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The Popularity of Soccer Around the World

Today, soccer has become the most popular sport in the world. This sport usually requires ten players and one goal keeper on each team. The game is split into two 45 minute portions. The goal of soccer is to kick a ball into the other team’s goal at the end of the field. If a game ends in a tie, additional time may be added to determine a winner. This sport is known as football in Europe and most other countries around the word.

In the United States, soccer has grown in popularity over the recent years. There are now nine Major League Soccer teams in the country compared to just two team that existed in 2004. The number of high school soccer players have also double since 1990 and there are now almost 750,000 players in the country. The number of youth players has also doubled in the past twenty years and now stands at over four million children.

During the 2010 World Cup, more than 24 million people in the country watched the final game between Spain and the Netherlands, which makes it the most watched soccer game in United States history. This is more people than the combined viewership of every Major League Baseball game that has taken place since 2004. The previous soccer television record was set in 1994 when 19.4 million viewers watched the World Cup final.

Over 700 million people watched the 2010 World Cup final game on television. In many countries around the world, additional records were set. In the United Kingdom, 18.4 million people watched the World Cup in sports channels from providers like http://www.direct.tv. Over 15 million people watched it in Spain, which was the highest television audience ever for the country. In Holland, 90% of the country watched the World Cup for a total of almost 9 million people.

Filed Under: General, Sports Tagged With: , ,

Coaching

Coaching

1. Coaching Requires Skills

Good coaches motivate and educate. Great coaches teach skills for getting through the game of life, while developing and maintaining your craft.  What you do while playing the game is only half of developing craft. Coaches work on developing talent raw and in veterans. A good coach leads by example and has stats and the reputation to back her up.

2. Coaching Commitments
Making a commitment to coach involves being on call kind of like a doctor. In team sports you are accountable for a group succeeding or failing. Coaching can be a great or a horrible thing depending on stats, history, and expectations for the current season. Coaches put in extra hours by sheer nature of the business. Practices, games, and when applicable championships all cost in time and sometimes travel. Coaches sometimes spend more time with their teams than with their families.

3. Coaches and Respect

Coaches are authority figures and beget respect by virtue of their title. A good coach is fair, honest, and appreciated. A coach worth his salt can quiet a locker room full of high school teens with a stern look without ever having to utter a word. His strategies for winning always include sportsmanship like conduct, and when he loses he does so graciously. His players respect him for his fairness and expectations of hard work and playing with integrity.

4. Time-Outs

There are times when being placed in time-out may seem unfair to players and their cheering section. Understanding may have to come later during the post-game discussion. A coach reserves the right to bench, suspend and revoke playing privileges because he or she can. Great lessons are taught in time out. Patience and humility come to mind as jewels earned while being benched. Coaches understand the necessity of repeating drills character building. A time-out is sometimes enough time to think about an alternate way of looking at a situation for a more positive outcome.

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Volunteerism

Volunteerism

1. Service Volunteers

Volunteering as a way of service is a great way to give back to the community. There are many opportunities to make the world a better place and volunteering is always a list topper. Volunteers are needed and appreciated for giving the gift of caring.

2. Resources for Volunteers

Community boards or a quick surf of the Internet will lead you to local opportunities. Expect a background search for opportunities that involve children or where you may need to be bonded. Opportunities where you deal with money, medical information and other sensitive information may require that you be significantly screened before being brought on board. The most common reason for this is to protect companies from lawsuits.

3. Volunteerism Calls for Integrity

When you sign on to volunteer for service whether the effort meets personal goals or you are court appointed to serve, placement calls that you remember that you are there in the capacity of a guest until you prove yourself. Use of office equipment and files should be treated with care. No Internet surfing unless you’re doing research for the agency. In that same light, telephones should only be used for company business. Your cell phone should be used on personal breaks and at lunch. You never know when a volunteer opportunity may turn into something with pay.  Your integrity may be what turns your volunteer opportunity a job.

4. Reporting for Duty

Your first day of service should be memorable. Smiles of thanks and welcome generally come with the territory. If you find yourself in a busy placement that handles crisis like a hospital  don’t take it personal if you aren’t given a parking space, and company recognition during your first few days. Occupations that deal with life threatening situations or where productivity is clocked may not be able to handle much more than a brief introduction if people are engaged in their jobs. Your presence and service is appreciated as you will find out at on Volunteer Recognition Day.

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