SIUSLAW NEWS | SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2019 | 3B
Soccer
from 1B
People are always running.
Whether the ball goes in
the goal or not, it really has
nothing to do with how
fast the game is moving.”
So why does soccer get
such a bad rap?
“I think that people just
like to see the score go up
really high,” Tomaro said.
“But if you played it, you
know. Three or four goals
like we had last week,
when it was four to three,
that was a lot of scoring.”
Campbell added, “You
have to keep in mind, three
or four points, that’s a
keeper letting a few by.
There were probably 27
shots at getting a goal.
Every missed shot is just as
exciting as a goal. You’re
biting your nails, watching
attempts over and over
again. It’s a gripping game.”
Tomaro said she loved
to watch a good play
unfold on the field.
“You see it coming,” she
said. “That person is mov-
ing here, that person is
moving there. Now they
pass the ball, now they
dribbled around that per-
son. Oh, they just missed
the goal! The whole play
up to that is amazing. For
me, that’s what I love to
see. When people are just
scoring goals left and right,
but they’re not making
good plays, to me, that’s a
boring game.”
Campbell agreed.
“I think this could be
simplified and boiled
down to is, ‘What are you
excited about and interest-
ed in?’ To be honest, I’ve
never understood how
football works. You’re
going one direction, and
then another. That’s all I
know about it. I think what
it boils down to is what do
you know really well?
What did you grow up
with? What was your love
in life, and therefore what
do you enjoy?”
The first thing to know
about soccer is that it’s not
a lazy game, according to
Campbell.
“It’s a fast paced, on your
feet, fast thinking, multi-
tasking game, and I’m
addicted to multitasking.
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Soccer is a perfect outlet
for me, or for anyone that
likes
that
rapid-fire
thought process. You have
to know where you are on
the field, what’s happening
when you’re going forward
or going backwards. You
always have to be ten
moves ahead on where the
ball is going to go. For me,
that’s where the love comes
from.”
A lot is said about the
games low scoring, but in
actuality, the score isn’t the
victory. There’s a ton of
small victories strewn
throughout the running
time.
“I made my move, I got
around that person, I could
tell what they were going
to do and I stole the ball
from them, I made a great
pass, I made a great run.
There are hundreds of little
victories throughout the
game. No matter what the
score is at the end, there’s
always something to get
excited about. I think that’s
part of the joy of it. We
made some errors, but we
did all these things
throughout the game that
we can be really proud of.”
Soccer is gaining popu-
larity in America. In April,
Forbes cited a 2018 Gallup
poll that showed 7 percent
of Americans viewed soc-
cer as their favorite sport
to watch, compared to 9
percent for baseball.
And American’s attend-
ing games is also rising,
with Forbes reporting that
Major League Soccer’s
average attendance was
21,358 from 2013-18, just
behind France (21,556)
and Italy (22,967). Some
teams, such as Atlanta
United, are boasting aver-
ages of 51,547.
“There are places where
soccer is huge in the US,”
Tomaro said. “When I was
growing up, soccer was
gaining traction in my
hometown, and our high
school team started the
year I was a freshman. It
just comes to different
places at different times. I
think it’s definitely grow-
ing in the United States
and in some places it’s real-
ly big. It’s not the main
sport as in other places,
but that’s okay. Everybody
has the sport that they
love, and everybody has
the option for what they
love to do. I think that’s
fantastic.”
Campbell was more
bullish on soccer’s popu-
larity.
“I think it’s already huge,
personally,” she said.
“Where I grew up, just as
many people went out for
soccer as they did for foot-
ball. I think the smaller
towns are more like small
town America and still
rooted in football. And
that’s just how things lie.
When I moved to Florence
20 years ago, there was no
mention of soccer. And
that’s awesome — that’s
totally American culture.
But I think as cultures get
together and move in and
populations increase, peo-
ple bring with them to the
town they move to the
things that they love.”
Internationally, soccer is
the common language
between sports fans.
“You don’t have to be
tall, you don’t have to have
huge muscles,” Tomaro
said. “You don’t have to be
able to speak the same lan-
guage. You don’t have to be
from the same place. It just
brings people together.”
She recalled a time in
college went she went to
East Africa. She played
soccer with elementary
aged school children in
Kenya.
“They were super
impressed to see a grown-
up woman playing soccer.
To me, it crosses boundar-
ies and brings people
together,” she recalled.
Stateside, as internation-
al cultures begin to take
root, so to do the games
that these cultures bring
with them. And if there’s
one international sport
they’ll bring, it’s soccer.
“But I think that would
be an oversimplified
answer to soccer’s popular-
ity,” Tomaro said. “I don’t
think you can say it’s
because these kids have an
Asian background, or a
Hispanic background. I
don’t think that’s where the
love of soccer comes from.
Maybe that’s how they’re
exposed to it at first, but I
don’t think that’s where the
love of it comes from.”
The key to soccer’s pop-
ularity may come in its
simplicity.
Basketball
needs a hoop, tennis needs
a net but soccer?
“Any number of people
can come together with a
soccer ball and a couple of
pairs of shoes and enjoy
playing together at the
park any time,” said
Tomaro. “It’s something
that you can always have.
Any time you go to the
park, someone has a soccer
ball. And you can just join
in. It’s not something you
have to have a whole lot of
equipment and people to
make a game work and
have fun.”
That’s
how
many
American kids were
exposed to the sport — a
quick pickup game at
recess in elementary school
without all the prep. But in
middle school, interest in
soccer can wane. Campbell
believes this is an institu-
tional issue.
“You have kids that are
playing in elementary
school and loving it,” she
said. “But as you become a
middle schooler knowing
you’re going into high
school, whether it’s parent
encouragement or your
own thought process, you
think, ‘Oh, well, I’m going
to be in high school and
these are the sports that are
offered. In middle school, I
better be getting prepared
for a high school sport.’
That’s where the drop-off
is happening.”
But the interest isn’t
dropping off, as the num-
bers of the Siuslaw Youth
Soccer Association show.
Each season finds around
200 kids signing up to play,
which lead to the creation
of the pilot JV program at
the Siuslaw School District.
And that is an important
step to keeping kids
involved with athletics,
Tomaro explained.
“Some kids only play
soccer. If we don’t have a
soccer team, they’re not
going to be a high school
athlete. They may be a
really good athlete, but
they don’t have an oppor-
tunity to represent their
school,” she said.
And if they don’t have
an opportunity to repre-
sent, they can have less
ownership of their school.
“This is my personal
opinion, but when kids
have a chance to compete
for their school, it’s more
meaningful than just going
and taking classes, which
is also important,” Tomaro
said. “To be able to step out
on a field and say ‘I’m rep-
resenting my school, I’m
competing in the name of
my school.’”
And that’s what makes
soccer, and all sports, spe-
cial to those who love it.
“I think it’s just being in
a sport that you all love
and enjoy playing togeth-
er,” Campbell said. “Just
like somebody that would
be on a baseball team or a
track team. You make
friends and if you love that
together, and you play that
one thing together, repre-
senting where you’re from,
then you just build a bond
through that.”
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