Soccer… Even after last year’s Women’s World Cup, producing the most viewed match ever, the game still struggles for attention in a televised field of dreams where the headliners wear football jerseys or batting gloves, not soccer cleats and shin guards.
It’s different with youth athletics, where sports are about play rather than pay, and the players are kids, not commodities. The popularity of a sport is a decidedly local phenomenon.
So it is in Vero Beach, where youth soccer is the sport of choice for leagues of youngsters and legions of parents and fans. Its growing allure comes as much from World Cup superstars Brandi Chastain and Mia Hamm as from local celebrities like Summer Corum and Stephanie Keating, who are now collegiate soccer rivals as well as friends. “The girls that have made it big in soccer have doubled girls’ participation” in the Indian River Soccer Association (IRSA), says President Fritz Miner.
Read the entire article in the November 2000 issue
True Tails is a series written by Amy Robinson for Vero Beach’s dog lovers. Ask Amy about your dog’s behavior by clicking below.
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