More Than a Game
Michael Turner has vast experience playing at the amateur level of the World's most poplar sport and when asked what his first memory of playing soccer was, Dr. Turner immediately visualized himself as a young lad in his back garden in England.
"I remember we used to do it most days in the summer of course and we broke a fence", said Turner, a British History Professor at Appalachian State University.
Turner has spent most of life in Great Britain and has played football between the ages of 8 and 18. He then took a break when he went to university and started playing again once he had finished his doctorate at Oxford University. Turner played in many adult amateur teams in the United Kingdom and even made it to the very early stages of England's most fabled cup competition.
"We even made it one time to the very beginning of the FA Cup", said Turner.
Having played at the adult amateur level in Yorkshire and Tyneside, Turner found himself moving to the United States in 2008 to teach British History at Appalachian State University. He carried on playing the sport he loved so dearly at recreation level in the Boone Adult League.
"Actually the first season I played for the Boone Over-40's Team, we were runners-up in the State Cup and we went to play down in Asheville", said Turner.
The life-long Queen's Park Rangers fan feels that his experiences in English Sunday League Football and the Boone Adult League were very similar in skill level.
"The best players in Sunday League and the best players in American amateur soccer are the same; they are just as good", said Turner.
Jody Young is the director of the Adult Recreation Leagues for High Country Soccer Association. He has organized the league sponsorship and format since he took on the position in 2014. His view of players in adult amateur soccer is similar to that of Michael Turner in that he believes they remain competitive even though they do not have the skill level of professional players.
"If anything it means bragging rights; a lot of these guys know each other in this small community and they don't want to lose to their buddies they've been playing with for years", said Young, a former collegiate player at Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois.
"We are trying to make it as professional as possible as far as running the league", said Young.
The competition is high and it just goes to show how professional soccer is no different to amateur level soccer in that players of all levels have the desire to win; to conquer. It's almost human nature to be able to dominate something that is presenting a challenge towards us.
Brett Ellison knows the competitive nature of the High Country adult leagues all to well. Having played in the leagues for the past few years, as well as amateur leagues in Holland, Ellison feels that the competitive nature of amateur leagues all over the world adds to the fun of playing in them.
"Although the playing style in Holland is more technical and slower than in the American leagues, I think that the guys in Boone try to play with their all and make a game of every match", said Ellison, a former goalkeeper in the Dutch amateur leagues.
The differences between America's adult soccer leagues and amateur leagues in England are starting to become far and few between. The American leagues' popularity, skill level and competitiveness are starting to edge closer to the Sunday leagues in Britain. Although many Sunday League players will argue that England is a better footballing country and that Americans aren't good at football, they may be surprised that Americans can match them toe to toe at the amateur level.
The United States is finally catching on to the soccer craze that the World fell in love with nearly a century ago. This increase in popularity and interest into the global game could be the start of the United States' soccer programs gaining worldwide recognition.
