Youth Radio - Topic: soccer

Soccer Is The Passion Of My Life

jbriseno — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 21:45:33 -0600

Ever since I was 6 years old soccer has been my passion. I love to play soccer because it releases all the energy I have inside me and it also is fun to play. I love to kick the ball and run around with it. But it’s more fun when you’re playing with a group of friends. The first person that I played soccer with was my dad because; he was the only person that took the time to play soccer with me. He also loves soccer, and I’ve always looked up to him. I wanted to be a good soccer player just like him. Every time we went to the park, we would always play soccer no matter how bad or good the weather was. It’s special because it’s the first sport that I played with my dad and that’s a very special memory. I like to play it anywhere because it’s not all about the place, it’s about whether you have fun or not. When im playing I feel relaxed and happy. When I turned 10 years old I stopped playing because my dad had his kids and he was the only person that i could play soccer with. We stopped because he didn’t have time to play soccer with me. Every time I asked him if he could play with me he would either say he’s busy or he’s too tired. But I continue to love soccer. I also try to play it when I have time and when im with friends too. I would like to know more about soccer because I want to get better at it. One of my favorite soccer players is Cristiano Ronald. He is one of the only soccer players that I know about. He’s one of the highest paid soccer players in the entire world. He got paid 80 million Euros which is more than 100 million dollars for the transfer of teams and he gets paid 14 million dollars a year. The reason why I wrote about him is because he’s the best player in the world and stands out in my mind when soccer comes up. Soccer is one of the most played sports in the world it’s also the most popular sport.

Goal Celebrations Help You Win

rgee — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 17:55:25 -0600

The aftershocks of the 2010 World Cup are still rippling through the soccer world. Choreographed goal celebrations are YouTube phenomenons, and have inspired young soccer players everywhere to celebrate their goals in creative ways.

Soccer commentators on various Internet sources agree that soccer goals are so rare, “like shooting stars,” they need to be celebrated.

On a blog called, “Sports Are 80 Percent Mental,” Dan Peterson did some research on goal celebrating. According to Dr. Gert-Jan Pepping, Sports Scientist and lecturer at the University of Groningen, "The more convincingly someone celebrates their success with their teammates, the greater the chances that team will win.”

Check out a couple unique goal celebrations:

Footytennis: Hybrid Sport Gains Popularity

rgee — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 17:14:56 -0500

What happens when you put soccer, volleyball, and tennis in a blender? You get soccer tennis. Two Bay Area soccer players have taken up the cause of spreading the game of soccer tennis to their community.

24 year-olds Benjy Toczynski and Christian Garcia grew up playing soccer in the Bay Area. They both played in the San Francisco Men’s Premier League, and have coached several local soccer teams. They first played soccer tennis as kids during soccer camp drills. Over the last couple months they developed the website Footytennis.net, and hope to hold a jamboree event in November.

While there are several variations of the game, the general idea is that teams of two are divided by a tennis-height net. The goal is to volley the soccer ball over the net using any part of your body except your hands. The team must juggle the ball between themselves before kicking it over the net. Each team must touch the ball three times before sending it over, and players must alternate touches, just like in volleyball. The ball can bounce once when it is initially sent over the net. The team that serves can score if the other team fails to return the ball in three touches. (More details on the rules and variations of the game can be found here. See the official Footytennis video below.)

Toczynski will begin coaching the Albany High School Junior Varsity Men’s Soccer team in November, and sees huge benefit in using the game as a coaching tool. “It’s just a creative way to have fun with the game. At practice, you’re always doing the same things. It’s nice to have a break while still working on your skills, specifically controlling the ball in the air,” he said. “It’s super beneficial for your juggling, coordination, player cooperation, and communication skills.”

Because of these technique benefits, Garcia and Toczynski are offering soccer tennis clinics via the Footytennis website. Soccer teams can hire the pair to come teach the game to their players, set up nets, and work with them for the duration of one or more practice hours. “The game can be adapted for any age group. Eight and nine year-olds can play with unlimited bounces, the objective being to simply get the ball over the net. As you get older, you add more restrictions,” said Toczynski. The Albany Berkeley Soccer Club has already hired them to work with some teams in the spring of 2011.

