Kids get their kicks with soccer

The United States is not totally out of sync with the rest of the world.

Nationwide, soccer is now the most popular sport for boys and girls. We've still got a way to go before football-the kind everybody else plays-is pursued with the same fanaticism that it is in Europe and South America. In the U.S., soccer at least is making progress.

Calabasas, Agoura Hills, Westlake Village and Thousand Oaks are just a few of the many soccer hotbeds across the country, mostly due to the success of the American Youth Soccer Organization, or AYSO, which was founded in Los Angeles back in the '60s and now boasts hundreds of thousands of players coast to coast. Teams will be back on the field this fall, and the players are so numerous and colorful in their blue, green and yellow jerseys that you can't miss them.

High school soccer and club soccer are also growing, but once the top-tier athletes realize they can achieve more fame and make more money in other sports, they often choose to ignore the world's most popular sport. It is why two teams from soccer-crazy Europe are playing in this Saturday's World Cup final, and not the U.S.A.

Despite the shortcomings of the U.S. soccer program, we've still managed to make our mark locally. Eric Wynalda, who grew up playing youth soccer in Westlake Village, went on to become the all-time leading scorer for the U.S. National Team. UCLA-bound Chance Myers of Thousand Oaks is considered another up-and-coming star in America, and who knows how many future phenoms are just beginning to play the sport in our elementary schools.

Soccer isn't popular just because of the World Cup. True, the fervor is high as this weekend's championship game in Germany approaches, but think of it in other terms. Soccer has developed broad-based appeal because boys and girls of all ages and all skill levels can compete. Games and practices are easy to stage and the action is simple to follow.

Kids love soccer even if adults don't.