SOCCER IN LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES 

Soccer is the most played sport around the world and it influences the lives of a lot of people around the world. Both fortunate and unfortunate people use soccer to empower their lives so analyzing the effects or contribution of soccer in people's life is very important. Some people are well equipped with all the necessary equipment to perform in the beautiful game but others, the less fortunate, are not equipped with all of the necessary equipment needed to participate in soccer games.  The game of soccer requires a lot of financial support and for some people, financial problems are the main reasons why they do not excel in soccer. The motive of this blog is to find ways to use soccer to empower the lives of people in lesser developed countries and to what extent will it be beneficial to the international community. 

According to the sport and development organization, research shows that investment into sport in developing countries is much less than in developed countries, as sport development is usually not a top priority in the national budget or in the education system of most developing countries which also means that there are fewer prospects for athletes to continue their sport training or pursue professional sport careers in a developing country. In turn, the lack of talent-building opportunities in a developing country leads to less return on the little investment put into local talent, further debilitating local sport development structures and sport career pathways. What does this mean? This means that a lot of talent is been wasted due to financial struggles in developing countries and which in turn leads to a lot of negative effects. Some of the negative effects due to this struggle to the international community is that, some talented young kids will not have a chance to develop and exploit their talent due to these struggles. Another negative effect is that the talented kids would have helped the economy of their developing country by putting them under the spotlight but since the government doesn't pay attention to the sport sector, young talented athletes will not be able to help their country. Less developed countries are unable to utilize the talent of their strong performers and/or tend to lose them to more powerful nations in global sport. Sport regulated by global processes can thus contribute to the underdevelopment of a developing country’s talent. 

 The sport and development organization also claims that " In developing countries, players are either enrolled in official clubs linked to the national soccer association or they play for non-affiliated sports associations. For non-affiliated players, their only chance of obtaining an international transfer deal is through the informal and often clandestine networks of player agents, forming an underground labor market in soccer." It is possible that the player’s situation does not improve upon arrival in a European country – in the worst case, those players under the age of eighteen and who are unsuccessful in being recruited onto a European team, often find themselves without a work contract or even a return ticket to their home country. Soccer associations do not receive payment for the international transfer of non-affiliated players. The transfer fees for foreign players from developing countries to European clubs are so low that they barely cover the education and training costs of the transferred player in their country of origin.  The question now is, what can we do to prevent these disasters from happening and how can we help young talented soccer athletes exploit their talent. For one, the government has to realize the benefits of investing money on young talented athletes and use them to benefit their economy and the strength of their national government financially afterwards. According to the united Nations, local industries and a local sports sector may emerge should the events generate enough interest as to attract people willing to attend the event and purchase products and services associated with the event. At the local level, a ‘virtuous cycle’ can be created, in which sports-related services are provided, creating jobs and opportunities to upgrade skills and produce further services and products – a positive ‘spill-over’ effect from local sports events. To begin, it has been suggested that local communities build their own skills, to be followed by developing skills that are specific and relevant to their community’s social environment and local context. Local communities can then use their own capacities to organize the event, showcasing the community’s abilities in progressively gaining recognition in the region and internationally. 

Sports especially like soccer will be a great tool to help developing countries to strengthen their government and the influence they have on other nations. Soccer is for sure the most popular sports so using it to empower lives is a fantastic method for both the young talented athletes, the community, and especially the national government. 

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CRISTIANO RONALDO LEADING GOAL SCORER IN REAL MADIRD'S HISTORY 

The Portuguese player, Cristiano Ronaldo is the leading goal scorer in the whole Real Madrid history of soccer. Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the most hated and loved players in the world but he keep proving that he is the best by fulfilling great accomplishment. If you know Real Madrid you will know that great goal scoring machines have played in the team, namely Zinedine Zidane, Raul, Ronaldo, David Beckham, Adebayo etc. Cristiano Ronaldo achieving this great accomplishment means that he is not only the best player in Real Madrid's history but the best player in the planet right now.  

A question that pops up to my head is whether or not Cristiano Ronaldo will gain more respect than he does because he definitely deserve a lot of love and respect. I believe that this outstanding player is not done yet, he is going to keep achieving great things and shaming all of the haters who obviously have no respect for great athletes and individuals like him. 

