Soccer is often characterized as the “players’ game,” as its structure emphasizes continuous and sinuous flow with minimal stoppages. Within this game environment, the coach has little opportunity to manage the action. Hence, it is the players’ responsibility to creatively solve their own problems as peers and to do so collectively as a team, all the while under intense competitive pressure and during the swift pace of play. It is often said that the coach’s work comes in training and practice, where-as the game is the players’ time.

When youth soccer operates according to this philosophy, the playful experience of collectively solving problems within a non-hierarchical team format can be an experiential training ground for becoming productive and responsible citizens of a democratic nation. This is in counterpoint to other youth experiences where frequent referral to micro-managing adult supervisors instills a lingering pattern of expectation that problems will be solved by a hierarchical authority figure.

The Do the Math Initiative will use the increasing popularity of youth soccer (number of registered youth soccer players growing each year) and the game structure and philosophy of soccer as a portal to attract youth to receive collateral training in the Ford Institute Leadership Program, with training conducted by Rural Development Initiatives. Emulation of the Dutch-originated and Spain-celebrated “Total Futbol” will enhance the development of leadership within each player, vs. a more common hierarchical, charismatic style of leadership. This Total-Futbol “everyone is a leader’ training and experience will further embed behavior patterns conducive to healthy democracies.

From its close affiliation with soccer, this Initiative will bring to the Ford Institute Leadership Program a drive to include “diversity training and/or cultural competency” in its training curriculum. This is based in the fact that soccer is a global sport and, by definition, is diverse. This will help prepare our children for the increasingly diverse world as the population demographic numbers continue to change—hence, just “do the math” to determine if this Initiative has value.

Building upon the capacity of soccer to attract and focus the attention of our youth, the Do the Math Initiative will also offer soccer-based math curricula. This will use soccer experiences and formats to portray and explain math principles and problems. Further, this Initiative will look to develop soccer video games that provide virtual training on leadership, diversity, mathematics and problem solving.

This Initiative could also explore the potential of developing a public/private partnership between youth soccer and K-12 schools for soccer participation to serve as a component of a young student’s Physical Education requirement.