Soccer, a once struggling sport in the U.S., is back to being extremely popular and with the summer months finally here; we can expect to see plenty of summer soccer camps around the country.
Soccer has always been popular globally, being the number one sport in the world. But in the U.S. it took a backseat to football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and sometimes even less-popular sports for years. It’s still hard to say if soccer has passed any of the four major sports in the U.S., but its certainly gaining momentum.
It’s all about the kids. Kids are the reason sports grow into what they are. Sure, adults love football, but they only love football now because of the passionate years they spent as children loving the sport and their favorite teams. If soccer can reach kids like other sports, it will grow to be larger than ever before.
It looks like that is finally happening, too.
With the help of a few key factors, kids are following, watching, and playing soccer more than ever now. Here are a few reasons why futball, the real futball, is doing so well in the United States:
USWNT
U.S. soccer is bigger and more popular than ever before and it’s almost all thanks to the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team. These ladies stepped up during the 2015 FIFA World Cup and defeated Japan 5 to 2 to win their second World Cup championship in 16 years. Led by Abby Wambach, this team accomplished so much and had the entire country, both soccer fans and non-soccer fans rooting for them all summer. We can surely expect to see more kids going to summer soccer camps imagining their playing alongside Wambach, Morgan, Lloyd, Solo, Lilly and the rest of the team.
World Cup
The men contributed too, they just didn’t win it like the ladies. Both men’s and women’s World Cup tournaments over the last few years had a significant following. The men’s World Cup, held in Brazil in 2014, had a large U.S. presence as kids and adults across the country watched every game they could. You can bet that U.S. fans across the country are counting down the days until the 2018 World Cup Championship in Russia.
Easy to Be a Fan
Aside from the amazing play of the women and men for U.S. national teams, simply being able to follow soccer via the Internet has enabled the sport’s popularity to grow. Kids can now access their phones at any time and follow their favorite players, teams, countries, and even watch games and highlights. This has been huge for the success of the sport and summer soccer camps across the country are going to be filled with kids who are passionate about soccer, whether it’s individual players of soccer programs, these fans are here to stay.
