Soccer everyone can play he/she....

The policy of the soccer organization is that everyone is permitted to play. There are no try-outs at this age level. But the new coach felt justified in saying, "Everybody plays, except you."

Jessica's mother contacted the National Federation of the Blind for help. It is an organization that works hard for all blind people to be treated just like everybody else. They asked the coach why Jessica couldn't play and were told, "Because she's blind."

"But she played last year, and everyone had fun. Why can't she play this year?"

The coach said, "Because she might get hurt."

"But lots of children play soccer, and many do get hurt. Will you prevent a clumsy, sighted child from playing, just because he or she might get hurt?" The coach said, "No."

"So, why can't Jessica play?" "Because the team will blame her when they lose," said the coach.

"At this age the most important thing is learning how to work and play as a team. Surely, you aren't saying any one child should be held responsible for the team winning or losing. Will you exclude sighted children who don't play well?"

"Of course not," said the coach.

"Then why can't Jessica play?" The coach became angry, and said, "You're acting as if it is normal for a blind child to play sports."

It should be normal for a blind child to play sports, and for every child to be permitted to be a child, regardless of the physical challenges they experience. All children should be permitted to play, to get hurt, to fail, and to succeed, without an adult asking them not to try.

Childhood is for exploring and falling down and getting back up again. This is true whether the child is blind or sighted, deaf or not, and whether he or she gets around on legs or wheels.

Jessica is in the third grade now—and she is playing soccer. And maybe the coach has learned a little more about teamwork in the process. Jessica and her mother spoke about their experience at the recent [NFB of Oregon] state Convention. When she was asked how she plays soccer, she said, "I was left-forward, and left-forward has to be out in front scoring goals."

Jessica and her family know that in the future, there will be tryouts for positions on the team. They know at that time, she might not be able to play. They also know there will be other things she will never be able to do—like driving a car. But they also know most things she wants to do in her life will be possible with a little creative adaptation.

The origins of and information about soccer

The origins of and information about soccer

The modern history of the game of football covers a period of almost One-hundred and fifty years. It all began in 1863 in England, when rugby and association football branched off on their different courses and the world's 1st football association was born - The Football Association in England.

Both forms of football came from a common root and both have a long and intricately branched ancestral tree. The game's early history reveals at least 6 different games, varying to different degrees and to which the historical development of football is related and has actually been traced back. Whether this can be justified in some instances is still open to question. Nevertheless, the fact remains that kicking a ball with the feet has been going on for 1000's of years and there is really no reason to believe that it is an aberration of the more "natural" form of playing a ball with the hands.

On the contrary, apart from the absolute necessity to employ the legs and feet in such a tough bodily sport for the ball, often without any rules for protection, it was no doubt recognized right from the beginning that the art of controlling the ball with the feet was very difficult and, as such, it required special technique and talent.
The very earliest variation of the game for which there is some scientific evidence was an exercise of precisely this skilful technique dating back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries B.C. in China. A military manual dating from the period of the Han Dynasty includes among the physical education exercises, the "Tsu'Chu.

The Grassroot Soccer Curriculum

Grassroot Soccer's mission is to mobilize the global soccer community in the fight against HIV/AIDS. We have developed an internationally recognized HIV prevention curriculum that uses soccer players and the game itself to teach awareness about the disease, critical life skills, and prevention strategies to young people.
The GRS approach uses the power and popularity of soccer to break down cultural barriers, educate young people, and bring communities together around this important issue. GRS uses a unique activities-based curriculum to prepare trainers and peer educators to reach out to their communities and educate the population at large about how to avoid of HIV infection.
How the curriculum works
It is a tremendous challenge to make the leap from HIV/AIDS awareness to HIV/AIDS prevention. It involves a much longer and more targeted intervention. The GRS curriculum is a very deliberate in its attempts to do that -- however it is not a stand-alone document. The training of trainers is an extremely important part of the strategy.
Note, therefore, that we see the curriculum as a process, and recommend against simply using one or more games from the curriuculum as part of a separate program of youth HIV/AIDS education.
Please contact us to discuss what strategies might work to enable your program managers to include the GRS curriculum in their activities, including our options for Trainer-of-Trainer sessions.

