US Youth Soccer Organization

US Youth Soccer offers children of all ages the opportunity to play soccer at varying levels. Their mission is to foster the physical, mental and emotional growth and development of America's youth through the sport of soccer at all levels of age and competition.

History:
In 1974, 3 men wrote the US Youth Soccer constitution, the first youth sport document of its kind, to create uniform rules and structure for youth soccer across the country. It was adopted by the US Soccer Federation later that year. Today, US Youth Soccer is the largest youth sports organization in the nation, boasting over 3.2 million players, plus 800,000 coaches and volunteers.

Age Levels:
Boys and girls ages 5 to 19 may participate.

Costs:
Annual fees for US Youth Soccer are $1.00 per player.

Activities:
US Youth Soccer provides players of all levels, abilities and desires the opportunity to play soccer. US Youth Soccer offers recreational programs for children who want to play for fun as well as competitive programs for children who want to play competitively. They also sponsor regional and national tournaments.

US Youth Soccer TOPSoccer:
The Outreach Program for Soccer is a program for physically and mentally handicapped children ages 4 to 19. Children are placed on teams according to their ability and local programs may modify the program to meet the specific needs of the children involved. TOPSoccer is a great opportunity for challenged children to play soccer.

Competitive Events:
US Youth Soccer National Championship Series: Each year top local teams move to state championships with winners advancing to regional and national competitions.

Kohl's American Cup: Statewide tournaments provide the opportunity for recreational players to participate in a larger event. The focus is on participation, rather than competition.

US Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program:
National teams of elite players are selected from each age group. The teams will receive top training and participate in international competition.

Find a US Youth Soccer League:
US Youth Soccer offers programs in all 50 states. To locate your state's organization, visit I Wanna Play Soccer on the US Youth Soccer Web site.

Why US Youth Soccer:
Pros:
Provides a consistent soccer experience for children across the country
Offers both recreational and competitive soccer
TOPSoccer gives challenged children the opportunity to play
Inexpensive to participate at the local level

Teams are just about everywhere and should be easy to find

Challenger soccer camps are character-builders

At dozens of youth soccer camps run this summer by Challenger Sports, players ages 4 to 17 will be coached by members of Challenger's British coaching staff and taught to spar against their peers in World Cup soccer scrimmages.

At the East Side Sports Complex in St. Charles one recent Wednesday, young soccer players were divided by country for their end-of-practice scrimmage. The teams represented Brazil and Nigeria.

Challenger's goal is to develop young athletes' soccer skills and their intercultural ones. At the end of the practice, players present posters illustrating the colors and facts about the country they represent.

During water breaks, coaches quizzed the children on geography and culture. The younger players were asked questions such as, "What three countries make up the United Kingdom?"

The children also create their own healthy sandwich based on a balanced diet with the help of Subway, one of Challenger's sponsors.

Finally, young athletes are taught the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Champions of Character core values: respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership and sportsmanship

Big injuries troubling more little athletes

A14-year-old gymnast with a stress fracture in her lower back. A 12-year-old who tore knee ligaments in a soccer game. A 16-year-old runner with a leg stress fracture. A 15-year-old who tore his meniscus playing basketball.

A single morning's patients for Harvard's Dr. Mininder Kocher provides a window into a troubling trend: Injuries once seen mostly in adult athletes are occurring in youth athletes down to Little League and Pee Wee Football.

These aren't simple injuries. In the past decade, "Tommy John" surgeries to repair elbows blown out playing baseball -- an operation named for a Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Tommy John -- have almost tripled among adolescents at a high-profile Alabama clinic.
Worse, some injuries don't have good treatments for young patients. The surgery that fixed the torn ligament in Tiger Woods' knee, for instance, can thwart the growth of a young child's leg.
Kocher, an orthopedic surgeon at Children's Hospital Boston, is beginning a government-funded study to figure out the best treatment for children who tear that anterior cruciate ligament while growth plates around the knee still are active.

But no matter how well certain injuries heal for now, Kocher worries about the long-term consequences.

Why the sudden influx? Orthopedic surgeons say that today's youth sports are more intense, with players often picking just one to specialize in as young as 8. And they can play and train in some sports year-round.

Pitching offers a prime example. The Andrews Sports Medicine & Orthopaedic Center in Birmingham, Ala. counts a fiveto six-fold increase in serious shoulder and elbow injuries in youth baseball and softball since 2000.

Prompted by such research, Little League Baseball last year limited how many pitches youngsters of different ages can throw before mandatory rest periods.

Then there's the notoriously painful torn ACL -- not an overuse injury but one that can happen to anyone who lands wrong while pivoting on a knee.

It was long thought a rarity in childhood. But among males, one in five torn ACLs occurs before age 18; the figure is 30 percent among females, Kocher says.

In 2006, McCall Maddox of Jacksboro, Texas, tore his ACL during Pee Wee Football at age 12. Three doctors refused to do surgery until he was 16 and had quit growing, ordering no running until then.

Why? Standard ACL repair involves drilling through the leg's growth plates, risking a stunting of any still-to-come growth.

McCall's mother, Roxanna, sought out Kocher in Boston, who repairs children's ACLs in a different way: Winding the new ligament around the shinbone instead of drilling.
McCall took a chance with the operation and, after six months of sometimes grueling physical therapy, he was back playing football and basketball and running track in seventh grade.
But, until doctors come up with the best solution, Kocher has some easy advice: Try old-fashioned play, like jumping rope, playing hopscotch, climbing trees. High school teams now are trained to avoid ACL tears with core-body conditioning and tips on bending knees for jumping -- things younger kids can learn on their own just by having fun.

"A lot of the stuff kids used to do in free play was ACL prevention," he says. "Now they don't get that, and they jump into high-level soccer."