Family gets kick out of soccer

We've joined the ranks of soccer moms and dads, those hearty souls who haul their children to Shawnee Park every week for the sport of it.

Our first grader, Bailey, started playing on a soccer team three weeks ago.

I was amazed at the crowd of parents, kids, dogs and cars that frequent the Cape Girardeau park on Saturdays.

Half of Cape Girardeau's population seems to crowd into the park on weekends for Cape Area Youth Soccer Association games. The park sits somewhat off the beaten track so those Cape Girardeau families who have avoided soccer are clueless about the whole endeavor.

I must confess I knew little about soccer before Bailey signed up for the sport. Oh, I knew about the World Cup. It's a big deal for most of the world's nations. But I admit I wasn't excited about watching a game where there was more excitement in the stands than on the field.

But I've got a whole new appreciation of soccer thanks to CAYSA.

You can tell the moms who are experienced with this soccer culture. They show up at the games with fold-up chairs-in-a-bag which they promptly set up along the sidelines so they can get a good look at the game. It's a social occasion for many parents who come armed with snacks, water bottles and younger children in tow.

Dogs are welcome too, just as long as they don't made a mad rush into the middle of a game.

Bailey is on a team of first- and second-grade girls called the Lancers.

There's nothing like watching kids kick a soccer ball to make you appreciate the value of shin guards.

History shows man always has gotten a kick out of the sport.

Historians have linked the game to fertility rites in ancient Egypt.

The ancient Chinese played a soccer-like game with balls made of animal skins.

The Eskimos played soccer on ice. Balls were stuffed with grass, caribou hair and moss. One legend talks of two villages playing against each other with goals 10 miles apart.

Pacific Islanders used coconuts, oranges and pig bladders as soccer balls.

The English have always taken their soccer seriously. One village reportedly defeated a Roman team and literally ran them out of town in 217 A.D. By the 12th century, the game had become a mob sport with no rules. Formal rules of the game weren't adopted in England until 1863.

In the early 1600s, the American Indians played a game called pasuckuakohowog, meaning "they gather to play ball with the foot." Thankfully we have renamed it soccer because pasuckuakohowog would be hard to get on a children's shirt, much less pronounce.

Of course, the American Indians had plenty of room for their sport. Beaches, a half mile wide with goals a mile apart, served as playing fields for as many as 1,000 participants at a time. Games were rough and often resulted in broken bones.

Games often carried over from one day to the next with a celebratory feast following the end of the match. Today's soccer snacks rest on a solid foundation of history.

There's a lot to be said for the sport.

Officially, scoring is the name of the game. But in reality, as parents know, it's more about getting a kick out of life.

That's a goal worth keeping.

Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.