Photo Credit: Design Concepts
The Brazilian athlete Pelé popularized a nickname for soccer: “the beautiful game.”
As a landscape architect and life-long soccer player, these two worlds came together in 2016 when the U.S. Soccer Association standardized new field and team sizes for youth soccer. This means school and park districts will be modifying fields while program directors modify sports offerings to comply with these changes.
A New Horizon
I began playing soccer at four years old— though calling it “soccer” may be overly generous. Like in most leagues for four-year-olds, my team played “mob ball.” I played this version until I was old enough to join an 8v8 league.