Egypt win completes Africa qualifying

Continental champions Egypt completed the second round of African World Cup qualification with an easy 4-0 win over Djibouti in Cairo on Sunday.
Egypt were among the heavyweight contenders who went through but weekend casualties included 2002 World Cup quarterfinalists Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo and 2006 World Cup finalists Angola.
The African Nations Cup champions did not quite deliver the goal deluge expected but started Sunday's match without injured English-based strikers Mido and Amr Zaki.
Instead goals from Emad Moteab, captain Ahmed Hassan and Mohamed Aboutrika along with a late own goal confirmed Egypt as Group 12 winners.
Five matches on Sunday completed qualification with Guinea claiming one of the 12 group winning places after a 3-2 home win over Kenya and Mozambique sneaking the eighth and final best runners-up spot following a positive sequence of results 24 hours after their 1-0 win in Botswana.
The other 18 places had been determined on Saturday with previous World Cup finalists Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Nigeria, Togo and Tunisia progressing to the final five groups to be drawn in Zurich on October 22.
The group winners will qualify for the World Cup in South Africa while the top three finishers in each will compete at the 2010 African Nations Cup finals in Angola.
CELEBRATING
"We had no idea that we had made it until we made it back to Maputo," Mozambique's Dutch coach Mart Nooij told Reuters by telephone on Sunday.
"It was only when we got home that we found out that we had just made it by goal difference. Now we are out celebrating."
On Saturday, Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor grabbed four goals in a dramatic last-minute return to Togo's team as they snatched a place with a 6-0 thrashing of Swaziland in Accra.
Nigeria were the only team to maintain a 100 percent record throughout after beating Sierra Leone 4-1 in Abuja while Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Cameroon all finished unbeaten.
The full list of 20 qualifiers are: Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan, Togo, Tunisia and Zambia.

About The world Cup

From it's humble beginnings in 1930 the Soccer World Cup has grown to be one of the most spectacular sporting events in the world. The 2010 World Cup promises to be the planet's biggest sporting event ever. Well over a billion people are expected to follow the month long tournament between the world's top 32 soccer playing nations.
The World Cup is the most important competition in international soccer and is organised by FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association), the sport's governing body.
The tournament takes place every four years. The previous tournament was held in 2006 in Germany and Italy won the World Cup. 2010 will be the first time that the final tournament will be hosted by an African nation.
More than 160 national teams take part in the regional (Continental Zone) qualifying rounds to qualify as one of the 32 teams that will take part in finals.

U.S. men are simply outclassed by England in 2-0 loss.

The United States men were simply overmatched and outclassed by England, which recorded a 2-0 victory before 71,233 at Wembley Stadium outside London.
England dominated the midfield, while the strong, veteran English defense was little tested by a U.S. team that showed almost no attack.
The U.S. chances were dealt a severe blow by the absence of Landon Donovan, who was ruled out with a groin injury. Without Donovan's pace in the midfield, the American offense was left to midfielder DaMarcus Beasley making runs and attempts to play high balls to striker Eddie Johnson, which the England defense easily handled.
The U.S. midfield of Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark, a surprisingly subdued Clint Dempsey and Beasley were simply no match for Steven Gerrard, David Beckham, Owen Hargreaves and Frank Lampard. The Americans were back on their heels for most of the night and did little better when England coach Fabio Capello began substituting in the second half.
Except on rare occasions, the U.S. midfield could not make short passes linking with the forwards and the Americans created nothing dangerous until very late in the match.
The American defense actually did not play badly, but was put under constant pressure, not only by the speed of strikers Jermain Defoe and Wayne Rooney, but from the large number of dangerous free kicks given the English by foolish fouling.
The first England goal came off defender and captain John Terry's header off a Beckham free kick in the 38th minute. In the 59th minute, Gerrard made it 2-0 after the U.S. defense lost him as he came in from the left side left side with no U.S. midfielder in position to offer any help.
England was not overly impressive with its workmanlike performance at home against an overmatched opponent. It should have won by more and more easily.
As opposed to a number of U.S. victories over the past few months -- especially against Poland -- the Americans faced an opponent tonight with a full squad looking to impress its coach. The difference in quality was stark.

