History of Soccer (credit goo.gl/TfjTzI)
The history of soccer can be traced back to more than 2,000 years ago in ancient China. Greece, Rome, and parts of Central America also claim to have started the sport; but it was England that transitioned soccer, or what the British and many other people around the world call “football,” into the game we know today. The English are credited with recording the first uniform rules for the sport, including forbidding the tripping of opponents and of touching the ball with one’s hands.
Soccer is not the most popular sports in the United States but it is growing by the minute. Soccer in Tucson, Arizona has been ever evolving, with clubs all-over the Tucson area. There is a new club formed called “F.C. Cardinals”, started by Jorge Linares, the commissioner of all the teams in that club. When he started in September of 2015, he had only two teams and has slowly grown the organization to eight teams.
Introduction to F.C. Cardinals
There’s a new change in the Tucson soccer scene. In September of 2015, a new bird was hatched, born out necessity for change, born with a vision, born with a passion, born for the betterment of youth with a community in mind, born with a whole state in its name.
F.C. Cardinals came to fruition when Jorge Linares was volunteered to coach a team without his acknowledgement by his wife Brittany at AYSO. He came across problems with that club, so he changed organizations. But club after club he experienced several of the same issues so he decided to start his own soccer club.
At first, his club would wear uniforms of more well known soccer teams: F.C. Barcelona, Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, America, or Chivas just to name a few. He also acquired uniforms from teams in Germany and Brazil. But most opponents he faced had the same exact uniforms, so one day he came up with a idea to crossover between two different sports for the uniform and he created the F.C. Cardinals in September of 2015. The Uniforms were custom made and bought for each player in his club. The designs are meant to look like the Arizona Cardinals football team but in a soccer style uniform. He has been a huge Arizona Cardinals fan for many years and a season ticket holder for 21 years.
People commented that the uniforms in question were “not traditional.” Some loved them, some hated them, and some just didn’t understand them but Jorge always answered, “I don’t want to follow what everyone is doing I want to start something new, there will be obstacles, there will be doubters, there will be mistakes, but with hard work and dedication there will be no limits”.
The F.C. Cardinals run under the Southern Arizona Soccer Club (SASC). The main focus for the SASC F.C. Cardinals is the recreational, developmental, and advancement of soccer for all youth. Not only do players learn valuable skills and experience about soccer, they learn to become better people on and off of the field. They stress the importance of family, school, and doing everything in life to the best of one’s ability. The SASC F.C. Cardinals want their kids to perform to the best of their abilities, but expecting every kid to be a pro is not the right mindset. So at the end of the day the kids and parents should know it’s just a game, that there are bigger and better things.
Stats: (credit goo.gl/dQyE4N)
Soccer for Men: 412,351 boys play high school soccer in the US
1 in 11 high school players will play in college
1 in 5,355 high school players will be drafted to the MLS
1 in 447 college players will be drafted in the MLS
Soccer for Women: 373,391 girls play high school soccer in the US
1 in 10 high school players will play in college
1 in 10,316 high school players will be drafted to the NWSL}
Part of the success of the SASC F.C. Cardinals is that the club is not afraid to travel or play higher accomplished clubs. F.C. Cardinals have gone out of state for friendlies. Parents and kids have been the reason that they can travel for friendlies and tournaments in Colorado, California, Texas, and New Mexico. They have also been invited to international tournaments in Mexico and England. Traveling can be expensive and tiring to anyone but the SASC F.C Cardinals have a method to make it cost efficient for parents in essence enabling travel to happen more often than not.
The club has only been around since September of last year so they are not officially a club yet. They are independent but working with the huge help of the Southern Arizona Soccer Club (SASC). SASC is an official soccer club that was formed in 2012.
Achievements:
U8 Boys coached by Luis Linares: Copa 56 Champions, Fort Lowell Shootout Champions in U8 category.
U11 Boys coached by Carlos Madrigal: 3rd place in Fort Lowell Shootout in U11 category.
U8 Team coached by Mario Reyes: 3rd place in Fort Lowell Shootout (formed three weeks before the start of the tournament).
U10 Girls coached by Jorge Linares: Championship in Jacobs, Championship in U12 division for the Old Pueblo Invitational, Championship in Ostrich San Tan Tournament, USA U11 championship. Invited to play a regional in Grand Junction, Colorado called The Battle of the Borders tournament. The results yet to be determine (from there they can go to Dallas, TX and also get an invite to play in London, England)
Jorge has done all this without recruiting players. Most of the players that have played under him and his coaching staff have never played soccer before and volunteered themselves to play in the club. Also, kids have been referred by friends to play in the club itself or in a tournament. Out of all the kids that have joined, about 60% had no experience in soccer.
The club is free to join. There is no coaching fee, no monthly fee, no park fee. The only charge is for the uniforms and depending on their level of play maybe a league charge. Many clubs around Tucson only seek for more advanced and experienced players for their clubs. In SASC F.C. Cardinals they take every child, no matter their skill level. Their main goal is to better your child’s skill level no matter where they are at.
There is one big problem Jorge wants to fix in Tucson, that affects all youth sports. There are simply not enough parks in the metro area. goo.gl/kkr9HI
“Phoenix has 26 acres of park for every 1000 residents. Tucson has 6 acres for every one thousand. It sounds like Phoenix is more park committed than Tucson. Here’s another note. Inside Phoenix’s city limits, 12.2% of the land is parkland. In Tucson, it’s only 2.5%.”
This issue is one that Jorge wants to address and make a change not only for soccer but all youth sports. More parks are needed in the Tucson metro area.
Changes can come in the smallest and simplest matter. The future definitely looks good.
Facebook pages for F.C. Cardinals and Southern Arizona Soccer Club
https://www.facebook.com/groups/226552324353574/
Photo Credit: Jorge Linares
