5 ms·

When I was in school, we played soccer to get in shape for basketball season (we were too small to field a football team). People tried really hard to push soc

When I was in school, we played soccer to get in shape for basketball season (we were too small to field a football team). People tried really hard to push soccer, and we were actually better at soccer than basketball, but soccer just never had the same kind of excitement. You need too many people and too much space to actually play soccer, compared to a little bit of driveway and a ubiquitous hoop for basketball - you don't even need another person, you can spend hours blissfully shooting by yourself.

eftpotrm 8y ago
Three kids, one ball, not very much space. One goes in goal (if needs be a jumper or coat on each side), the other two compete to put the ball past them x times, then rotate the goalkeeper. Continue ad nauseam. Or go to a park and practice ball skills, solo. Ex-England captain Wayne Rooney was famous for having done that for hours at a time as a kid. I'm not actually a particular soccer fan and quite enjoy basketball, but it's definitely not true that soccer has higher kit, space or numbers requirements to get in a game as a kid.
- thesz 8y ago
  >Continue ad nauseam. This is what we did. A great way to spend summer when you are teen. As for practicing ball skills, the very nickname Pele was from the sound of the can Pele played instead of ball - his family was too poor to have soccer ball.
coupdejarnac 8y ago
Kids in other countries play soccer in tight spaces. This helps them develop ball control skills. And with a soccer ball, you can practice juggling, shooting, or doing moves by yourself. For me, shooting hoops by myself was always very dull.
GFischer 8y ago
Have you tried five-a-side soccer? Great sport! But it does need a special pitch for sure - much smaller than an 11-a-side field but still a hindrance. Over here (Uruguay) there's a whole cottage industry of five-a-side soccer fields, many workers play it after office hours. Edit: as a side comment said, poorer people usually cordon off a stretch of road and play there, that's also very very common (especially during the day when there's no much traffic). Two rocks (or logs, or bundles of clothes) can serve as goalposts.
pbhjpbhj 8y ago
I'm from UK - I spent hours practicing football by myself (spot kicks, volleying to myself, keepie-uppy, trying show-off skills like rainbow kicks). Many, many hours playing football with just a few friends at the park ("spot", "Wembley singles", "headers and volleys"). At high school we'd play football mostly with a tennis ball, but we'd kick around a drinks-can if there was no ball. I was only ever a mediocre player, mainly relying on speed - which also got me in just about every school team (small high-school, small market town). At Uni our team did come 2nd in the intra-University cup. Why did I do all that rather than basketball (a sport I've really enjoyed playing), pervading culture would probably be the main reason (which in turn means availability of fields/courts, etc.). After Uni I took up volleyball because that was the social sport played at my workplace; now I do karate because that's the sport my kids are doing. tl;dr You can play football without a football and with 1+ players.

eftpotrm 8y ago

Three kids, one ball, not very much space. One goes in goal (if needs be a jumper or coat on each side), the other two compete to put the ball past them x times, then rotate the goalkeeper. Continue ad nauseam. Or go to a park and practice ball skills, solo. Ex-England captain Wayne Rooney was famous for having done that for hours at a time as a kid. I'm not actually a particular soccer fan and quite enjoy basketball, but it's definitely not true that soccer has higher kit, space or numbers requirements to get in a game as a kid.

thesz 8y ago
>Continue ad nauseam. This is what we did. A great way to spend summer when you are teen. As for practicing ball skills, the very nickname Pele was from the sound of the can Pele played instead of ball - his family was too poor to have soccer ball.

coupdejarnac 8y ago

Kids in other countries play soccer in tight spaces. This helps them develop ball control skills. And with a soccer ball, you can practice juggling, shooting, or doing moves by yourself. For me, shooting hoops by myself was always very dull.

GFischer 8y ago

Have you tried five-a-side soccer? Great sport! But it does need a special pitch for sure - much smaller than an 11-a-side field but still a hindrance. Over here (Uruguay) there's a whole cottage industry of five-a-side soccer fields, many workers play it after office hours. Edit: as a side comment said, poorer people usually cordon off a stretch of road and play there, that's also very very common (especially during the day when there's no much traffic). Two rocks (or logs, or bundles of clothes) can serve as goalposts.

pbhjpbhj 8y ago

I'm from UK - I spent hours practicing football by myself (spot kicks, volleying to myself, keepie-uppy, trying show-off skills like rainbow kicks). Many, many hours playing football with just a few friends at the park ("spot", "Wembley singles", "headers and volleys"). At high school we'd play football mostly with a tennis ball, but we'd kick around a drinks-can if there was no ball. I was only ever a mediocre player, mainly relying on speed - which also got me in just about every school team (small high-school, small market town). At Uni our team did come 2nd in the intra-University cup. Why did I do all that rather than basketball (a sport I've really enjoyed playing), pervading culture would probably be the main reason (which in turn means availability of fields/courts, etc.). After Uni I took up volleyball because that was the social sport played at my workplace; now I do karate because that's the sport my kids are doing. tl;dr You can play football without a football and with 1+ players.