World in order: kids, soccer, great people and great places to play

I wrote a story last week that got a lot of people’s shorts in a twist … albeit for different reasons.

The piece was about some lesser elements of the human condition. Or maybe it was just about the imperfect nature of civic processes.

Either way, at some level it was just a story about soccer fields, about places where people gather to pass, trap and shoot and enjoy a great game.

Well, here’s another one about soccer fields … and this one is a much brighter read.

In 1993 (a time not so long ago in real terms but light years off in terms of our game’s development) I wrote a Dallas Morning News story about a small soccer field. Actually, it wasn’t a proper field; it was just an empty lot in a regular neighborhood just outside of town.

Long story short, the people who owned the land and the house next door, a fairly run-of-the-mill middle-class husband and wife, kept the grass tidy and allowed / encouraged local kids to play pickup games there. They even put up two small, permanent goals. It was quite close to their house, so everyone knew games there were more about touch, less about kick-and-run, which was more the order of the day in the 70s and 80s around here.

It was truly a little neighborhood treasure.

I was really proud of that story, not for the writing but just for what it meant. Because even back then I was developing a picture of a youth soccer system that looked out for the coaches and the clubs, but didn’t always make choices that best benefitted kiddoes. Here was youth soccer in the ideal: local kids chose sides and got on with it. Nothing more to it.

Well … I got a nice email a few days ago from a man who played there as a kid in the 70s or 80s. He wanted me to know that he and some others had gotten together to commemorate something special and to recognize these people, two people who reminded us that regular folks can have an extraordinary impact through seemingly ordinary deeds.

(click forward to see the original story, and to hear more about it ...)

"Many of us owe our soccer careers (college and more for some of us) to their generosity. We are gathering tomorrow around noon and placing the marker stone to commemorate part of our childhood."

I also remember around that time speaking to a coaching director of a recognized club, a wise man who played inGermany and had moved to the United States. He talked about the ideological among us who thought youth soccer would be best without adults, without reflexive, adult-type desire for structure and organization.  You know, this notion that soccer is best learned if kids just kick rags on the streets as they do in Brazil. He didn’t necessarily disagree in concept.

"But I don’t know what world these people live in," he said in a show of good German pragmatism. "That’s not where the world is today in the United States. Parents don’t just send their kids out on the streets to look for soccer games."

True dat.

The again, maybe if more people thought so selflessly as this couple in a Dallas suburb, maybe we’d have to revisit that one.

Here’s the story: 

Countless times during the last 19 years, potential buyers have approached Roger and Betty Ruch about acquiring the vacant lot that neighbors their shady suburban home.

The response is always the same: It's not for sale. It's for the kids.

"The Lot," as it has become known, is a neighborhood treasure.

Roger and Betty Ruch hold the deed, but The Lot belongs to the kids.

They play a little football at The Lot. But mostly, it's the neighborhood soccer park. The field itself is 40 yards by 35 yards of pampered, green grass with mini-goals at each end. Wooden fences and tall bushes protect the nearby windows.

It takes nine hours a day to move the sprinkler around to water every inch of The Lot, and the Ruches make sure a small hose is always on to cool the players and to let them drink.

Roger and Betty never had kids of their own, but they enjoy doing something for the kids of their neighborhood (the Ruches preferred not to divulge a more specific location).

"We just like to do it for the kids," Betty said. "They can come here and play, and work on their skills, and stay off the streets. And if they tell their parents, `We're going to be at The Lot,' their parents know where they are and know they will be safe."

Neither Roger nor Betty have a soccer background. When Roger bought the lot 19 years ago, he put up volleyball net for the local kids.

But he noticed that they usually moved the net out of the way and dodged the poles while playing soccer. So he removed the poles and put mini-goals, with nets, at each end. When the couple got tired of mending the mesh nets, Roger plunked down about $500 to

install permanent mini-goals.

Kids from kindergarten to college play games at The Lot. It is especially popular for the soccer players from a high school just down the block.

The Ruches let kids make their own rules. They ask only that the players keep the games small and keep the ball on the ground.

Mostly, it's four vs. four, which youth coaches will tell you is a wonderful training tool. Small-sided games let each player touch the ball a lot, and the small field puts a premium on tight control and crisp passing.

Other than that, Roger says the two never police disputes or lay down ground rules for who gets to play.

"They'll have to work things out for themselves for the rest of their lives," Roger said. "They may as well learn now."

Betty said she is especially pleased when she sees second generation Lot players, who have recently started coming around. She has also been touched when kids have collected money to buy a little something to express their thanks.

And, Betty is proud to say that some of the players who spent their evenings or summer days at The Lot have gone to college on scholarship. She hopes The Lot did its little part.