Anonymous wrote:we will get better when our best athletes are trained to play from age 4 on up. Im taking our best athletes not our rich well off kids . Imagine if John wall only played soccer from age 4 til now and was taught ing a top level club from u9 til now ? His speed strength and size would be world class. just add the fundamentals and boom a top 5 world class player.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trash talking is what you do during sports games, if you are shocked then you have never played pick up basketball, football, or any competitive sport. You leave it on the court/field, but it's part of sports.

Hispanic kids play because the parents love soccer and it's a part of their lives. Just like we watch football on thanksgiving. US will always be 2nd tier because we don't have a soccer culture and we field teams with the best that we have to offer in terms of players interested. Other countries, their top athletes play soccer, not basketball or football.

Preach.

Sure we have 57 million Hispanics in this country. Only Brazil and Mexico have a larger population. So if what you are saying is true, the US should be just as good or better as Spain, Argentina, Uganda, Peru or Columbia.

Do you have a problem with reading comprehension? OP was referring to US culture, not ethnic composition. The culture in this country is decidedly not soccer focused and many of those you refer to also strive to play the lucrative spots in this country. Soccer is not yet one of them.

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trash talking is what you do during sports games, if you are shocked then you have never played pick up basketball, football, or any competitive sport. You leave it on the court/field, but it's part of sports.

Hispanic kids play because the parents love soccer and it's a part of their lives. Just like we watch football on thanksgiving. US will always be 2nd tier because we don't have a soccer culture and we field teams with the best that we have to offer in terms of players interested. Other countries, their top athletes play soccer, not basketball or football.

Wrong. I played soccer from age 6 til 40, D2 college, etc. And I don't watch football on thanksgiving (or ever). I did PLENTY of trash talking, but never would I have used the N word or belittled a special needs kid. This is what I am referring to.

Okay, well that’s you

If you use the N word or belittle a special needs kid, remove yourself from civil society. Today. Maybe it's a mental hospital, in which case, you have my sincerest sympathy and best wishes moving forward. Or you've probably committed some crimes in your life, so go turn yourself in and go to prison.

The other stuff that goes on ranges from fun ("you ain't gonna score on me") to asinine ("you ain't s---"). It's tough to make a blanket statement.

But I'll say this -- in general, professional athletes respect each other. I've covered hundreds of them, and the only ones they don't respect are the ones who are disrespectful.

After a soccer game, you don't see players spit in their hands before shaking hands, which is something that happens in local youth soccer. Maybe 99 percent of the time, any postgame interaction is friendly banter or a jersey swap.

After an NHL playoff series, you rarely -- very rarely -- see anyone disrespect the postgame handshake line, even if that series featured dirty hits and fights.

Even in MMA and boxing, where people are trying to hurt each other, fighters usually hug and say nice things about each other after a fight. Not always, and not 99 percent of the time. But far more often than not.

You can say trash talk is part of competition. That's fine, and we may disagree on where the boundaries lie. But if you don't have a fundamental undercurrent of mutual respect, you probably shouldn't be playing. Go play a video game and shoot people in a virtual realm so you can let out whatever hostility you can't other contain.

To get back to the topic -- there are some countries in which diving is accepted more readily than it is elsewhere. But that's changing. Maybe 30-40 years ago, most pro soccer players played in their home countries -- the NASL was actually ahead of its time. Now you have EPL teams fielding no English players. And you can come close to that in MLS -- NYCFC started only one player born in the USA against DC United last week. So the differences between Argentine players, Brazilian players, English players and Anglo-American players is dwindling. And that filters down to the youth level, where you may have white kids watching pro soccer and learning to dive or push the limits of what's legal.

Anonymous wrote:I have a serious question. Over the years I saw many Latino boys who were amazingly good on the field. As a parent what did you do to help him develop, other than the usual things? Thanks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trash talking is what you do during sports games, if you are shocked then you have never played pick up basketball, football, or any competitive sport. You leave it on the court/field, but it's part of sports.

