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Soccer youth participation in the US declined by nearly 25% in recent years . The US men's national team went from the verge of a breakthrough to elimination from the 2018 World Cup. What's gone wrong with American soccer and what can be done to fix it? "The Shoeless Ones" was Pele's first team. The greatest footballer of all time had no cleats, shin guards, grass fields, cone drills, or heroic soccer-parent carpooling from practices, games, and tournaments. Heck, he learned to play with a sock stuffed with rags. Let's return football to its roots, to the blacktops, vacant lots, and patios where kids play and creativity flourishes. Let's undress the corrupted American version of soccer and shut down the club, travel pay to play system for a grassroots uprising so American kids can compete with the world's best. What we are doing now is not working, and even worse, everybody knows it. From what we've seen in our travels around the world and travails in America's youth soccer programs, once we start playing what we'll be calling Shoeless Soccer in honor of its stripped-down approach, the sky's the limit.
Annelise loved the outdoors, animals, and art. As a teenager, her days were spent lying in the grass drawing her cat, or up in the trees studying the bugs that made their home in the leaves. She wanted to do them justice in her artwork. The young artist also loved to paint the flowers in the garden. Annelise captured everything in her sketch book except the horses in her life. As far as her equine friends were concerned, there was no time to sit and draw; time with them was far too precious to waste. Her day at the barn flew by, brushing, feeding, bathing, and most important, riding. Now, years later, it saddened Annelise not to have a sketch some of her equine companions. Horses, like most other animals, rapidly disappeared during the early part of the twenty-first century, long ago cast out as an expensive nuisance and as a danger to the survival of humanity. Horses, no longer viewed as the sport of kings and a helper to man, were in danger of becoming a food source. Those seeking the perfect planet had eradicated the wondrous creatures that once lived freely and had such a symbiotic relationship of service with humanity. One law after another was enacted. First no animals within city limits, and then no animals within three hundred miles of any population center. Zoos were outlawed because they created too much pollution and used too much water. The only way to see a real animal, exotic or domesticated, was to drive to four central locations, mostly in the plains of the Midwest and the deserts of the far West. Animals were now kept in a handful of sanctuaries. Where had all of these crazy laws come from?
Shoeless Joe Jackson, said by some to be the greatest baseball player ever, goes into a hitting slump just before he is to start his minor league career, so he asks his friend to make him a special bat to help him hit. A Texas Bluebonnet Award Winner
In a country struggling with acceptance, hope can come in many different forms. As a boy, Hector loved playing soccer in his small Johannesburg township. He dreamed of playing on a real pitch with the boys from another part of the city, but apartheid made that impossible. Then, in 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from prison, and apartheid began to crumble. The march toward freedom in South Africa was a slow one, but when the beloved Bafana Bafana national soccer team won the African Cup of Nations, Hector realized that dreams once impossible could now come true. This poignant story of friendship artfully depicts a brief but critical moment in South Africa’s history and the unique role that sports can play in bringing people together.
This narrative of U.S. soccer's history and present-day status addresses the issues of socioeconomics. Emphasizing the differences between social classes in U.S. soccer past and present, as well as those between American soccer and international football, this work analyzes the role of class in American soccer's failure to carve out a more prominent place in the sports landscape. Contemporary soccer is explored from its beginnings in informal Parks and Recreation leagues to the development of formal club programs, and university, professional, and U.S. national teams. In recent decades, Hispanic leagues formed primarily by Mexican and Central American immigrants have reinforced the theme of a class-based, exclusionary space in U.S. soccer. A personal perspective based on the authors' experience coaching soccer at the informal level broadens the book's appeal.
" NFL placekicking has quite a history, from the dropkick, to the placekick, to kicking barefoot, to soccer style kicking. Each style of kicking is analyzed through statistics to show its effectiveness for field goals and extra points. Also discussed is the use of artificial turf and the development of domed stadiums and their effects on placekicking accuracy"--
A unique account of the amazing Thai cave rescue told in a heart-racing, you-are-there style that blends suspense, science, and cultural insight. On June 23, 2018, twelve young players of the Wild Boars soccer team and their coach enter a cave in northern Thailand seeking an afternoon’s adventure. But when they turn to leave, rising floodwaters block their path out. The boys are trapped! Before long, news of the missing team spreads, launching a seventeen-day rescue operation involving thousands of rescuers from around the globe. As the world sits vigil, people begin to wonder: how long can a group of ordinary kids survive in complete darkness, with no food or clean water? Luckily, the Wild Boars are a very extraordinary "ordinary" group. Combining firsthand interviews of rescue workers with in-depth science and details of the region's culture and religion, author Christina Soontornvat—who was visiting family in Northern Thailand when the Wild Boars went missing—masterfully shows how both the complex engineering operation above ground and the mental struggles of the thirteen young people below proved critical in the life-or-death mission. Meticulously researched and generously illustrated with photographs, this page-turner includes an author’s note describing her experience meeting the team, detailed source notes, and a bibliography to fully immerse readers in the most ambitious cave rescue in history.
Like millions of other young Americans in the 1930s, Charles Furey grew up surrounded by the images and memories of World War I, not knowing that he was part of a generation bred for another war. Pearl Harbor changed all that. In 1942 he enlisted in the Navy and, for the next three years, fought in a war that transformed him, the nation, and the world. From that time Furey has fashioned this superbly written memoir that follows him from his stateside training, his service as an air crewman on a patrol bomber, his long recovery from a fiery plane crash, all the way to his poignant homecoming. Along with harrowing accounts of air actions over the South Pacific and grim descriptions of wounded men in hospitals, Going Back includes many vividly portrayed characters and offers remarkable insight. Readers will long remember such men as Lieutenant Morrison, the man whose small gesture forged an intense camaraderie among his crew, and Murphy, the Marine whose humor helped dull the pain of Furey's wounds. Nor will they soon forget the author's reflections on the fate that history held for him, his friends, and all those who came of age with him, or his stunning evocation of a period of great national change. Going Back provides a colorful and honest recollection of the war years and addresses such timeless themes as loyalty, humor, family, and profound loss.
Contains mini-lessons, activities, and word lists designed to help students improve the speed, automaticity, and expression skills needed for better reading comprehension.
October 10, 2017. The U.S. men’s soccer team loses in Trinidad and Tobago, and fails to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. Winning soccer’s greatest prize never seemed more distant. Immediate fixes—a new coach, a revamped professional league, a commitment to coaching education—won’t put the USA in the global elite. The nation is too fractious, too litigious, too wrapped up in other sports, and too late to the game. In Why the U.S. Men Will Never Win the World Cup: A Historical and Cultural Reality Check, Beau Dure shows what American soccer is really up against. Using hundreds of sources to trace more than 100 years of history, Dure delves into the culture that only recently lost its disdain for the global game and still doesn’t have the depth of soccer insight and passion that much of the world has had for generations. The difficulty isn’t any single thing—the mismanagement of failed leagues, the inability to agree on a path forward, the lawsuits that stem from an inability to agree, or the unique American culture that treasures its homegrown sports. It’s everything. And yet, Why the U.S. Men Will Never Win the World Cup is ultimately optimistic. Dure argues that with the right long-term changes, the U.S. can build a soccer environment that consistently produces quality players, strong results, and a lot more fun on the international stage. Soccer fans and skeptics alike will find this a fascinating examination of America’s past, present, and future in the beautiful game.