By Chris Wimmer
I recently came across an old article posted back in 2007 on http://www.davesfootballblog.com/ titled Celtic to Boost Inner City Football.
It made me think that little has changed with regards to soccer being viewed as a "suburban kids" game. Is this due to a lack of interest of soccer in the inner cities of America or the high cost of participating in competitive youth soccer leagues? As a parent of a "travel soccer" player, I can attest to the extremely high cost of participating on a quality youth soccer team.
Along with the cost of being part on a quality team is the added cost of equipment. Add to that camps in the summer and during the season (to stay ahead of the competition) and individual training (position oriented, i.e. Goalkeeper, Striker, etc.). Not to mention cost associated with traveling out of town a few times per year for tournaments. Don't get me wrong, I don’t mind doing this for my daughter or other children in the future if they chose to follow in her footsteps. In fact, I feel it is my responsibility to provide my children with all possible opportunities to succeed at any and all activities they are involved in. This seems to be the same mentality shared by many "suburban" American parents that I know.
This all leads me to the question my daughter asked this past weekend while we attended a professional women's soccer match, "Why are most of the players Caucasian?” Great question. I tried my best to explore with her the possible reasons for this mostly Caucasian ratio only to end up with more questions myself. Why is this case? Is this more prevalent in women's soccer than men's? Are inner city youth not afforded the same opportunity to experience soccer due to the high cost to participate? Is this another example of the growing separation of classes in America? And finally, what could or should be done about this because surely there are just as many quality soccer players in the inner city as there are in the suburbs.
What is your opinion? Do you see this changing any time soon? What can we as coaches and soccer fans to change this?
As a soccer coach who has worked in the inner city of DC for 2 decades, I can first confirm that there are youth soccer programs for inner city children. The problem is that they are not well funded, poorly coached, and often lead to nothing but an after school activity for kids or free babysitting for lower income families.
ReplyDeleteHispanic and African American inner city families rarely can afford travel soccer with all the professional coaches, year round competition, expensive tournaments and over priced camps. However, it is in my experience of 20+ years of working with players from professional, college, ODP, and elite youth travel soccer that inner city players are amongst the most skilled of all players.
So what is the solution. How can we make the game accessible and affordable for their increased participation and equal opportunity to compete?
We have to bring the resources to their communities.
In 20 years in DC, I never saw Bruce Arena, Bob Bradley, Ray Hudson, Thomas Rongen, Dave Sarachan or Peter Nowak come into SE DC or Mt Pleasant and work with kids to promote the game. I certainly did not see Marco Etcheverry, John Harkes, Jaime Moreno, Freddy Adu, etc, provide regular soccer clinics for free with inner city kids. So if the top of our game ignores the inner city why should anyone else be bothered?
US Soccer and MLS and WPS should target inner city America as their number one priority for top level coaching services at no cost. Now that would be giving back. College coaches should spend their easy going summer months giving back to future student athletes who may be inspired for college athletics if exposed to college coaches. In DC, we have 4 NCAA D1 schools, but I have only seen Howard University do anything with inner city children.
So let's get higher level coaches involved regularly with inner city kids in their communities.
There are next to no fields available in inner city DC for regular kids to jut come on and play. Just one turf field (lighted) available for free play in each ward would be used year round by inner city kids.
In addition, convert some under used tennis courts into futsal courts and that is the perfect way to introduce soccer to kids in the inner city. You got to bring the game to them where they can just jump on and play with no direction. Free play is key. Street soccer is the environment that stars are born from.
Beyond these resources, you need full-time soccer directors. These people must love the game and encourage kids and families to get involved in the sport once the resources are there. They can provide direction and guidance for the kids and identify the ones who will be ready for competitive travel soccer and use sponsorships and grants to create scholarship opportunities for the best young players. Once you expose these kids to the best competition locally, regionally and nationally, they tend to jump to a dramatically high level as fast learners and full of enthusiasm to be the best.
In summary, the inner cities of America need good coaches, turf fields, futsal courts, scholarships, and exposure to the best competition and in time they will match that competition and take it to another level.
How do I know this?
I took 20 kids from DC's inner city rec program and in 10 years of development put each one thru the nation's ODP program (state to national) and saw each one play NCAA collegiate soccer on scholarship and graduate. A few even played pro soccer after. Some of these now give back as coaches.
So I know it can be done and done well if the people with the money and power of authority care to invest.
City Coach,
ReplyDeleteWould you say the biggest impact to provide the appropriate level of coaching would come from within the communities themselves, i.e. parent coaches, or from clubs like D.C. United and Washington Freedom?
Maybe there could be a program set up with NSCAA and USSOCCER to provide the entry level coaching courses/training for free to inner city coaches and parent to establish a base level of experience and coaching knowledge.