Two Cuban soccer players defect in Washington

Two Cuban soccer players have defected from their national team before the World Cup qualifying game on Saturday night against the United States, Cuban and U.S. media reported.
Cuba's state television, blaming its "imperial" foe, the United States, said midfielder Pedro Faife, 24, and forward Reynier Alcantara, 26, had "betrayed the unity of their team and given in to the temptation of the empire's money.
The two players disappeared from their hotel outside Washington before a practice on Friday, the Cuban team's coach, Reinhold Fanz, told The Washington Post.
"It is always a problem for the Cuba team," Fanz told the newspaper. "We have security, but you can't handcuff them to their rooms."
Defections have plagued Cuban sports, which have lost dozens of top baseball players, boxers and other athletes in recent years, many seeking lucrative careers in the United States, much to the annoyance of Cuba's communist authorities.
Six members of Cuba's under-23 soccer team defected during an Olympic qualifying tournament in Tampa, Florida, in March.
Only one Cuban soccer defector has made a mark in the United States, Maykel Galindo, playing for Major League Soccer team Chivas USA.
The depleted Cuban team faces the United States at Washington's RFK Stadium.
The U.S. team won the first World Cup qualifier against Cuba 1-0 last month in Havana. It was the first time in 61 years a U.S. soccer team had played in Cuba. (Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Soccer

Windass commits future to Tigers...

Hull veteran Dean Windass has committed his future to the Tigers amid talk he was ready to quit the Premier League new boys.

Since scoring the goal at Wembley that promoted Phil Brown's side last season, Windass has been pushed down the pecking order by a raft of new signings.

Last week saw the veteran striker speak openly of his frustration at a lack of playing time but Brown has reassured the fans' favourite that he has a future at the KC Stadium.

Windass was strongly linked with the managerial vacancy at Grimsby but now insists he is willing to fight for his place.

Englan's Chelsea...

A distinctly Portuguese makeover at Stamford Bridge has helped propel England's Chelsea to the top of the TSN.ca Soccer Power Rankings. Chelsea are joined by fellow British sides Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United in our top 20. England and Spain are the only two countries to have four clubs crack the rankings. In all clubs from nine different nations are represented.

Soccer

Injury puts Kewell in Cup doubt...

Kewell had scored his third goal but he had to leave the pitch with 20 minutes left in the game.

He is now doubtful for the return leg of Galatasaray's UEFA Cup tie with Swiss side Bellinzona this week.Kewell would have to be fit to start the club's league game next weekend if he were to be deemed fit enough to travel to Brisbane to face Qatar on October 15, a Galatasaray spokesman said.

The injury cast a cloud over what has otherwise been an impressive start for Kewell at the club, including a goal on his debut and another in the 4-3 UEFA Cup win in the first leg with Bellinzona earlier this month.

Galatasaray are third on the Turkish championship ladder, just two points adrift of leaders Trabzonspor.

Iraq loses final appeal..

The Court of Arbitration for Sport said the Iraqi Football Association was one day late paying an appeal fee to football's world governing body FIFA.

Brazilian-born Emerson was a citizen of Qatar when he played for them in beating Iraq 2-0 in March. However he had also played for Brazil's under-20 team using a different name. FIFA allows a player to change nationality but not to play for two countries.

It banned Emerson but cleared Qatar, despite FIFA rules which indicate that Qatar should forfeit the match as a 3-0 defeat.

FIFA's disciplinary committee said the code penalties should not apply because the Qatari federation was given false information.

soccer-globe

Miller helps Rangers beat Hibernian...

Kenny Miller put Rangers back on top of the Scottish Premier League as his double strike clinched a 3-0 victory at Hibernian on Sunday.

Miller, a former Hibernian player, struck twice from Kirk Broadfoot assists before half-time at Easter Road and Madjid Bougherra's first goal in Scottish football rounded off a convincing display from Walter Smith's side.

After Celtic's late comeback against Aberdeen on Saturday, Rangers needed a win to pull clear of their Glasgow rivals and they responded in style.

