TRAVERSE CITY — Adam Gustafson is a soccer player, coach and fan. Naturally, he tuned into World Cup action the last month.
"I took a lot of beating when I was a young kid because everybody wanted to play football, baseball, basketball, and I always wanted to kick it," said Gustafson, of Traverse City.
But interest in this year's World Cup shows he's far from alone.
The Associated Press reported the tournament, long loved in other countries, is being watched in record numbers in the United States. U.S. ratings showed 14.86 million people viewed the country's overtime defeat to Ghana last month — the biggest TV audience for a men's World Cup game in the U.S. And when the State Theatre in Traverse City offered free tickets to watch that game on its big movie screen, nearly 600 people swarmed in. The event was so popular, spectators watched from the lobby. A couple kids wore their soccer uniforms, and everyone stayed until it was over.
"I think more people are watching it," Gustafson said. "I hear it all the time."
He's not so sure this growing soccer-fandom will last after today's World Cup final, which pits Netherlands against Spain at 2:30 p.m. on ABC. The World Cup occurs every four years.
"When this is over it is probably going to be put to the back shelf again," Gustafson said.
In Traverse City, kids can play soccer from a young age through organizations including Traverse Bay Area Youth Soccer, or TBAYS, and Grand Traverse Bay YMCA. TBAYS formed its first team in 1988. Now more than 900 kids participate from ages 4 to 18, and the group uses indoor and outdoor facilities. About 800 youth play in the YMCA soccer leagues, which run in spring and fall. Both programs also offer adult soccer.
Steve Gloshen began playing soccer as a kid. Now his children play, and he's the coach of North Storm 97. Time spent in Texas, where soccer tournaments were huge, as well as living in soccer-loving Argentina deepened Gloshen's love and understanding of the game. Other countries embrace soccer in a way that the U.S. has not yet done.
"It's ingrained in the culture. It is a way of life, and it is not here," he said. "It comes down to we have so many choices here ... we lose a lot of top-tier athletes to other sports."
"The world's sport is soccer — is football. The real football," Gloshen said.
The TBAYS-affiliated team he coaches is a premier team for boys, many of whom were born in 1997. He's tried to build the same sense of "festive fun" around soccer that he observed while overseas.
"If [the] World Cup's on, we got the World Cup shirts," he said. "We're out there living, breathing it ... reading articles."
His team has brightly colored World Cup T-shirts, and many of the players have watched most of the games. Dillon Drossart, 13, cheered for the United States and was sad when they lost in overtime. Still, he keeps up on the World Cup action.
"It's just like all the nations coming together and doing something at once," Dillon said.
Teammate Cameron Sipple's favorite team is Spain. The 13-year-old from Traverse City said Americans are "too accustomed to other sports," and that's one reason the World Cup doesn't mean as much here. Cameron said part of what makes the Cup so fun is the environment surrounding it, even the vuvuzelas. The horn blown by supporters in South Africa, this year's host, has become the soundtrack of the tournament.
At a recent team gathering, parents talked about amazing shots and the effort to jostle World Cup viewing around family schedules. The boys headed straight for the green soccer fields and started kicking balls. Over at the YMCA, World Cup games frequently are shown on the huge lobby TV.
"Of course, when the U.S. was in it, they were into it a little more," said YMCA Program Director Barb Beckett. "We keep it on. It's one of those things."
Gustafson has heard many excuses about why Americans don't watch soccer: It's boring, there's no scoring. He shakes off those complaints. The game is "so simple" and is played on the field, not by the coaches.
"If you gel on any given day you can beat just about anybody," he said. "(There's) not a lot of scoring, but as it builds it makes it that much more rewarding."
Gloshen said coaches are responsible for passing on a love for soccer. He created a juggling challenge for his players, who spent the winter practicing in garages. An upcoming beach soccer tournament at Traverse City's bayfront is another way to make the game fun. Argentina is one of his favorite teams to cheer for because of his connection to the country and the way they play the game.
"They have a passion for the game," he said. "It's a love for it in a way that they want to dance and sing about it all the time. It's a joy thing."
"That's the kind of culture you have to bring to these kids," Gloshen said.
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