The idea of holding a soccer tennis jamboree event is to generate excitement around the game and make people aware of it. “No one knows what it is - we have to meet people and get our name out. We will teach people who don’t know how to play, and hopefully everyone will have fun,” said Toczynski.

“In other countries kids just go outside and learn juggling tricks. They find creative ways to mix up the game. Players here don’t always have the same ambition or creativity to make that stuff up. Even though kids here are just as into soccer, this is just another way to play a game you’re passionate about,” said Toczynski. Feel free to contact Toczynski with questions at bentoczz@yahoo.com.

From Ulaanbaatar to San Francisco

sanfran — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 18:26:26 -0500

By: Rasam Aminzadeh

For a lot of people moving to a country they are not familiar with can be difficult. That's what 17-years-old Alex Begzsuren found out after moving from Mongolia to the United States two years ago. Begzsuren moved to the United States for a better education. He is currently a senior in high school and wants to attend UC Davis because his family suggested him to go, and also one of his friends is going to that university. He wants to study computer technology and become a computer technician.

When he arrived to San Francisco, he thought it was going to be a lot better than his hometown in every way possible, but he was wrong. Being thousands of miles away from home, he found out just how much he missed his hometown of Ulaanbaatar. “I missed all of my friends, all the places I used to go in my hometown and hangout with my friends.” Begzsuren thinks nothing can compare to his hometown of Ulaanbaatar.

He thinks that no one would like another place more than their hometown because they have lived there more. People know more about their hometown, and they can communicate better with the people there. He sees no similarities between the two cities, “There are a lot of differences. Everything is different even the people,” Begzsuren said. He sees his country better than San Francisco in a lot of ways. He thinks the weather in his town is better because you can actually feel all four seasons opposed to San Francisco. He loves his country, and he wants to go back to his hometown.

He loves to play soccer, but he says, “there aren’t too many public soccer fields to go. You have to have permission to play.” He also added, "There aren't a lot of soccer fields in Mongolia, but most of the ones I go to don't need any permission for playing in there."He is a good soccer player, but he doesn’t aspire to become a soccer player. He’d rather watch his favorite team, Barcelona and his favorite player Lionel Messi on TV.

Although he misses his hometown, he says that he's slowly getting more comfortable here in San Francisco and hopes to pursue his college dreams.

FIFA World Cup 2014 Is Coming Back Home!!!

sanfran — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:43:28 -0500

By: Rasam Aminzadeh

After thirty-six years, FIFA World Cup is finally headed back to South America. The biggest sport event will take place in Brazil, a country that's known for having the best team.

Brazil has won five FIFA World Cups, Making them the team with the best record. The country hosted one of the most memorable FIFA World Cups in 1950. The only world cup that had no official final in that tournament.

"In a FIFA World Cup™ that concluded with a four-team mini-league, the hosts met Uruguay in a deciding fixture which proved a final in all but name. Needing only to draw, Brazil led through Friaca's 47th-minute strike before Uruguay turned the game on its head via goals from Juan Schiaffino and Alcides Ghigghia. A deathly hush descended on the Maracana as some 200,000 voices fell silent and Brazil's little neighbor to the south celebrated a second world crown." via FIFA

Brazil didn’t win the world cup at home, so 2014 could be the year they redeem themselves or not. The Esquadrão de Ouro or the Golden Squad is getting ready to host the 2014 World Cup. They don’t want to disappoint their followers as they did in the last two world cups. In this years World Cup, the favorite team "lost to the Netherlands 2–1 despite gaining an early lead." This was the first time Brazil was defeated outside the European continent in 42 matches." That wasn't the only time they dissapointed people. In 2006, the team was defeated in the quarterfinals against France by a score of 1-0.

Coach Dunga and all of his technical staff were dismissed after losing to Netherlands in quarterfinals. Now, the pressure is on Mano Menezes, the new head coach, to bring back one of soccer's favorite team, Brazil. Everyone expects him to lead his team to victory, especially since country is set to host.

Last time Brazil won the world cup was in 2002, which is not too long ago, when they defeated Germany 2-0 in the final. Can they do it again?

In my opinion, the winner of the 2014 FIFA World Cup is going to be a South American team. History has proven that everytime the world cup has been hosted in South America, the winner has been a South American team. 2014 will be a must watch tournament since the favorites are going to host the biggest sport event in the world.

