How much soccer have you played?

[digamma]

There seems to be some serious soccer knowledge on this board (as with other topics). I'm curious about where it came from...did you play soccer growing up? Through high school? College? Beyond?

I consider myself fairly dumb about soccer. I mainly watch the World Cup and some of the other international tournaments or qualifying, and don't profess to know a thing about formations or strategies. I attribute that mostly to ending my soccer career in about the 2nd grade (though I did date a soccer player (female) in high school).

How about you?

[Coffee Warlord]

Played from elementary through high school. Quit after my freshman year, due to pretty much hating the coach. Played some rec league a few years ago, and would love to play again, but can't find a league near me (that isn't indoor - fuck indoor).

[korme]

I've played a ton of FM, a little bit of FIFA, and zero bit of real life

[korme]

Thanks to Football Manager, I can pretty much bullshit a deep knowledge of soccer in any social conversation

[flere-imsaho]

I played one year when I was in grad school in England.

Looking back on it, I really wish I had played it as a kid.

[Radii]

I didn't even play in youth leagues. It was all baseball/basketball for me at that age. 95% of what I know about soccer came from FM, the other 5% from watching what little I do.

Every year I say "this is the year I'm going to become a regular EPL viewer and really get into it", but it never happens.

[cartman]

I've played since I was 5, so nearly 37 years on the pitch. In grade school/junior high, our select team was really good. When we got to high school, about 60% of our team had played together for 4 or 5 years. I got a few scholarship offers, but none of the were full or even half ride. I did play on the club team at UT for a semester (men's soccer wasn't an NCAA sport). Post-college I've played in adult soccer leagues.

[digamma]

I added an adult rec league choice since a few people mentioned that.

[Kodos]

I was cut from the 7th grade team once.

[Arles]

Played youth, 4 years of High School, was on the club team at University of Arizona and until my retirement last year - played in the Scottsdale United Amateur Soccer League (SUASL). Was tough when I gave it up, but a herniated disk made it somewhat mandatory.

[PilotMan]

I played from 2nd grade through high school. I played some rec as an adult, but I was never more than a slow defender.

[DaddyTorgo]

Stopped in HS but I'd love to get into an adult rec league now.

[Easy Mac]

Started when I was 4. I started for the varsity in 7th grade, but it was literally the first year for the team at my school. I skipped my freshman year to play baseball. I was offered a partial scholarship at a D2 school, but decided to go to Furman. I gave a little thought to trying out as a walk on, but they were nationally ranked and I figured I had no shot.

[sterlingice]

Stopped in HS but I'd love to get into an adult rec league now.

This. I'd die for the first few months due to a lack of stamina but I was a defender anyway. My job was just to get in the way of things or corral you to where the lines did the job for me.

SI

[Eaglesfan27]

Played from 4th to 8th grade but most of my knowledge comes from FM.

[Coffee Warlord]

And now I'm bitter. Turns out there WAS an outdoor rec league in my 'burb. The fucking awfull park district website was just laid out so poorly I didn't see it. Sonofa...

[DaddyTorgo]

This. I'd die for the first few months due to a lack of stamina but I was a defender anyway. My job was just to get in the way of things or corral you to where the lines did the job for me.

SI

I would love to do it even though I'd have to go out and get prescription activeware glasses in order to be able to see anything at all.

Still.

[EagleFan]

Adult rec several years ago but it was indoor.

[Pyser]

oops, voted before i saw adult rec league was added

i am not pro or semi pro.

[ISiddiqui]

Youth leagues through Teen Years - I was never good enough for school leagues. And back then I didn't analyse the game as I should have, I more reacted to the action than thought all that deeply about tactics, etc. - I probably could have done a much better job if I had thought more deeply about the game.

[Izulde]

Played in youth league and through sophomore year in high school. Junior year I concentrated on swimming in the fall so I could letter in the winter, which I did. Senior year I was working part-time so my parents said I could only play one sport, so I chose tennis.

[Young Drachma]

Three days of varsity practice in high school my sophomore year. And some summers at camp as an adult. Too much running. I'll stick to tennis. Also no leg strength but a decent keeper.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Nothing other than informal sandlot.

AFAIK there was no such thing as organized youth soccer within 50 miles (or more) of me when I was a kid in the 70s.

[Fidatelo]

Played youth soccer for a couple years in elementary school. Then I played adult rec for a couple years in my late 20's, but I'm just not coordinated enough to be useful on the pitch.

[cuervo72]

I played one year of local AA soccer, I think when I was 7 or 8. I forget if it was the fall after I broke my wrist or the one after that. I wanted to play football, but my parents wouldn't let me yet so I played soccer.

