The U.S. lacks a soccer ball culture

Here’s a great tweet from Tom Byer:

Culture plays a big role. In the US the culture of understanding is you put your kid on a travel team. The culture in the US is they have to play on a DA. My experience is its easier working in a country with no Football Culture than a country with the wrong Football Culture.

— Tom Byer •トムバイヤー (@tomsan106) August 26, 2018

Good timing. I’ve been working on a similar thought.

For me, it comes down to how much time kids spend discovering the ball, self-directed. The ball culture fosters this in soccer-playing cultures.

Not only does the US lack a culture that promotes discovering the ball in a self-directed fashion, many aspects of our culture actually works against developing ball mastery.

I know that sounds strange. It seems pretty simple to understand that it’s a fundamental.

But, here are just a few things that work against that…

Kick and run — While this attitude is slowly changing, many unfamiliar with the sport still see it as a kick and run sport with little need for ‘fancy footwork’.

But, it is common (and somewhat of a worldwide joke) that in the U.S. we focus on ‘athleticism’ and under appreciate ball master. And, we act like the rest of the world doesn’t know what’s its doing.

Misunderstanding of how touch develops — Lots of folks do appreciate touch, but just don’t understand how it develops. They think it just eventually comes.

 

 

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