"Our confidence took a dunk at the very start of the season but we picked up a bit again," Smith said.

"Overall, we're gaining in confidence but we've still got a few hurdles."

Hibs boss Mixu Paatelainen was furious with his team's sloppy start.

"We never started our passing from the first minute," he said. "It was really, really poor, giving the ball away far too easily.

"Defensively we were all over the place. We then got three fantastic opportunities to score a goal and take the lead.

"We didn't take those chances and they punished us. Again, we were on the back foot, we were on our heels, not on our toes and sharp. Sharp strikers like Kenny Miller, they punish you."

The only downside to the day for Rangers was the inflamatory chants from Rangers fans, who sung the so-called 'Famine Song', which Celtic chairman John Reid had earlier in the day described as "racist and deeply offensive".

Miller proved a handful from the start as Rangers dominated the early stages and he shot just wide from 20 yards after Chris Hogg had gifted possession to Jean Claude Darcheville.

Rangers were cut open in the 14th minute when Derek Riordan fed Dean Shiels in the right channel, and the visitors needed Neil Alexander to stand up and block a powerful shot.

Rangers were still edging possession but were being forced to shoot from long range, and efforts by Adam and Darcheville were well off target.

Hibs again came close in the 31st minute when Kevin Thomson nodded Souleymane Bamba's header off the line after Riordan's corner.

But Rangers went in front seconds later when Miller broke away from the static home defence to glance a diving header into the far corner following Kirk Broadfoot's right-wing cross.

Steven Fletcher fired wide off the head of David Weir after a good run and Hibs came even closer as they kept the pressure on from the subsequent corner.

Riordan chased a hopeful ball and volleyed across the six-yard box where Ian Murray raced in to stab against the post.

However, Miller scored again in the 40th minute thanks to another assist from Broadfoot.

The former Hibernian striker ran on to the full-back's clever reverse pass and curled a left-footed shot into the far corner from 20 yards.

Rangers killed the game off in the 73rd minute when Bougherra bundled home Thomson's near-post free-kick from six yards.

soccer-globe

Rome football fans celebrating as Lazio go top of Serie A...(28/09/08)

It was a great day for Roman football fans on Sunday as Lazio went back to the top of the table with a 3-1 win at Torino and AS Roma coasted to a 2-0 home success over Atalanta.

Lazio have been the surprise team of this season and their fourth victory in five matches took them ahead of Inter Milan and back to the top of the table, for a few hours at least.

Inter can regain top spot if they win the Milan derby against AC Milan later on Sunday.

Macedonia striker Goran Pandev gave Lazio the lead on the half hour following some shoddy defending by the hosts.

Former Birmingham forward Mauro Zarate tried to bundle his way through the backline, who were all drawn towards the Argentine but the ball bobbled free to the unmarked Pandev who shot shot home past Matteo Sereni.

How to play soccer in better way

Tips to improve all parts of your soccer game. Learn how to play soccer, or football in these free online video soccer lessons for beginners, including how to kick a soccer ball, passing drills, dribbling moves, goalkeeping and basic rules of the game.

The exact history of soccer is one that is a bit shrouded. However, it is known that a soccer-like game has been played around the world for about 3,000 years. The game as we know it was conceived in England. Soccer, or football, was a very violent sport that had no rules. There were actually laws passed to stop the game but failed. Soccer later adopted rules and became the game it is today. Soccer is the world’s most popular game! It is said that there are more than two billion people around the globe that are soccer fans.

This video series will give the basics of soccer. Our expert will explain the rules of soccer. The basic fundamentals and moves will then be demonstrated and explained by the expert. He will teach how to properly do a header which is where the player jumps and hits the ball with his head. Other basics like passing, shooting and dribbling are also covered.


The "How To Play Better Soccer" Formula for Professional Playing Results:

Step 1: "Essential Soccer Mechanics" supplies Coaches, Parents and Self-Coached Players with reminders of skills and when to use each skill. A great tool that gives one focus to the entire team.
Step 2: The "How To Play Better Soccer" Series reveals professional soccer mechanics and skills.
Step 3: The "How To Practice Better Soccer" Series recommends drills to use to develop these great soccer playing skills.
Step 4: The "How To Coach Better" Series instructs coaches, sport's parents and self-coached players how to properly teach these playing skills to their developing players or to themselves.

