World Cup Dreams: Getting Children Involved

When you look at kids playing sports, you’ll see that many of them are part of soccer teams. Yes. Terms like soccer dads and soccer moms were coined from the great number of children playing the game. And why shouldn’t they play? It’s practically only the greatest sports in the world.

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All the football stars in the upcoming World Cup used to be children who dreamed of becoming great at football. Players like Messi, Ozil, and Ronaldo all played soccer since they were small, and followed through with their dreams.

Now while only a small percentage of kids playing will get the call to suit up for the grandest stage in all of sports, the rest will still have a number of huge benefits to reap for when they grow up. Not only is soccer one of the best ways for kids to stay in shape and make their bodies stronger, but it is also a game that teaches so many important values such as hard work and discipline. Soccer teaches children to stay the course and persevere no matter what. It also imparts to them the importance of fair play and winning and losing graciously. But probably most important of all, children experience being a part of a team.

It’s one of the best exercises in the world. Running around chasing after each other and the ball makes for healthier heart and lungs. Children’s leg muscles are also fortified, much more than kids who don’t play sports.

It teaches kids the meaning of teamwork. If this is the first team sport a child will join, odds are the only team they’ll ever know is their family. Soccer teaches kids the value of working with their peers. This benefit will serve them later in life as well.

It’s fun. There’s nothing boring about soccer. Children will constantly be on the move. And with their boundless energy, this is a great direction for them.

It’s cross-cultural. More than other games, soccer forges new and strong friendships. This extends far beyond local games. FIFA has more than 200 national member associations and high-profile events allow children to interact with, and see other children of different nationalities and cultures. This helps children become more broad-minded and accepting as adults.

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It is especially important that this is done during the developmental stage of the child (around 5 to 13 years old). This period, psychologists say, is what forges the adult personality.

Hi! I’m John Eilermann. I want to share what I know about football, especially with the World Cup just around the corner. Learn more about me and the stuff I love here.

Behind the Name: The Origin of The Word Soccer

Have you ever wondered why football is called soccer?  Apparently, since Americans have their own game called football, soccer was used to distinguish between the two.  Many hard-core fans of football have always blamed the Americans for using such an obscure term for their beloved sport, but it wasn’t the Americans who coined the term.  A recent study of the etymology of the word soccer was conducted by Stefan Szymanski, a professor at the University of Michigan and what he found out was quite interesting.

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A lot of our British brothers had always argued about calling football soccer when according to Szymanski’s study, the word actually originated in England.  About 200 years ago, soccer was used to shorten the proper name of the sport, association football.  At the time, there were two kinds of football: Rugby and Association football.  Both were derived from an ancient game of the same name but to promote order, a couple of people came together to consolidate an organized rulebook where the differences of each type were established.  Although at first, rugby and soccer were almost similar, the passage of time has helped rugby evolve into its own sport.

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 Kids started calling rugby football while soccer was used to contract association football to shorten the long names.  When the sport began to gain fame in other countries like the United States, Canada, and Australia, they already had sports called football, so the name soccer was preferred.  Eventually though, England began to revert to calling soccer football again until the word soccer came to be believed as an American word.

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Eyes on the prize: Euro 2016

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It was difficult to watch the current world number one-ranked team in its friendly match against Australia just recently. For long-time fans and supporters, it’s worrisome to compare the highly efficient German machine that it was in the World Cup to the recent sloppy performance that made for an ‘exciting’ exhibition match.

While coach Joachim Löw admitted that much of what the team showed that night wasn’t to his liking, he also expressed that he isn’t overly worried about the outcome. As he answered post-match interviews, it was apparent that he and the team were trying out new things. This sort of experimentation, I might add, could eventually lead to some great results despite many of them not initially working out as well as expected.

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Notably, Germany will be traveling to Georgia for a Euro qualifier. Löw has plans to delay the addition of new talent into the squad until the next season as the team eyed its next big international title. Several candidates for the senior team, he said, first needed to prove themselves at the end of the season at the European Under-21 Championship in the Czech Republic. As he promised, however, the reshuffling will happen in the summer and the players who do well with the Under-21s will join the senior team. Löw’s plan seems centered on allowing the team to improve and have more flexibility as it prepares for Euro 2016.

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