European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 11, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Tony Kornheiser new York tires oui teen when Pat me Comiskey was asked by a priest to Start a youth soccer league in Massa be had to travel across town to the football coach at our lady of us rfcs grammar school awl plead or players who had Boon Cut from Tho football team he had no of thee he needed 11 players for a and he could get Only eight or nine on his now there Are youths in years old and under who play organized soccer in just the other Day the football coach from our lady of Lourdes came to Pat Mccomisky and asked him far some the coach said give me anyone you Cut from the soccer teams i need them Tor this which Mccomisky loves 10 is Indica Tive of what is happening nationwide with the fastest growing team sport in the United soccer if you inc Tennis of team its in Ihu infant stage of a Boom that May leave it unmatched among team sports in this is no longer an Immi Grant sport but suddenly something As american about 10 Yean ago i went into a sporting goods lore in and asked Tor a soccer said Laiu a founder of the american youth soccer Guy behind the Cornier didst know what i was talking about he asked me ii i meant a hockey last year that lore sold nearly it million Worth of soccer equipment and a recently As three years ago Hank uie soccer coach at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay saw a sign in a Colorado Springs department dare advertising Socker but such a spelling is unlikely Dave the owner of wolfs sporting goods in Rockville report that in the first months of 1977 be sold soccer balls in 1971 he sold a total of Krause says that soccer la kicking Little league baseball in the the major growth of us sport is on the youth and professional where More people Are playing and watching the game than on june 19 a North american soccer league game be tween Tampa Bay and the Cosmos Drew fans to stadium to East the Impact of the crowd was such that Mike the general Man Ager of the was shivering with excitement when he announced the the following Day the hew York times ran a photograph of the a photograph that John the owner of the los Angeles said Braugh Lcara to my the following a game Between the aztecs and the Cosmos attracted paying customers to giants out drawing a  sex baseball game Al Yankee to didst drink Champagne on that because by ten it was old joked Phil the on the youth level the figures Are More impress when St Cree founded us american youth soccer he had nine he experts Lea i in when Gryttr founded the rival United youth soccer had youngsters this the combined registration figures of these organizations show that there Are youths in and under playing organized soccer in the United and there Are estimates that the number runs higher than a million when youngsters who kick the Ball around in unaffiliated recreation leagues Are but after that crowd of hit giants stadium All those figures became ancient cautions Kurt general Secretary of the United slates soccer that crowd will double the number of Par when they write the history of soccer in this that afternoon will to Day one in All the Clave former president of inc thinks that the base of youth soccer will be the key to the sports Success in coming Toye Calls the youth Boom just like a sausage were squeezing so Many kids in at the till Lake a few years for the numbers to show up jul Law College and pro there already some explanations for the growth of soccer among american there Are no site unlike basketball or soccer otters no natural advantage for the tall or Bulky girls can play soccer As easily As and organized leagues encourage them to do soccer is inexpensive to unlike hockey or foot in which expensive protective padding is soccer requires Only a a Ball that will survive two years of constant play costs about soccer is a wonderful the primary action is soccer players do it for 80 minutes is a slogan of the there is a very Low incidence of especially compared with football and this is attractive to Ida Mchahon of whose 12 year old plays said thai she would not let Chris play because of the risk of youth do not find soccer said 12yearold Waller Dostler of Massapequa baseball is you gotta wait so Long in the Outfield to touch the Ball dial you feel like Sling Down during the in you can be like the quarterback every time you kick the and you can get the Ball just by run Ning to because the action is there is an absence of the Little league Parent almost impossible for a coach to Slop the action and give instructions to the As so often happens to youth basketball and football consequent Fow kids Are turned off from the sport by the coaches and the As alien happens in the other it is a team which helps in the socialization pro in it is the International which Givus children a sense of the Wwod soccer is very due the sport has its greatest Appeal in the upwardly Mobile segment of where being Chic is sometimes Cosmos Pele helping soccer to score to parents Are enrolling their children in soccer i just As this segment of society enrolled its children in Lutle league baseball programs in the Issei and when baseball was the Chic suburban team the areas where soccer is growing fastest include the Pacific Monde so Northern Virginia and suburban hew in a suburb at where there were once four baseball Diamond and no soccer Fields at Are now three soccer Fields and Only one surviving baseball and the level of Tajen and  among the Young american soccer Puyer is Don from Castro leu of official ing a soccer match Between teams of Uye Orlds last year and wondering Why one team used a formation that didst employ an outside dont you recognize the 4m offence one 11year old asked leaving the adult momentarily what Toye Calls sausage Mac Nae effect u begun Long to squeeze Ustle into the Scio lastly in there were Mil High in Boot Tielung soccer Learnt la 1m the number iras Ron soccer coach at Brandywine High school in remembered that when be moved to Dela Ware in 19gi there were Only five High schools in the with soccer he 32 of the 3s High a floors in the state have soccer and five of those that dont Are to Middle of these figures reflect the sports Lack of growth in inc to my in m the Oij Caad to Poge the stars and stripes