Soccer

Cindy Trames, Director of US footwear for Nike, says that replacing shoes and deciding whether they can be handed down to another child, depends on the child's growth rate and the amount of shoe wear.

Soccer was the only sport that actually grew in total participation during the 1990s, enjoying its greatest growth in high schools and community leagues according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA).

The April 22, 2003 death of a twelve-year old California boy after a heavy iron soccer goal at his San Jose middle school fell, striking his head and pinning him to the ground, was the second such death in a six month span.

Two 2003 studies suggest that heading in soccer may result in weaker mental performance, including a decline in cognitive function, difficulty in verbal learning, planning and maintaining attention and reduced information processing speed, but a critical review of the literature in 2010 by an expert panel of the American Academy of Pediatrics found no support for such a finding, and a 2012 study in the journal Neurosurgery concluded that it was "unlikely" that the subtle cognitive differences detected were sufficient to affect the daily lives of players.

A first-of-its-kind national study of youth soccer injuries recently found that soccer is a relatively safe sport, but that the frequency and type of injuries varied by gender, with boys injured more frequently than girls but suffering fewer ankle and knee injuries.

According to a study reported in the February 2007 issue of the American Journal of Sports Medicine, youth soccer players (ages 2 to 18) suffer around 120,000 injuries each year sufficiently serious to require a trip to a hospital emergency room. The total number of soccer-related injuries, including those treated outside of a hospital ER, is estimated to be nearly 500,000 per year.

Goalies suffer a disproportionate number of injuries compared to those playing other positions. The American Journal of Sports Medicine reported in 1995 that, even though goalies comprise only six percent of soccer players, they suffer nineteen percent of all soccer injuries. When a player collides with the post of a heavy, stationary goal post, the player absorbs all of the impact of the collision.

Teenage soccer players who wear protective headgear suffer nearly half as many concussions as those who play without helmets, according to a new study conducted by researchers at Canada's McGill University.

There are eleven players per side in soccer, a goalie and ten in the field playing a number of different basic positions (forward, midfield and defense) in a variety of different formations.

Goalie gloves are only worn by the goalie and have feather sticky synthetic palms which aid in the catching or deflecting of a soccer ball.