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COLLEGE SOCCCER


As a lot of soccer fans know, college soccer is one level down from professional soccer. NCAA college soccer program is obviously college soccer level program but it has one of the best future players in the world. There are different soccer divisions here in the U.S.A, namely Division 1, Division 2, Division 3 and so on. All of the divisions are very competitive but the most competitive division in the NCAA program is Division 1. There are a lot of debate on whether or not college athletes should be paid so this blog will be focusing on this specific question due to the fact that soccer is one of the biggest sports offered at the college level.
First off, lets start with division 1. It is pretty clear that D 1 is the most competitive and the most commitment required division but do you think that college athletes in the D 1 level must be paid? For athletes in the D 1 program, I think that they should be paid for a number of reason. The nature of the program is time consuming, requires a lot of commitment and extra hard work on and off the field. The more competitive the program gets the more work expected of athletes in order to be on the same level and beyond with athletes in the program. Division 1 athletes are also expected to have very good academic success, engage in communal activities and be leaders both in athletics, academics, and in the community. As one would imagine, meeting all of these requirements is not close to been easy not even one bit. Because of this reason, I personally believe that adult incentives must be provided to the athletes who meet all of the requirements. It is true that most division 1 players gain some form of athletic scholarship ranging from half tuition to full tuition but is that enough for all of the work they put in prior to enrolling in college and the extra work they are expected to do as leaders on and off the athletic program when they actually enroll in college? On my opinion, I do not think that full tuition scholarships are definitely enough for division 1 college athletes due to the fact that the NCAA college program make a fortune of off the outstanding college athletes who spend days and nights working on been better athletes, leaders and role models in both sports and education.

            The NCAA program is trying to make it seem like college athletes are equipped with all of their needs but they really aren't. College athletes should stand up as a unit and demand to be paid for their tremendous work and this will have a very high significance in the United States. This will show that athletes and non athletes can stand up and request for the things that they definitely deserve under the court of law.
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SOCCER AT A YOUNG AGE
Parents enroll their children to all kinds of sports at a very young age. It is common that a little boy usually enrolls in soccer, football, basketball and baseball around the age of 5 and 6. In girls, parents usually sign them up for dance, softball, and gymnastics (they usually enroll girls in gymnastic around when they are 18 months of age) ranging from 18 months of age to 6 or 7. Little kids do not usually request to join a specific sport  and or activities but their parents enroll them in different activities for a couple reasons. One of the reasons is that parents want to expose their children to all the possible athletic and academic opportunities possible. Secondly, parents also want their kids to personally weed out the activities they do not want to participate in and focus on the activities that they are more interested in and enjoy participating in. 
Some of you guys have already grasped on what I am getting on and others are thinking what does this have to do with soccer. Soccer is one of the sports that parents enroll their kids when they are very young. For example, I have a friend who joined soccer, football, basketball, and baseball but he quit all of these sports and focus on soccer because that is what he enjoys doing. Ok enough with all this twist and turns and let me get straight to the point but before that I want you guys to reflect on the most popular sports that both little boys and girls are exposed to at a very young age. At first, especially in the United States of America, soccer is one of the least common sports that children are enrolled in. Presently things have changed and more and more parents are enrolling their kids to soccer programs like AYSO, YMCA soccer, Little strikers and a whole lot more other organizations.
This blog is meant to persuade parents to include soccer as one of the main sports they expose their children to. Most parents choose not to enroll their kids into soccer programs because most kids are enrolled in football, basketball, and baseball, which ,means that most of their child's friends are engaged in these activities and not soccer, their child's friends not been in the same activities as they are is a great thing because the child can meet new people and make good friends with other kids. It is hard for teenagers to enjoy something that they have not been exposed to since they were young so adjusting to a new sport and or activity is not always easy. Some kids, most commonly in High School, enjoy watching sports like soccer and decide to participate in the High School team but then realize that the sport is not for them due to the fact that they were not exposed to the game as a kid.
                Note to parents: please do your children a favor and enroll them in all of the activities you possibly can, it will definitely help you all out in the future because your child will discover his or her passion and enjoy doing whatever his or her passion is for the rest of their lives. Underdog sports like soccer are a good opportunities for your kids to meet new people and have different perspectives about sports and life in general. . . . . . .
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US MEN'S SOCCER 

  

One of the biggest soccer stereotype around the world is that the United states do not know anything about soccer. Popular stereotypes are "they will dribble with the soccer ball a little and then grab it with their hands and run." These stereotypes are definitely not true but globalizing it and using it have a big effect on the U.S national team.  

The past world cup of 2014 was a great year for the U.S national team because of their breathtaking competition. The U.S team entered the tournament as the underdogs but ended it as heroes even though they did not bring the world cup trophy to the American soil. The U.S team worked extremely hard during the months leading to the FIFA world cup and used the stereotypes to motivate them and get themselves under the spotlight. The moral of this blog is that don’t think that using stereotypes to discourage people will always work sometimes the table turns. 