Hispanic kids play because the parents love soccer and it's a part of their lives. Just like we watch football on thanksgiving. US will always be 2nd tier because we don't have a soccer culture and we field teams with the best that we have to offer in terms of players interested. Other countries, their top athletes play soccer, not basketball or football.

Preach.

Sure we have 57 million Hispanics in this country. Only Brazil and Mexico have a larger population. So if what you are saying is true, the US should be just as good or better as Spain, Argentina, Uganda, Peru or Columbia.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trash talking is what you do during sports games, if you are shocked then you have never played pick up basketball, football, or any competitive sport. You leave it on the court/field, but it's part of sports.

Hispanic kids play because the parents love soccer and it's a part of their lives. Just like we watch football on thanksgiving. US will always be 2nd tier because we don't have a soccer culture and we field teams with the best that we have to offer in terms of players interested. Other countries, their top athletes play soccer, not basketball or football.

Preach.

Sure we have 57 million Hispanics in this country. Only Brazil and Mexico have a larger population. So if what you are saying is true, the US should be just as good or better as Spain, Argentina, Uganda, Peru or Columbia.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trash talking is what you do during sports games, if you are shocked then you have never played pick up basketball, football, or any competitive sport. You leave it on the court/field, but it's part of sports.

Hispanic kids play because the parents love soccer and it's a part of their lives. Just like we watch football on thanksgiving. US will always be 2nd tier because we don't have a soccer culture and we field teams with the best that we have to offer in terms of players interested. Other countries, their top athletes play soccer, not basketball or football.

Preach.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've played a lot of all-Hispanic teams this season and I'm noticing a disturbing trend and I'm not sure the best way to explain it to my child. The aggression (and I don't mean physicality...I am OK with that) is overboard for 12-year-olds. I am talking about the amount of trash talk. It could be that they are entering the tween period and it's natural to start using curse words, etc. But there's been a noticeable difference with the Hispanic teams. And it's not just using swear words, it's saying horrible racist and demeaning things... Can someone explain this to me...? Tolerance and embracing diversity are values in our house but these real-life experiences, weekend after weekend, are starting to taint my child's views of this particular culture and I want to be able to counter that... Any thoughts?

I noticed it too.

Anonymous wrote:We've played a lot of all-Hispanic teams this season and I'm noticing a disturbing trend and I'm not sure the best way to explain it to my child. The aggression (and I don't mean physicality...I am OK with that) is overboard for 12-year-olds. I am talking about the amount of trash talk. It could be that they are entering the tween period and it's natural to start using curse words, etc. But there's been a noticeable difference with the Hispanic teams. And it's not just using swear words, it's saying horrible racist and demeaning things... Can someone explain this to me...? Tolerance and embracing diversity are values in our house but these real-life experiences, weekend after weekend, are starting to taint my child's views of this particular culture and I want to be able to counter that... Any thoughts?

Anonymous wrote:Trash talking is what you do during sports games, if you are shocked then you have never played pick up basketball, football, or any competitive sport. You leave it on the court/field, but it's part of sports.

Hispanic kids play because the parents love soccer and it's a part of their lives. Just like we watch football on thanksgiving. US will always be 2nd tier because we don't have a soccer culture and we field teams with the best that we have to offer in terms of players interested. Other countries, their top athletes play soccer, not basketball or football.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trash talking is what you do during sports games, if you are shocked then you have never played pick up basketball, football, or any competitive sport. You leave it on the court/field, but it's part of sports.

Hispanic kids play because the parents love soccer and it's a part of their lives. Just like we watch football on thanksgiving. US will always be 2nd tier because we don't have a soccer culture and we field teams with the best that we have to offer in terms of players interested. Other countries, their top athletes play soccer, not basketball or football.

Wrong. I played soccer from age 6 til 40, D2 college, etc. And I don't watch football on thanksgiving (or ever). I did PLENTY of trash talking, but never would I have used the N word or belittled a special needs kid. This is what I am referring to.