Dustin Sturgis, age 11, of Springfield, Ore., for his question:
WHERE DID SOCCER ORIGINATE?
Soccer is a game that is enjoyed around the world today. Almost any number may take part in playground soccer, but the regulation game calls for 11 players on each team. When played as a team sport the game calls for block toed soccer shoes, long stockings, shin guards, shorts and jerseys, but when enjoyed on the playground any mode of dress will work.
Long ago the Greeks played a kicking game with an air filled ball called follis. From this came a game called foote balle which was played in England more than 800 years ago. The idea, as it is with today's game of soccer, was to kick a ball through the other team's goal.
The one rule that has been common to soccer since its earliest days in ancient Greece is that you have to kick the ball, not carry it. But in 1823 a student at Rugby College in England, anxious for his team to score, picked up the ball and ran with it. From this came the game we now call rugby football.
For a time the older form of the game was simply called the kicking game, to distinguish it from rugby. Then in 1863
the London Football Association drew up a new set of rules for the game that came to be known as association football. In time the word association was shortened to soccer.
Soccer was brought to North America by the English colonists. Many thought of it as a rowdy game played by mobs of men on village greens. In time it became popular in American and Canadian colleges. The first intercollegiate game was played between Princeton and Rutgers in 1869.
Today even though American style football draws bigger crowds, soccer continues to be played by many school and recreation teams. It is actually the most widely played football game in the world.
Most physical education leaders agree that soccer has fine body building values for both boys and girls. The game calls for good control of the body and the swiftness of the action is an excellent exercise for the body.
Rules keep soccer from being too rough. No one may hold, push, shove, kick, strike or trip any opponent. To get possession of the ball, a player may charge an opponent by nudging him shoulder to shoulder. When two players are rushing down the field after the ball, they must keep their hands and arms close to their sides. Only the goalkeeper may touch the ball. He may catch it on the fly but must at once kick, throw or bat it away from the goal area.