Case in point. What benefited women's soccer, and women's sports in general, was the superb job that Nike did promoting women's soccer. The addition of other sponsors last summer had people in airport bars even watching the games. Soccer in the US peaks for kids at 12, after than 90 percent of them stop competing. Even though teen soccer is strong, most kids want to compete for their schools and do not go on in soccer.
Soccer is one half the size of track and fiel in high schools.
One of my track hound friends had some great suggestions for making track better-he said we should go to soccer conventions with a track booth and get the kids and coaches to see that track will help them in their soccer development. Thanks to all the track on TV this past year, on CBS, NBC and especially ESPn and ESPN2, more people are seeing our sport. This is good for all of us. Women's Javelin Trine Hattestad is one tough javelin thrower. She has also sure figured out how to throw the new women's javelin, and set a new world record this summer to prove it.