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| Clint Dempsey - third from the left |
America’s strong showing in the 2014
FIFA World Cup tournament has its roots in the explosive growth of youth soccer
across the country. During the 1970s the U.S. Youth Soccer League had just
100,000 registered players nationwide. Today there are over 3 million
registered players according to the U.S. Youth Soccer League which is based in
Frisco, Texas. The increasing popularity of the game was reflected with over 25
million viewers watching the second U.S. game against Portugal which exceeded
the number of viewers who watched the NBA Finals.
This has given rise to extraordinary
players like Clint Dempsey. Dempsey grew up in Nacogdoches, Texas and is captain
of the U.S. men’s team. In America’s first World Cup game against Ghana he
scored the first goal just 29 seconds after kickoff. He is also the highest paid
MLS player commanding a $6.695M salary from the Seattle Sounders.
Dempsey came from humble beginnings
growing up in a mobile home with his four siblings. Youth soccer gave him the
opportunity to develop as a player and early on his high school coach, Farshid
Niroumand spotted his talent when he would show up with his older brother Ryan
to practices. As Niroumand recalls, “He would show up with his little water jug
and always wanted to play with the older boys...He was tiny, but he was so
determined. I knew then that he had a fire burning inside of him.”
Clint was the fourth of five kids
and his father Aubrey, a carpenter, drove the six hour round-trip to Dallas
three times a week for him to participate in a youth league soccer team called
the Longhorns. His mother Debbie took on extra shifts as a nurse to help pay
for the gas money. Debbie remembers, “Nothing was ever given to Clint, he had
to work, I always felt like, twice as hard to get what maybe some other people
already had.” Dempsey’s perseverance and passion for the game paid off as he
was offered a sports scholarship to play soccer for Furman College, a small
school in Greenville, SC. From there he went on to play for a Premier League
team in England returning to the States last year to play for the Seattle
Sounders.
Today over 20% of children under the
age of 18 participate in youth soccer. With an abundance of leagues to play in
and practices ranging from 45 minutes for six and younger to about an hour and
half for older players it is easy for most kids to get involved. A ball, soccer
shoes and shin guards are all the equipment needed to play. Soccer is also great
exercise with players averaging 7 miles of running per game!
Added to that a recent University of
Michigan study put the odds of a high school soccer player receiving a full
ride to a Division I or II School at 1 in 90.
Even though the US’s hopes of a
World Cup title were dashed in the final minutes against Belgium, soccer is a
growing sport and we are that much closer to a strong showing in 2018. For more
information about youth soccer click on the link below:
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