I was on the green team, and we were horrible. Didn't win a game. I was usually the goalie for the first half, and we'd stay in the game somewhat. In the second half our coach would put in this boy Eddie, God bless him. He wore glasses, probably wasn't too bright, and was not very athletic (but he was determined - I remember him being on baseball teams all through elem/middle school). We didn't stand a chance.

Outside of the usual gym class rotation, that's pretty much it. At nine I was playing football.

[Lathum]

Played through High School. Played on a very high level traveling team growing up, including playing some time in England. Got offered a scholarship but decided not to go. Haven't played in 20 years. Just discovered a mens league close to me I may join when I get in a little better shape.

[miami_fan]

There seems to be some serious soccer knowledge on this board (as with other topics). I'm curious about where it came from...did you play soccer growing up? Through high school? College? Beyond?

I consider myself fairly dumb about soccer. I mainly watch the World Cup and some of the other international tournaments or qualifying, and don't profess to know a thing about formations or strategies. I attribute that mostly to ending my soccer career in about the 2nd grade (though I did date a soccer player (female) in high school).

How about you?

I played up to about 11-12 Then height took over and I moved to the basketball court. Most of my soccer knowledge comes from watching games involving my father, uncles and cousins.

[Alan T]

At least in my area, there was no organized soccer for boys growing up in the part of Atlanta that I did. Soccer was solely the sport that the girls played and schools had to balance out the football teams that the guys had.

So I pretty much had never even touched a soccer ball until after I got married a second time, and all of my in-laws are from Chile where soccer is obviously a huge deal.

Now I help fill in as coach for my daughter's soccer team and enjoy watching it on tv as well as live (Revolution games).

[AlexB]

Played until I reached Hinckley Town, before the merger, which itself has just failed and the club has gone under this season. Unfortuantely this was both the peak and the beginning of the end: after scoring more than a goal a game at local levels, I proved to be somewhat of a disappointment. 2 goals in 13 games, and as my general play wasn't great (in FM terms I was a bit of a poacher, but without the blinding pace!) I was not perservered with.

Played for a few more years for an ex-League club (albeit Leeds City that was in the League in the 1920s :D ) and then gave up when life began to be more important than football and fitness.

Still maintain the style of play wasn't right for me at Hinckley, but in truth while I was very good at finding space in the box and an instinctive finisher, I didn't have the size, strength or pace to play any higher than I did. I should and could however have done better at that particular level.

[saldana]

started playing when i was 6...played all the way up through high school, including club teams...got offered a walk-on tryout when i got to college but didnt take it (was hurt for all but 5 games of my senior year, so didnt have any chance to get looked at by anyone...doubtful i was good enough to go anywhere)

started coaching when i was 17 in ymca leagues and did that for a few years...now back on the sidelines with my daughter's teams and back to playing in an adult pickup game a couple times a month when i am in illinois for work.

[nol]

Somewhere between the first two options. Tore it up in my local youth league throughout elementary school (3+ goals per game), but soccer was in its infancy in Iowa then and playing on a select/travel team meant that all the other teams were from cities 10+ times the size of my town. Anything I know tactically beyond "get the ball and try to dribble past everyone and score" would not have come during this time.

Between getting tired of all the losing in tournaments and starting to play American football, I stopped with soccer somewhere around 6th-7th grade. Sometimes I think about what it would've been like sticking with it since the time I quit coincided with a growth spurt that allowed me to exit 'chunky little kid' territory.

[BishopMVP]

Since I was like 5, although it was my 3rd sport so I never played elite travel. Play with a rotating group of childhood teammates now in my later 20's, so we know each other well and can still beat some of the younger kids who are in better shape.

Rotate between D-mid and wing forward in kind of the 4-2-3-1 we run. I'm slow, probably the worst 1v1 player ever, but I'm all about making dummy runs to open up space for the better players and finishing in the box. (Led our freshman team in scoring, got cut from my HS varsity sophomore year and had the coach tell me he didn't see me ever making it, led the JV in scoring that year, tried out again the next year and his exact quote was "Well Paul, you scored 7 goals in our 3 scrimmages, so I guess I have to keep you this time." Thanks for the vote of confidence coach!) Also play keeper in indoor, basically as a combination of hockey goalie and free safety.

[Blackadar]

14 seasons in the competitive DC area, including 4 or 6 on a traveling team. Since I learned how to play hockey before playing soccer, I was always the gadfly assigned to man mark the opposition's best player and take him out of the game. I got pretty good at playing a physical brand of soccer, but I quit because I never loved the game the way I loved football, basketball and boxing.

[Umbrella]

There should have been a "None, but I played a ton of FM" option. I think many of us have the majority of our knowledge because of that.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I played as a kid. I retired at age 8 after receiving a red card for spitting on an opponent. It was poor form, even at age 8.

