NEVADA: HOME OF GREAT SOCCER

By Eduardo P. Miranda, President, Desert Valley Youth Soccer League

It is great to live in Nevada and be part of our soccer community. The past five years have shown the emergence of high-quality competition and players including our own Hercules Gomez, the U.S. National Team player who represented us well in the 2010 World Cup.

With this growth and community involvement comes a high demand on Nevada resources such as fields, coaches, and the need for greater accommodations from our leagues to support the influx of soccer players and to improve the level of competition.

Las Vegas is the 28th-largest metropolitan area in the United States; Nevada has about 2.6 million in population. A straight-line projection based on population (Nevada/USA) would estimate about 1 percent of the high-ranking teams should reside in our Silver State.

Yet, as the age group chart below illustrates, Nevada is home to an extraordinary seven teams with top-10 national rankings, and 54 teams ranked among country’s the top 200. In short, Nevada hosts 9 percent of the top-10 teams and 3.5 percent of the top 200 expected high-ranking teams throughout the United States.

The U14 division of the 2010 Mayor’s Cup was one of the highest-ranking soccer tournaments in the nation — and more than half of the teams were local teams. The U13 group actually attracted even more high-ranked teams. Yes! It is a very exciting time to see Nevada grow and advance in obtaining an important place in our country’s soccer community.

For you the reader — parents, coaches, referees, administrators, soccer fanatics and players — I would like to encourage you to continue putting forth the time and effort to become an asset to the sport, continue experiencing how this beautiful game grows within you and get involved! Love it, and you will continue to enjoy every minute of it. Respect it, and you will find the values and the character that will make you a better person — a soccer giant!

Age Group	Top 200	Top 100	Top 50	Top 10	Top Ranking	Total Population
U19	7	5	3	2	2, 9
U18	7	4	3	0	13,15
U17	6	3	2	0	21,46
U16	8	7	4	1	9,17
U15	8	4	4	1	10,19
U14	7	3	3	2	1,4
U13	6	6	2	0	31,46
U12	5	3	3	1	6,16
Total	54	35	24	7
Line Projection %	1%	1%	1%	1%	NV	2,600,000
Accomplished	3.5%	4.5%	6%	9%	USA	307,000,000
Data from GotSoccer Nov. 2010 | * Items in red shows Nevada’s ranking