The World’s Most Popular Sport

The World’s Most Popular Sport

Soccer1
Sekou Gogue, Braden Senger

Soccer Scores Big in Aberdeen

There’s plenty of people out there that complain that soccer isn’t exciting to watch and at one point in my life I agreed, but after watching a little more; you have to respect the beauty of the sport itself. There’s a type of elegance that goes into every pass, and the kind of shape you have to be in to play it is incredible. In one phrase, it’s poetry in motion, and this exact poetry has been going on for a lot longer than most sports we watch religiously today.

Obviously soccer has been an international phenomenon for years now and America is a little late to the party. People from all over the world find their way to Aberdeen to play this beautiful sport and it may be one way to bridge the gap between some of the differences in culture we may have. After all soccer is something everyone has either heard of or played. Whenever you have something in common with another person it can always be beneficial to a community too, and we can see that happening right here in town. Friends and families can get together and have a great time and exercise. Overall it’s a win-win situation.

There certainly has been an increase in soccer participation over the past four years. “Currently there are 755 people in the Fall, 111 in the Winter, 905 in the Spring and 210 in Competitive,” said Steve Cogley, Director at the Hub City Soccer Club.

It doesn’t stop there either. Today the soccer scene in Aberdeen is bigger than ever. Both local colleges have teams, Central and Roncalli have combined into one team each for boys and girls, and children and adults have plenty of opportunities to play throughout both the spring and summer leagues.

With the wide growth of participates in the community, the soccer club built the Moccasin Creek Soccer Complex just off Melgaard road. In 2000 they even had to add on because the original fields were not enough to hold all the people, and now they even have employees and a technical director in the club’s offices in Berkshire Plaza. The bigger and bigger this complex and club gets, who knows we might be talking FIFA World Cup 2026.

It’s no wonder soccer has grown in Aberdeen, because it’s been growing everywhere. There’s an estimated 4.2 million people in the US that play organized soccer. That’s good enough to rank it the third most played sport in America right behind basketball and baseball/softball. Since America hosted the World Cup in 1994, and with the recent advancement of the men and women national teams, soccer is getting more and more attention.

“I certainly feel soccer has the ability to bridge cultures across our community. In most other countries, soccer is the number one sport and often times kids moving into Aberdeen have a comfort level with soccer. This then opens opportunities for them to engage in a sport they are comfortable with and at the same time meet and socialize with their peers in comfortable environment, hence then bridging the gap with different cultural back grounds,” said Cogley.

So next time you’re out and about and have a minute to spare drive by the fields down south and check out a little soccer. Who knows, you might like it.