Soccer's Popularity In America

sanfran — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:57:05 -0500

By: Rod Aminzadeh

There are several major reasons why Soccer is not a popular sport in the United States. First of all, there are just too many national sports in America such as football, basketball, baseball, and hockey. Most people have grown up with these sports and soccer is kind of a new game, so people haven't adapted to it. Secondly, there are not enough international games for the soccer clubs playing in the U.S. The only important soccer tournament in America is Major League Soccer (MLS). There are also some college tournaments but not many people even know about it.

Soccer clubs in other continents like Europe, Asia, and South America, are really active and have several international games and tournaments such as "Champions League" and "UEFA Europa League" in Europe, "Copa Libatadores" in South America, and "AFC Champion Leagues" in Asia.

Sports in America are seasonal. On other continents, the soccer season lasts about nine months plus playing a couple of international tournaments during their regular season.

"Soccer has very few chances for commercials and so very few opportunities for television companies to make money from showing soccer, especially as it is not a massively popular sport in the U.S. Perhaps if it had the coverage, it would generate fans and in time make the money, as the rest of the world knows, the potential is there for some serious profits."

via Helium.

Another reason why people aren’t as interested is the lack of scoring in soccer. Americans enjoy watching sports that have a high scores, making it more exciting for them. For example, in football, the players score several touchdowns. Basketball scores can get as high as 100 points per game. Then you have soccer, where teams score about one or two goals on average and it's not exciting enough to grab people's attention—at least in the U.S

"Soccer has become more popular in the US in the last years and many young people, either male and females, regularly play it in the colleges, but it hasn't still reached the popularity and passion levels of Europe, Latin America and also Africa, so that it's difficult to find in the US stadiums build just for soccer."

via Helium.

Hopefully, we'll see more soccer being played and watched in the United States in the upcoming years and gain the respect that it deserves in America.

World Cup: South Africa Out, Fans Still Proud [Also: USA Advances]

noah — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:06:52 -0500

Reporter Lindy Hlobo
Produced and Edited by Czerina Patel
YENZA WORLD CUP ROOTS

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA-- While today is a time of celebration for U.S. soccer supporters after a 1-0 win over Alegeria, yesterday was a sad one for the host country of South Africa's fans. Or is it really a unifying one? This is the question 13 year old Lindy Hlobo took out to the hometown fans around the Cape Town stadium the evening after South Africa didn’t beat France by enough to get to the next stage of the FIFA World Cup. She asked some South African and African male soccer fans their feelings about South Africa. This montage shows a general feeling of disappointment surmounted by one of deep pride, unity, hope for Africa, and gratitude to Nelson Mandela.

Photo by Phiwokuhle Papama Budaza for Yenza (Copyright Yenza Inc. 2010)

More from Yenza/More on soccer from Youth Radio:

Watch a slideshow after the break...

Slideshow photos by Yenza's WORLD CUP ROOTS photographers, including: Brice Kimbembe, Lindeka Qampi, Phiwokuhle Papama Budaza,Nandipha Filani, and Kenneth Sihlali. (Copyright Yenza Inc 2010)

Yenza, which is a Xhosa and Zulu word for “do” or “make”, is a U.S. 501c3 charitable organization which runs various community, media, technology and empowerment projects in Africa, primarily in South Africa. Yenza seeks to strengthen the ability of Africans to improve their world by promoting the exchange of ideas and stories, developing understanding and creating meaningful human connections between the African people and the rest of the world. Yenza’s WORLD CUP ROOTS project is training local South Africans from disadvantaged backgrounds to report on the Soccer World Cup which is now playing in South Africa. By sharing local stories and voices with fans around the world, Yenza hopes to give a lively, vivid and real picture of the experiences of South Africans and others during the 2010 World Cup.

Find out more at www.yenza.org

LINDY BIO:

I am Lindy Hlobo. I am raised by a single parent who has to deal with everything I need. I was born on 12 December 1996. I live in Site C Khayelitsha where I stay with my mother, aunt and two brothers. I am a violinist. I started playing in 2007. I remember when it was my first time going to the music centre and I saw all these kinds of instruments and I knew this small one is what I want to play. In 2008, my teacher asked me to play for the Trinity College of London. I was very surprised by this because I never knew I would play for people overseas. My favorite subjects are Mathematics, English and natural sciences. I love these subjects because I learn new things. In the future I would like to be a social worker because many things do happen in my community and we stay with people who have HIV/AIDS. I would really like to play an important role in society because many children are on drugs. I always see these kids on drugs and that is what touches my heart. My wish when I grow up is to start a group for children attracted to drugs and try to take them to rehab so they can get back to their families.