Laws of Soccer

Law 1 - The Field of Play. This is a very Technical Law that specifies the dimensions of all the following items: The Soccer Goal Area The Penalty Area The Height of the Flag Posts The Corner Arcs The Actual Goal - its position on the field and the size of it's posts, crossbar and opening. The Field's Minimum and Maximum - Width & Depth, and the circumfrance of the Center Circle.

Law 2 - The Ball. The Qualities and Measurements of the soccer ball. How to Replace a Defective soccer ball using the correct soccer rules, during the course of a game.

Law 3 - The Number of Players. The Minimums & Maximum number of players required to play a game. Substitution Procedures How to change a Goalkeeper during a game Infringement of Player Substitutions How to Restart a game after a Substituting Infringement. Dealing with Substituting Players that are being sent off for an Infringement.

Law 4 - The Player's Equipment. Safety First as mandated by the soccer rules. The Basic Equipment Required The Goalkeeper's Jersey Requirement How to Deal with an Infringement of this Law.

Law 5 - The Referee. What the Referee's Authority Covers Powers and Duties of the Referee The Decision of the Referee is Final

Law 6 - The Assistant Referee. The Duties of the Asst Referee.

Law 7 - The Duration of the Match. Periods of Play Half-time Allowance of Lost Time Penalty Kicks Extra Time.

Law 8 - The Start and Restart of Play. Pregame - coin toss Kickoff Game Procedures Dropped Ball to Restart play.

Law 9 - The Ball In and Out of Play. How a ball is determined whether it is In or Out of Play.

Law 10 - The Method of Scoring. How the ball is Scored Determining the Winning Team.

Law 11 - Offsides Soccer Rule. The Offsides Position - "It is not an offense in itself to be in an offsides position." Determining whether a Player is in an Offsides Position WHEN to PENALIZE a Player in an Offsides Position The Infringements The 3 exceptions to the Rule - Receive the ball from a Goalkick, Throw-in, or a Cornerkick.

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconducts. The how and why to awarding a Direct Free Kick The how and why to awarding an Indirect Free Kick The how and why to awarding a Penalty Kick CAUTIONABLE Offenses - Yellow Card SENDING OFF Offenses - Red Card.

Law 13 - Free Kicks. Types of Free Kicks - Direct and Indirect Explanations of the Free Kicks.

Law 14 - The Penalty Kick. The Reason for a Penalty Kick Position of the Ball and Players The Referee Penalty Kick Procedures.

Law 15 - The Throw-In. The how and why a Throw-in is awarded Throw-in procedures.

Law 16 - The Goal Kick. The how and why a Goal Kick is awarded Goal Kick procedures.

Law 17 - The Corner Kick. - The how and why a Corner Kick is awarded and Corner Kick procedures.

FIFA

FIFA has a huge responsibility to reach out and touch the world, using football as a symbol of hope and integration. If you're hungry for statistics, soccer-globe.blogspot.com has plenty to keep your mind occupied. Find out a wealth of information on your favourite players, clubs, leagues and tournaments. You can even compare the head-to-head records of teams in this section, which is continually updated.

Association football, commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players, and is widely considered to be the most popular sport in the world. It is a football variant played on a rectangular grass or artificial turf field, with a goal at each of the short ends. The object of the game is to score by manoeuvring the ball into the opposing goal. In general play, the goalkeepers are the only players allowed to use their hands or arms to propel the ball; the rest of the team usually use their feet to kick the ball into position, occasionally using their torso or head to intercept a ball in midair. The team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is tied at the end of the game, either a draw is declared or the game goes into extra time and/or a penalty shootout, depending on the format of the competition.

The modern game was codified in England following the formation of The Football Association, whose 1863 Laws of the Game created the foundations for the way the sport is played today. Football is governed internationally by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football), commonly known by the acronym FIFA. The most prestigious international football competition is the FIFA World Cup, held every four years. This event, the most widely viewed in the world, boasts an audience twice that of the Summer Olympic Games.