Culturally there are intriguing differences between British and American youth soccer. The first that comes to mind for Adam Griffiths, a prep coach from Leeds, Yorkshire, is the disparity between girls' skill levels.
“Girls' soccer is not anywhere near as popular in Britain as over here,” said the 27-year-old, who has worked British Soccer Camps in the States for three summers. “The thing that really is pleasantly surprising is how good the girls are over here.”
“Ever since soccer started in the United Kingdom, it's been a working-class sport,” explained Pete Kenworthy, a camp clinician and former club star from Leeds. “We didn't need money to play.
“It appears in America you need money to play soccer, for equipment and special facilities. You can't just walk down the street with your friends and find a soccer match. That's a big negative.”
In reality, soccer is made available to young kids of all backgrounds in this country. But like so many sports, the privileged gain an edge by middle school, often because their parents shell out bucks for exclusive travel teams. Big-city club teams have been known to charge $5,000 or more to participate.
Facilities represent more disparity between Britain - where soccer is king - and America. To hear Griffiths tell it, the Brits are not above playing on bare dirt.
“It's easier here to play the ball on the ground, a nice pass-and-move game,” Griffiths said. “In England, with the weather and playing conditions, people resort to long-ball soccer. It's very basic, park soccer really.”
The English have been passionate about soccer for hundreds of years. Only within the past 35 has the sport caught on in the United States, which may explain why the officiating is also different.
“The skills of the players are as good, but the game is less physical over here,” Griffiths said. “When I watch games here, the referee is more likely to blow for a foul when there's contact. In England, you have to make quite a big tackle and miss the ball and take them out to give away a free kick.”
Tight officiating may have something to do with the perceptions some Americans have about how the game should be played. Maybe Little Johnny went out for soccer because tackle football is too rough, and his parents don't expect to see him sprawled out on a pitch - even if it means playing a tamed-down version of soccer Brits would not recognize.
Then there's the television factor. Any Little League coach will tell you kids that watch pro baseball pick up the game quicker. The same goes for pro soccer, but most American kids would rather watch “SpongeBob” reruns.
“You can tell (American) kids don't watch much soccer,” Kenworthy said. “It takes a little bit longer to coach them because they don't have that know-how.
“That's down to the media. The coaches and players can only promote it so much. The media has a massive impact.”
Griffiths believes American soccer is about 20 years behind England. Not bad considering the Brits had a huge head start.
He expects a serious World Cup run by the American men “in the next 20 years or so.” That's assuming the rate of growth doesn't slow.
“I'm so impressed with the American kids' skills, but they need to communicate better when they're on the pitch,” Griffiths said. “It's almost silence. At home (in England), it's ‘Pass! Pass! Down the line!' Everyone is always talking.”
For all of its progress, American soccer still has its share of growing pains, starting with the national teams and trickling all the way down to the kids' level.
Kenworthy, who along with the rest of his British clinicians enjoyed his time in Missoula, recalled a strange conversation he had with a youth coach in Chicago last summer.
“I worked camps for 12 weeks, and right at the end a gentleman came up to me and said he was running his own team,” Kenworthy explained. “He was asking me a lot about positions.
“At the end he said to me, ‘Where about should I put my thrower?' I said, ‘You mean your keeper?' He said, ‘No, my thrower.' I don't think there is a thrower in soccer. To hear that after 12 weeks made me wonder, ‘Have I really made any difference here?' ”
Sports columnist Bill Speltz may be reached at 523-5255 or bill.speltz@lee.net.
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