Play is universal, and organized sports such as soccer are popular in many countries.

There are many benefits for youth participating in sports.

Sports can also serve as a tool for cross-cultural communication, even when there is no common language.

Today, many communities across the world—especially Western communities—tend to emphasize and privilege organized sport over free, unstructured play (Ergler et al., 2013). While there is high value in free play, I’d like to share an experience of how traveling with my daughter’s (American) soccer team to play soccer in two different countries—Germany and Switzerland—led me to also appreciate the value of universal structured games such as sports, both for adolescent development and for family bonding.

Research has demonstrated that families often make connections with one another over playing and watching sports (Williams et al., 2020). I would certainly say that has been true for my family, where we attend multiple practices and games each week for both of my children, and we also frequently travel to distance tournaments. This leads to a lot of hours spent together in the car and on the fields, and lots to talk about before and after. This past summer, my family traveled the farthest we have done yet to play and watch soccer—an eight-hour flight across the Atlantic!

In the United States, more than 14 million children over the age of 6 participate in soccer (as of 2023)........

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