What do you think?
Coach Chris,
ReplyDeleteCertainly in the Hispanic communities, it is easier to find coaches. Many soccer enthusiasts in that community played soccer in childhood and still do as adults. So they would be the best coaches at grassroots level. African American communities, however, do not have that resource. While more African Americans play the game today than any time in history, there are not enough in the inner city to establish a tangible program year round.
During my work, I did not live in the inner city. I had to travel there to work with my kids, who were chosen from a start up group of 80 kids in one ward, aged 4-12. So in many cases, coaches must travel to these neighborhoods to work with the kids. In time, they can teach parents how to manage teams, officiate, administrate and coach basic things. But they need a model to build from.
Further, once you reach a certain skill level, the players need higher level coaching. Often this means the players leaving the neighborhood and traveling to the suburbs to play on travel teams. This was acceptable 10 years ago. Not today. Today we need to build travel teams in the inner cities and compete with suburban teams. This project requires national and local funding.
DC United and Washington Freedom have been very weak at reaching inner city kids. They only offer what I call "Thanksgiving" programs, where you do a clinic and leave, give out some tickets and leave. There is no presence full-time like they have in the suburbs. It's pathetic. They should know better that a long term investment will reap top level players. But they don't have the vision. It will only happen when another club shows the way and it becomes a trend to follow.
NSCAA does offer such entry level programming but if the inner cities do not have the internet and do not have the information to use, then what is the point. There has to be tangible aggressive marketing of the sport and its resources in the city.
US Soccer only cares about its national team programs which is why this country is so splintered and poorly set up for top level soccer from grassroots up. No parent with a soccer mad kid has a clear pathway from rec soccer to the national team or professional level. If it's not available to you, how can it be available to inner city folks.
City Coach is right on the money.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, these kids know and actually relish trying to test us when we show up on whether we're going to stick with this "soccer in the inner city" thing or not. They're used to the "circus model" where we blow in, blow up and blow out... then two weeks later, no one even remembers that the circus was in town. They hear a lot of promises and see very little follow through. They'll show up to get all of the free stuff you have to offer. But if you demonstrate a commitment, so will they.
This is exactly why mainstream soccer entities are less than successful in their outreach efforts. While the coaching courses are good, they are not always fully applicable. There is a certain knack and approach you must take when you do outreach. It's not just about soccer skills, it's about life skills. And it's about persistence.
And the truth of the matter is that you have to be just a little bit crazy to really want to do this in the first place. It's a huge challenge, it's daunting and there's little reward in the early stages. But I couldn't see myself doing anything else.
and last, before I get off MY soapbox, it can't just be about the exceptional and talented players. Those will be few and far between, just like in the population at large. Soccer has to be a vehicle to inspire kids to be successful off the field - in areas that still relate to soccer, even if it isn't elite level competition. Those are the ones that will be the coaches for the next generation, as well as the administrators, referees, marketing & media people, medical and legal professionals, etc. (read = SUSTAINABILITY) Soccer has a much larger net to cast, so quit looking at it as a player cultivation tool and look at it as a PEOPLE cultivation tool.
"surely there are just as many quality soccer players in the inner city as there are in the suburbs"
ReplyDeleteThis is not necessarily true. In fact, I'm not sure why you would even really believe that.
Perhaps it brings too many taboo subjects up related to race, so it cannot really be explored openly, especially by public figures who have to be politically correct. Perhaps soccer is just a sport that naturally favors White gifts?
But in the final analysis, why the paternalism? If Blacks want to play soccer, they are more than capable of organizing those resources. They don't care to... So what?
I wrote the first book on the subject "Black People Don't Play Soccer? Unlocking American Soccer's Secret Weapon. I'll be more than happy to send you copies of the book to help you with some of the answers to your question.
ReplyDeleteTo sum up the problem, there are elements of both white and black America that benefit from the status quo. For many white Americans, soccer is their private domain and infusing ineer city blacks means no playing tim for little Timmy. For black Americans, soccer has no grip except for those transplanted from other countries. There is no community of black soccer moms that could compare to youth football or basketball. Coaches and administators that give soccer any respect are few and far in between.
There are numerous clubs in the inner city, many belong to the Urban Soccer Collaborative and are driven by dedicated soccer people around the country. Unfortunately, they tend to be more recreational and less driven to produce competitive players.
In my book I discuss the evolution of sorts in America and how soccer failed to attract widespread acceptance and more pointedly why it struggles to be respected in the black community.
This World Cup and the coverage of ESPN is encouraging and I hope the trends I lay out in the book eventually develop.
www.blackpeopledontplaysoccer.com
@zrw
ReplyDeletePlease do send a copy of the book to me. I am very interested in this topic and would like to explore your findings.
Coach Chris
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