[sparkdawg777]

First off let me say that I now enjoy soccer a lot, I have never played but I have grown into a fan the last 4 years. I'm still no where near as interested compared to football but I still enjoy it if there is a good match up. Personally I would like to see it grow and see the US become a powerhouse but in my opinion there is one big problem that I see..

Soccer is not cool

I am from the south and grew up with 3 sports Football, Basketball and Baseball. I grew up being taught to hate soccer along with many of my friends who were also the best athletes in high school, soccer was not cool.
Baseball is though and you can't play baseball and soccer because they both fall in the spring. This could be the first reason soccer is frowned upon, things could be different now, but I mean my classmates would choose to run the track than play soccer in PE. Soccer has this label that it is for wimps, no offense to anyone who plays it. I don't see it that way anymore now because I understand the game, which is the source of this problem, parents grew up not playing or watching so they don't understand it except that there is hardly any scoring and players fake injuries. So they teach their kids that the sport is dumb (which is ridiculous).

Because of this our best athletes don't play the game and who are the most popular kids in school? What I mean is social status is one of the most important things in high school (unfortunately) and most people don't see soccer players as cool or good athletes. Don't get me wrong the US national team and many college/pro players are still exceptional athletes but they are the best out of the smallest sample of athletes to choose from in America. In high school if you can't play football you might play basketball or baseball. But most football players who don't play 2 sports run track in the spring instead of playing soccer. My point is we have the largest sample of athletes in the world but because of this bad label of soccer not being cool the sport has a tough disadvantage to grow in my area.

What I'm saying might be controversial but I believe it's true at least where I am from. I am sure there are some places around the US that don't think this way but I coach high school football now and still see this by kids here in the south. Again I don't won't to sound like this is all over the US but just in my area, I'm interested if anyone else sees this?