As you might know, I love to play sports. My favorite sports include basketball, taekwondo, and soccer. Today, I will be blogging about soccer, more specifically about how it came about, and how to play it.

If you want to learn about a soccer team, you can check out Tahir’s blog about his favorite soccer team Arsenal.

Soccer is played at all levels throughout the world from small kids leagues to professional and international teams. The most famous soccer tournament is the World Cup, which is a soccer competition among countries held every 4 years.

One of the reasons soccer is so popular is that it really only takes a ball and a flat open area to play. The game is also fun and competitive, and is a great form of exercise as there is lots of running for good distances. It is also a good test of dexterity and a great way to learn balance.

The Beginning

Soccer is a very popular sport nowadays, well it is in my opinion, considering that more than 240 million people around the world play soccer regularly according to the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). The game has evolved from the sport of kicking an animal hide ball around, into the World Cup sport it is today.

Records trace the history of soccer back to more than 2 000 years ago to ancient China. Greece, Rome, and parts of Central America also say that they created the sport. However, it was England that transitioned soccer, or football into the game we know today. The English are credited with creating the first stable rules for the sport, including forbidding tripping opponents and not touching the ball with hands.

As the sport developed, more rules were implemented and more historical landmarks were set. For example, the penalty kick was introduced in 1891. FIFA became a member of the International Football Association Board of Great Britain in 1913. Red and yellow cards were introduced during the 1970 World Cup finals. More recent major changes include goalkeepers being banned from handling back passes in 1992 and tackles from behind becoming red-card penalties in 1998.

Playing Soccer

Soccer, unlike some other sports, if not very complicated and learning to play it is pretty easy.

In soccer there are two teams of eleven players. The game is played on a large grass field with a goal at each end, and the object of the game is to get the soccer ball into the opposing team’s goal. The catch to soccer is that, with the exception of the goalie, players cannot touch the ball with their hands, they can only kick, knee, or head the ball to take it across the field or score a goal.

The following are 6 steps that can be taken to learn to play and excel at soccer.

1. Learn the basic rules of soccer and understand each position.
2. Focus on one skill at a time.
3. Improve your fitness.
4. Join a team.
5. Find someone to practice with.
6. Practice consistently

You can watch the following video to learn more about soccer.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today and stay tuned for upcoming blogs about my favorite sports. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post in the comments section. I also have a question for you, what is your favorite sport?