Still with U.S. Soccer.After the recent successes officials are confident that the time is right for the next move.They are excited about the prospect of bringing young Hispanic and African-Americans into the mainstream.
Sunil Gulati, the president of the United States Soccer Federation says….
“One of the issues we have in the United States is that elite-level soccer at a youth level is and has been for the most part pay to play.Clearly then, when you are talking about economically disadvantaged inner city, you’ve got a problem.The challenge of attracting Hispanics and African-Americans is vastly different. Young Latinos have already embraced soccer. The issue is bringing them into federation programs,knowing where they are and identifying them.The challenges soccer faces are not new, but perhaps more can be done at a time when football and basketball have saturated poorer neighborhoods. The question is how to persuade young athletes to make soccer their sport of choice.If we can get the star athletes when they are 13, 14, 15, 16 to stay with soccer rather than play other sports where the economic payday down the road may be greater, that would be a plus for us.If we can get the best athlete interested in soccer, that’s a plus. We’ve got to do more in that community.””
I don’t know if he managed to say all that in one breath.If he did – it’s pretty impressive.In the meantime some who are already leading in this area by example – here and especially here