When I lived in Brussels, I came out of retirement in 2003 and played goalie for our work team. I had the toenail of my left big toe blown off and broke the middle finger and pinkie finger of my left hand.

Other than one game in which I somehow channeled my inner Tim Howard (to the extent that I met a guy I played against in that game about 5-6 years later at a wedding and he still remembered my utter dominance), I was not a particularly good goalie.

[Neuqua]

I played a year in the youth leagues, but really wasn't all that good. I didn't even think of joining an adult league until this thread. Maybe something to look into, need something to keep in shape.

[FrogMan]

Went with adult rec league since I payed a couple seasons maybe 4-5 years ago. That was a comeback of sort since I'd played in my youth, from age 5 to maybe 15, when I became a referee for 8 years. I eventually became referee dispatch for the area. One or two referees I had working for me at the time are now FIFA level referees.

FM

[FrogMan]

I was a central defender in my youth but converted to a goalkeeper in my adult playing days. Actually quite liked the goalkeeping duties...

FM

[Coffee Warlord]

I played a year in the youth leagues, but really wasn't all that good. I didn't even think of joining an adult league until this thread. Maybe something to look into, need something to keep in shape.

You're not still in Naperville, right?

[Marc Vaughan]

I've played all my life and still play a couple of times a week ... love the game, you might have guessed this already ;)

(oh and in case anyone wonders - I'm fairly rubbish ... :D )

[Neuqua]

You're not still in Naperville, right?

I'm in West Chicago (the suburb) now.

[Coffee Warlord]

Find a team down in Naperville anyway and I'll play with ya. :)

[The Jackal]

was a GK for a good 7 years or so, stopped in early high school

[DaddyTorgo]

Started as a DC, converted to GK around middle school. Was a good DC at the time. Think I'm a good GK, although I was always a bit dodgy coming out for crosses in my youth.

[ColtCrazy]

While I spent my youth moving to progressively smaller towns that didn't have even youth league soccer (though now they do), I didn't get to play when I was young. However, my father is English and played there until he was 18 and moved to the states. Here, he played in small club leagues until his late 20s. He took me to my first English professional game when I was 12 (QPR-Arsenal) and I've been around the game a lot. I would claim 3 sports I feel comfortable enough about to talk strategy and tactics: basketball, football, and soccer.

[terpkristin]

I can't figure out how to answer the question given that I did play in college but that my career ended in a game in an adult coed rec league but at the time I was also playing in a high-level women's amateur league. It would figure that my catastrophic injury would come not while playing a game that mattered, but while playing in a beer league game.

/tk

[Dutch]

I played left wing until the half-times stopped producing orange slices...then GK in the military for about 3 seasons (essential adult rec league stuff).

[OldGiants]

Lettered in high school back when that meant something.

[Groundhog]

I played exactly one game and still managed to get a red card. I was about 13 or 14 from memory, came on late in the 2nd half, and through being terrible rather than through malice I kicked a downed opponent in the face. It was completely unintentional, but according to everyone else it looked like I just booted a guy.

[Autumn]

Organized soccer didn't really exist when I was a kid until I think high school, as far as I was aware. So never played anything formal, since I was already in football at that point.

[Warhammer]

Age 10 for me. Didn't play after we moved from California because of lazy parents. I had a buddy that I was better than at the time that wound up playing down in South America and was a backup keeper on some of the USMNT teams in the 90s. Don't think he made any WC teams though.

EDIT: Not that I would have made it, but you I like to play the coulda woulda shoulda there.

[thealmighty]

I played GK for club at SMU. I have coached high school in Dallas for 16 years (and still do).

[korme]

I've played all my life and still play a couple of times a week ... love the game, you might have guessed this already ;)

(oh and in case anyone wonders - I'm fairly rubbish ... :D )

Yeah but you have a pretty high determination rating

[saldana]

I've played all my life and still play a couple of times a week ... love the game, you might have guessed this already ;)

(oh and in case anyone wonders - I'm fairly rubbish ... :D )

the pickup games i play in are with all european or latin american guys...even the 60 year old dude is better than me...the 20 somethings just abuse me regularly...rubbish doesnt even come close to describing my skill:D

[Coffee Warlord]

That's why I still like playing keeper (also what I played when I was younger) - you can pretty much always get in on a rec league / pickup game. Everyone loves the guy who wants to play keeper.

[Ryan S]

I have been playing since I started school, so 25+ years. I have always played left wing or centre forward.

At the moment I occasionally play in 11 a side matches when we can arrange something, but I play weekly in a 6 or 7 a side game with guys from work.