Soccer Styles

I’ve always loved the summer because the long days provide ample time for people to engage in physical activity. The Cream City does a wonderful job of providing residents with plenty of parks to play a variety of sports and other physical activities. Recently, I’ve taken to playing soccer with a group of guys from Zimbabwe. They’re all great soccer players and share a similar love for the game of soccer. Although it had been awhile since I kicked the old round ball around, I’m really enjoying getting back into soccer shape. I’m starting to get my touch back and I’m looking forward to learning how to play with a little bit of “Zimbabwe flair” to my game.

As I’m writing this post, it’s starting to dawn on me that I’ve played with a wide variety of soccer personalities. I developed my early soccer skills at the Roc, where soccer was king. The principle style of play back then was based on the European leagues, so we played a slow and methodical game of possession soccer. Coaches encouraged “vanilla play”, limited fancy footwork and limited one-on-ones. This style of play worked because my classic level teams won several Georgia state titles and we represented the State of Georgia in several southern regional tournaments.

I principally played this style of soccer until I got to law school, where I started playing with guys from Peru. The Peru style was a faster pace, a lot more literal movement. It was definitely a more athletic style as balls were played to space as opposed to feet. I really enjoyed this style because it played to my athletic skills, but I never really got over the language barrier because they only spoke Spanish.

After law school, I moved to Carpet Capital, which had a 40% Hispanic population, with most people coming from Mexico, so I was able to play in a Mexican style of soccer. This style of was definitely filled with flair, as most people had a “chocolate style”, meaning there was lots of fancy footwork and guys taking each other one-on-one. This was probably the most exciting to watch, as guys were figuratively getting their ankles broke every game. The only unfortunate part was that I never really got over the language barrier.

As I stated above, now I’m in the Cream City and I’m currently playing with guys from Zimbabwe. I haven’t played with them enough to determine their style, but I’m looking forward to learning it and hopefully adding a touch of it into my soccer game.