U.S. success may impact local programs

Spencer Patterson

Tuesday, June 18, 2002 | 9:25 a.m.

For the first time in more than 70 years, the United States has reached the World Cup's elite eight.

Whether that American success translates into increased interest in youth soccer remains to be seen, but area high school soccer coaches are hopeful it will.

"(Kids) get to see a situation where people are successful, especially from the United States, and that's important," Cimarron-Memorial coach Tom Hrdina said.

Agreed Silverado coach John Cwik: "It certainly doesn't hurt that the U.S. is doing so well. There are so many kids playing youth soccer. Maybe some of them will decide to stay with it through high school."

According to Chaparral coach Dan Schell, the United States' victory in the 1999 Women's World Cup translated into unprecedented interest in the girls' program at his school the following season.

"When the women won it, 88 girls at Chaparral tried out for soccer," Schell said. "Usually we have 30 or 40."

Hrdina experienced a similar phenomenon at Cimarron.

"When the women took off, we had a tremendous amount of girls start playing here -- almost twice as much female participation as male," Hrdina said.

Centennial coach Rick Kazee, however, isn't ready to predict the sport will finally take the United States by storm just yet.

"I've been hearing for 30 years that soccer is almost there," Kazee said. "Every four years, the interest picks up. It was going to happen in 1994, then the fiasco in (World Cup) 1998 didn't help. Then the women's success in '99 was supposed to do it, but it hasn't happened yet.

"It raises the profile, but we'll see whether the game is able to sustain it."

Whatever their take on soccer's future in this country, all the coaches agreed their prep players can only benefit by watching the world's top soccer stars in action.

"Every kid that picks up a basketball or a baseball knows what a high level basketball or baseball game is supposed to look like," Kazee said. "I think it's very helpful that the kids can watch these games. It's certainly something I recommend they do.

"I've talked to a couple of our players and parents, and I'm not the only one getting up in the middle of the night to watch these matches."

Likewise, Schell said some ofhis Chaparral players have been glued to their television sets these past two weeks.

"I've been in contact with several of my kids. They call me in the middle of the night to see if I saw a goal or a guy make a play," Schell said. "The excitement is definitely there."