I occasionally look in on a blog called On the Pitch which is hosted by a guy who’s a youth soccer coach and administrator here in North Carolina.  In his most recent post he linked to a discussion at NC Soccer Forum about racism in youth soccer.  The original post that sparked the conversation dealt with racial taunts being directed towards players in several challenge and classic matches throughout the state, but I thought that one of the comments concerning the "upper class, white bread" nature of youth soccer to be particularly interesting.

First, let me provide a primer for those who aren’t familiar with the youth soccer structure here in NC.  For the most part there are three levels of youth competition, recreational (rec) , challenge and classic.  You could look at rec soccer as entry level, where all players are welcomed regardless of ability and coaches are generally all volunteers.  Challenge is more competitive than rec, with tryouts and regional travel to games, but still with mostly volunteer coaches.  Classic is much more competitive, with many teams having paid coaches.  Each level of play is also generally more expensive as you move up.  These are rough generalizations and they differ from club to club and league to league, but it gives you an idea of how things work.

When we first moved to the Winston-Salem area our daughter played rec soccer with the Optimist organization for a couple of years.  Last year she decided she wanted to step up a level so she tried out and made one of the Twin City club’s U-14 girls Challenge teams. BTW, if your child wants to play soccer I highly recommend both of these organizations. I can tell you from first hand experience that the expense for Challenge was greater, although not too much, but the competition was decidedly better.  The expectations in terms of time commitment are also roughly double what they  were at the rec level. 

But here’s the thing I noticed most in the switch from rec to Challenge.  I can probably count on one hand the number of non-white kids we’ve played against at the Challenge level.  And I’m not talking a white-black difference, I’m talking white-any other race difference.  Now it’s not like there were a ton of non-white kids playing at the rec level either, but it’s definitely less diverse at the Challenge level at least here in the Piedmont area of the state.  If you asked me to guess why I’d say there are a couple of reasons:

• Cultural – Unlike the rest of the world where soccer is a kind of every-man’s game and is actually the sport of the masses, soccer in this area and in much of the US is seen as a white, suburban sport.  Think about it, if someone were to play word association with you and said "soccer" your associations would probably be "mini-van", "oranges", "suburbs" and "mom".
• Lack of integration of the recently immigrated residents – When we lived in the DC area we saw a lot more diversity in the leagues because quite simply there are literally generations of immigrant communities in the area and I think they’ve had more time to break down the barrier between the various communities.  Combine that with the passionate love of soccer that came with many of the immigrants and you have greater opportunity for kids from different cultures to compete against each other if not play on the same teams.  Here in NC immigration is very new and integration is almost non-existent.  Give it a few years and I think we will begin to see a change.

I don’t think that overt racism is a contributing factor to the lack of diversity on the soccer fields.  I think most clubs would gladly expand their talent pools in order to compete.  I’m also not so sure if pricing is as big a deterrent as you might think, at least at the higher competition levels.  There are lots of families that stretch dollars in order for their kids to play AAU basketball so I don’t see why they wouldn’t also do it if they and their kids felt the same way about soccer as they do about hoops.  And even if pricing is an issue you do have clubs that provide financial assistance, as Twin City does for its players.  The point is I really think it’s more of a cultural issue than a money or overt racism issue.

The question for youth soccer leaders is this: do you want to continue to be seen as the "white bread, upper class" sport?  If not, how do you change the image of the game?  How do you make everyone feel welcome? 

My feeling is this: youth sports provide a wonderful teaching and learning opportunity.  I’ve played sports all my life and I’ve always enjoyed the fact that when we the players get in between the lines we usually forget who’s what race, who comes from where, and who has how much money.  All we care about is competing and winning and so we’re held accountable to only what we do in between those lines.  We also see each other more honestly.  We see who really has character and who doesn’t, who has courage and who wilts under pressure, who is supportive in the crunch and who points the finger when things go bad.  In other words sports are a great venue for discovering what’s beneath each person’s exterior. 

I’ve made friends with people I never would have talked to without the common ground of a basketball court or soccer field and for that I’m eternally thankful.  That’s also why I think it’s better for youth soccer and those of us who participate in it if the pitch becomes a little more "rainbow-y".