An interesting Wall Street Journal article conducted interviews among some of the best NFL players including Odell Beckham Jr., Andrew Luck, and Ndamukong Suh, all who had played soccer competitively as children. They asked them to comment about how a background in soccer has had a positive impact on their NFL careers. The players all agree that soccer helped them tremendously with their conditioning, as well as their on field vision.
For many people, they physically outgrow the ability to continue playing soccer. Suh who is 6'4" and 305 pounds is much more suited for the NFL than he would be for soccer.
More of a fun article to read, so leave comments on what you think of the article.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-soccer-is-reshaping-the-nfl-1419279188
I definitely agree with what this article is saying. Playing soccer is incredible for building up your conditioning and stamina, as well as improving your footwork and field vision like no other. I definitely think that playing soccer from a young age and through adolescence or college can and will help athletes in other sports improve their game.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this article also. In my opinion, all the sports are quite related. Having experience in one sport will definitely help the player in playing in another sport. Furthermore, soccer and american football are quite related. They both require the players to have good conditioning, field vision and teamwork. Without any protection and equipment requirement, soccer is also a quite good beginning sport for children.
ReplyDeleteI think the sports are related and I can see where conditioning can help, but overall body type is different for each. If you are a 6'4 305 pound man it is going to be harder for you to run up the field and score a goal than a 5'9 160 pound guy. Playing from personal experience on a soccer team, we had two goalies and one was shorter and able to run faster and move at a quicker pace than the taller girl.
ReplyDeleteRight and that is a very valid point. I also think a lot of it comes down to these players just having a freak amount of natural ability, and you see guys like Carl Crawford who had Division 1 offers in four different sports coming out of high school. Do you think soccer is the best sport to have some playing experience in as a child, or do you think other sports have begun to fill that role?
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