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COMPARING SOCCER TO FOOTBALL 

|Researches have been debating about the equivalence of medical injuries from soccer to football. A lot of studies have been done on the long term physical and mental effects of soccer and football. Researches focus on these two sports because of the nature of their games. Football is a heavy contact sport and soccer is a semi heavy contact sport. The researches focus more on head contact and not the rest of the body. They examine football and soccer players with a concussion history and other football and soccer players without any record of concussion in their lives. 

 The focus on todays blog is whether soccer is as a dangerous sport like football. This is a question that the majority of soccer players, fans, and researchers want an answer to. What do you think? Do you think that soccer is as dangerous as football? On my opinion, I do not think that soccer is as dangerous as football. I am not supporting soccer because I am a soccer player but because of previous medical comparison records between soccer and football. Think about it? Well first of all, have you watched a football game? How about a soccer game? Could you spot the difference in contact? 

Football players wear helmets and soccer players do not. Football players need their helmets because they need it to protect them from any form of tackle. Deliberately aiming to tackle the head in football is totally part of the game which makes it more dangerous. In soccer, players do not wear helmets because they do not need it. Soccer players do not need helmets because soccer players only bang their heads on accident. Soccer players rarely bang their heads together basically about two times out of ten. Medically speaking, it has been proven that football players usually have way more concussions than soccer players a ratio around four is to one, four representing football and one representing soccer. 

I am not saying that soccer players are not in a risk of getting severe medical health damage in the long run like football players but I am arguing that football players are at a way higher risk than soccer players. It is true that both football players and soccer players want to argue that the opposite sport is more dangerous, the argument is no use if we do not come to a solution. I think that great intellectuals should come together and provide protections that would protect both soccer players and football players from a medical health damage over the long run. Both sports can have different protection gears for example, better and newer innovative helmet for football players and a new developed head gear to protect soccer players in case of a head contact incident occurs. 

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CEDAR RAPIDS INDOOR SOCCER TEAM

Great news people, Cedar Rapids is putting together a semi professional indoor soccer team, which will compete around the Midwest and the rest of the nation. The arena is going to be located in Cedar Rapids and I believe that most of the players are going to come from Cedar Rapids. For you guys who don't know, Cedar Rapids is a City in Iowa and the diversity of soccer is about seven out of ten. There a lot of regular soccer clubs in Iowa as a whole and there are a good number of clubs in Cedar Rapids namely, FC United, Cedar Rapids soccer Association, and Marion soccer club. Note that most of these clubs start from little strikers to under eighteen for both boys and girls teams.


The development of this new indoor semi professional soccer club brings up some questions but also some great developments to the Cedar Rapids and Iowa community. A question that comes to mind is, what age group is it going to be? Is it going to be under 18, 17, 16, 19, what age group? I very well know some semi professional clubs are all ages the only requirement is that you have to tryout and make the team. I am guessing that it is going to be either under 18 and or no age division.


Another question that comes to mind is whether the players are only going to be from Cedar Rapids and or other Iowa cities? Since it is specifically named Cedar Rapids indoor soccer club, I imagine that it is going to be composed of players mainly from the Cedar Valley area. For some of you out there who do not know, Cedar Valley is the group name of cities around Cedar Rapids, for example, Cedar falls, Iowa City, Waterloo etc. It might be made up of soccer players from the Cedar Valley area or from only Cedar Rapids.


A basic question that I also think about is whether the team is going to be an all male team or an all female team only. I am leaning more on an all male team but on occasion I think that there is the probability that it is going to be an all female team. I think that it is going to be an all male team because the men's soccer division in Iowa is more competitive than that of the female division. I also think that it is going to be an all female team for 2 reasons, 1 been that women in Iowa are more engaged in soccer than men. Secondly, I think it will be an all female team because of development of gender equality in sports. The team made an all female team will promote the empowerment of women, increasing their self esteem, and prepare them to take leadership positions in and out of their households.

Overall I think that the new soccer team will have very good effects in Iowa. The team will put the name of Cedar Rapids under the spotlight which will bring tourists, and people looking to grow a business in a more and more developing city. The city will see an economic growth especially in the sports divisions specifically in the soccer area. The Iowa Premier soccer league will be forced to raise its standard and develop good players who could grow up to represent the Midwest and United States Men's national team. The organization of this new indoor soccer semi professional club team will lead to the formation of different semi professional teams in other sports like basketball, football, volleyball, swimming, track etc.
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