Introduction-Dear+Reader

Dear Reader, When I first heard that I could pick any topic for this project, I knew it would be soccer. The sport of soccer is the world's most popular sport and is being played by over 250 million players in over 200 countries around the world. However, in the United States, soccer is one of the less popular sports played in out country. Soccer is the fifth most popular sport in the United States behind other sports such as American football, baseball, basketball, and hockey. This project will show the love of soccer throughout the world and will try to increase the sports popularity in the United States. It will also show the history of soccer and how it became the sport we know today along with future soccer events such as the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. I learned most of my information about soccer through playing the game for basically all my life. I play for many teams and through my experience as a player, I have been able to learn new things such as the different rules of soccer and how to succeed as a player. Soccer is my favorite sport, which is another reason why I want soccer to become more popular in the United States. I do not consider myself an expert on soccer, which is why I want to know more about the sport. When finding information to use, some of it I already knew while other information I got from the internet. Before I used a source, I made sure that the source was credible, so that my information would be correct. The repented I decided to use took me longer than i expected to find. I originally decided to use a soccer ball, but then decided to use the quote, "For the Good of the Game" because it is the FIFA motto. I only realized it was the FIFA motto when I was looking for the FIFA logo to put into my poster. I was going to use a soccer ball because I am a visual learner and soccer is the topic of my porject. I wasn't sure if I should use the quote, but I knew it would be better than the soccer ball. When writing my project, I kept thinking of different ways I could show how great soccer is to both the boys and girls of America because soccer is a sport for both genders. Other sports like basketball and hockey are also for both genders unlike American football, which is only for boys. Most boys only play American football because their parents force them in some way to play. Not many parents do that for soccer, which is why I wrote this in a way that both adults and kids can understand. When I was looking through genres to use in my project, I decided to use some that helped adults understand soccer better and some that helped kids understand soccer better. I think that soccer isn't popular in the United States because many kids get bullied for playing soccer. Kids who play sports like football and lacrosse are the kids who mostly bully kids that play soccer. I know this from previous events in my life when kids have bullied me for playing soccer. Some kids have said, “Why don't you man up and play a real sport?” while others have said, “Take a hit... this isn't soccer anymore.” Some coaches have even said that to me when I play other sports. If it has happened to me and people I know, than I know that it has happened to other kids across the United States. Bullying has become a big deal around the United States, so if I can increase the popularity of soccer, maybe bullying will also slightly decrease. As you read through this project, try to see through the eyes of a child who has been bullied, but love the sport of soccer and can never give it up. They have such a great passion for soccer that if they give it up, the pain will be even worse than the bullying they have to endure. Soon enough though, when the child gets older, their talents of soccer get realized by their peers and life doesn't seem so bad after all for them. All they had to do was go through some tough times, but in the end it was worth it. They got to keep on playing soccer, the thing they love most in their life.

Sincerely, Nick Ranieri