Where Do The Children Play?

"Where do the children play?" asked Cat Stevens in a song on the 1970 album, Tea For The Tillerman.

Apparently not as many are playing on soccer fields in 2018 as in years past.  As reported by the New York Times, the percentage of 6- to 12-year-olds playing soccer regularly has dropped nearly 14 percent, to 2.3 million players, according to a study by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association.  Not surprisingly, reasons given for the decline vary, including other sports, cost and electronic diversions.  

When my kinds were in high school in the late '90s, we did not have crew or lacrosse at our high school.  Neither conflicts with high school soccer, but they do with club soccer, whose prime season for high school-age players is the spring.  Add to this the fact that top athletes more and more are choosing one sport earlier and earlier.  

Part of the problem, suggested former Women's National Team goalie Hope Solo, is the perception of soccer as a "rich, white-kid sport."  The Sports & Fitness Industry Association says that households with $100,00 and above incomes provide 35 percent of youth players while only 11 percent come from households with incomes of $25,000 or less. Carlos Cordeiro, the new president of the U.S. Soccer Federation has promised to make the sport less expensive, although he does not say how.