Hard Knocks, Good School

cfoster — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:38:04 -0500

This commentary originally aired on WAMU, American University Radio in Washington, D.C.

By Nicholas Eckenwiler

Being a public school student in Washington, D.C. is like learning to play soccer on a field of dirt and pebbles, just as some of the game’s best players have done. Let me explain.

My entire education has been in public schools, from Kindergarten to 12th grade. Friends who attend private school say this puts me at a disadvantage. They mention inferior teachers, second-rate facilities and disorderly and violent classrooms. But today, as I graduate and head to college, all I can see looking back on my public school experience is one unique opportunity after another.

Take for example this year’s AP Physics class. I was in Physics “C”. But I sat in the same classroom as the Physics “B” students, because our school only had one teacher to teach both classes… simultaneously. Of course that made it really hard to get help learning the material. But instead of complaining, I took the class as a challenge to teach myself concepts like torque and angular momentum. My classmates and I worked together to solve the problems ourselves. And in the end we had a strong grasp of the material… and good grades, too.

Because it may be easier to fail when you’re in a public high school, you quickly learn to work harder. That’s a life lesson.

Another lesson is how to thrive by working with everyone around you. Public schools are filled with all kinds of people, not only in terms of race, but also social class. I’ve learned to be comfortable with almost any kind of person -- a definite advantage in today’s world. The different perspectives public school kids bring to the table have also broadened my own worldview.

Now let’s go back to the soccer analogy – one I’ve used before to defend public schools against my private school friends. I tell them a soccer player becomes a star if he can play with any teammate. Even if they have different styles of playing. The Brazilian star Ronaldo, for example, has played for Barcelona, Real Madrid, and AC Milan. And he has adapted successfully to the style of each team.

I bet when he looks back at how he got to be one of the best players in the world, he remembers the dirt field where he first learned to play the game. And I bet he thinks of that tough experience as an advantage. Players who learned the game on manicured pitches can often only play their best under perfect conditions.

Ronaldo learned to play under the hardest of circumstances. Just like I learned I could get a good education in a D.C. public school…if I was willing to do the work, put in the hours and take responsibility for myself.

Nicholas Eckenwiler will receive his diploma today from Washington, D.C.'s Woodrow Wilson Senior High School, where he took a radio class taught by Tennessee Watson of the Latin American Youth Center. In the Fall, Nick will attend Yale University.

The Official 2010 World Cup Theme Song

denise — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:18:58 -0500

The most anticipated competition of the past 80 years is less than a week away. Every four, years 32 teams from all over the world compete to prove who the best in the world is. It’s like the Olympics just times two. The World Cup is set to start on Friday June 11th in South Africa.

This is the first time South Africa will host the most watched sport tournament ever. Five stadiums were build and five of the existing venues were upgraded. South Africa also improved its current public transportation and roads.

Getting ready for the World Cup also means having an official 2010 FIFA World Cup song. Singing this year’s song is non-other than the hip shaker Shakira. Check out the official video of this year’s World Cup theme song Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)--it references various African cultures and countries

Birdies are Better Than Balls

wilmer — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:21:58 -0500

The following originally aired on KCBS.

By: Elena Hernandez

My high school badminton team doesn’t get a lot of support, and no one really cares, or comes to watch our games. But despite that, we’re the fastest growing team.

Last year I played basketball, and after running suicides 6 days a week, I thought badminton would be a piece of cake. But this sport offers different challenges.

Top doubles players hit an average of 40-50 shots in 20 seconds, yet all the time, I hear classmates say “Badminton, that’s not even a sport.” But it is a sport, and one that allows you to be as competitive as you want it to be. On my team everyone gets an equal chance to play regardless of how good they are, which isn’t at all like basketball.

There I felt divisions between the basketball players who were really good and just okay. The better you played, the more included you were. And at the end of the season, it was like friendships just ended. We hardly every talked after that.

Badminton has been completely different. It’s not a seasonal friendship. We’re each other’s fans, on and off the court.

Previously: