children’s bookcalled, Goal!
The book’s colorful photographs by Caio Vilela show soccer at its simplestand most spontaneous, or unplanned. All the photographs share two things incommon: a soccer ball and big smiles of children.
Arthur Antunes Coimbra, better known as Zico, is now asoccer coach. But in the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was one of the world’s top soccer players.
In the introduction to Goal!, Zico says the book remindshim of playing soccer as a child, and how thespontaneous games are where he really learned toplay.
“The spontaneous game means everything for a soccer player. That’s whereyou polish your skills. You learn to find vacant spaces in the ground, you getto find your place in the game and finally you’re taught how to score the mostamazing goals. We played with rubber balls, plastic ones, with balls made ofsocks.”
Zico says that he believes this is what true soccer is all about—purespontaneous play. No commitment, no money. Yet that is very different frommainstream soccer culture in the United States.
Soccer for most children in the U.S. is a planned activity for the whole family. U.S. kids usually join a soccer league organized by parents or a school. There are fees to pay and soccer uniforms to buy. They have plannedpractice times and a parent, often a mother, takes kids to their practices andgames. Even snacks and drinks are organized by a parent volunteer,sometimes called a “soccer mom.”
Allison Merten is a soccer mom in Washington, D.C. She has been themanager of her 7-year-old daughter’s soccer team for the past three years. She says it is a lot of work.
ALLSION MERTEN:
“I’ve been the team manager for a couple of seasons and I’m now going tohand that off to someone else because it’s a lot of work to organize and geteveryone to the games and practices and coordinate the schedules and makesure everyone knows when their snack day, and drink day is, and organizingthe end-of-year party and the coach’s gift and you know … it’s a lot of detailsand a lot of work that goes into planning soccer for little kids.
The term “soccer mom” is often used in a negative way to describe a parentwho is too controlling and too involved in the lives of their children. But Ms.Merten sees it differently.
ALLSION MERTEN:
“I think, really, a Soccer Mom just means a mom who is involved with theirkids’ activities and who was willing to volunteer and pitch in and try to maketheir experience positive.”
All this planning and scheduling might be killing the free spirit of soccer. ButAllison Merten says she feels structured play is normal in the U.S. today.
ALLSION MERTEN:
“Our kids’ play is a lot more structured nowadays because they are nothanging out after school in the neighborhood unsupervised. And we have tostructure almost all their activities.”
Many parents want their children to have a team sport experience. Ms. Mertensays that some parents even try to bribe their kids to play.
ALLSION MERTEN:
“I’ve heard … I’ve heard of parents bribing their kids to play the game and playit well and they’ll get an ice cream afterward.”
It is unclear if too much organization hurts the true spirit of soccer in the U.S. That probably does not concern parents. What does concern parents is thattheir kids have the opportunity to play outdoors and to play on a team. And,they will take these experiences any way they can get them.
This story was written by Anna Matteo.
I’m Mario Ritter.
Thanks Mario! And I’m Anna Matteo. What is the soccer culture like in yourpart of the world? Is it planned or spontaneous? Share your ideas in ourcomment section. And try using the adjective “spontaneous” or the noun“spontaneity” in your comment. It might be a new word for some of you.
