From minivans to SUVs to the sidelines: “Soccer moms” are real and an important part of the sport in the U.S.

It’s a term most Americans are familiar with, but it’s a role that doesn’t really exist in other countries where soccer is called football. We’re going to look at where the term “soccer mom” comes from and my first hand experience with some of Ohio’s best soccer moms.

We all have an image of a soccer mom in our head that probably varies depending on our experiences with the game and our contact with coaches, parents and all those involved in soccer in the U.S. The term goes back to 1982 and a group called the “Soccer Moms booster club” in Massachusetts. If you don’t know much about soccer and have never been involved in the game, your only reference might be the 2012 movie ‘Playing for Keeps’ with Gerard Butler surrounded by “soccer moms” Jessica Biel, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Uma Thurman.

Butler’s character, a retired professional soccer player, moves to the U.S. and ends up coaching his sons’ soccer team. We meet several “soccer moms” throughout the movie who fit some of the typical stereotypes such as lonely upper-middle class women driving minivans/SUVs/convertibles who are trying to get to know the coach better. That interest in the coach could be because their CEO husband is never home and they’re looking for some attention or they want their son/daughter to get some more playing time, or both.

Some of the soccer mom stereotypes are unfair, because deep down, what all soccer moms are want are the best for their kids and to have a good time while watching practice and games. Some are pretty intense, but have you ever observed a “baseball dad?”

Sometimes truth is crazier than fiction

My personal experience with soccer moms is not too far off. I’m not a retired European soccer player, but I did spend a summer in the U.S. with my kids and took my oldest son to soccer camp every day for two weeks in Ohio.

I was the only father who had drop-off and pick-up duties and was quickly introduced to real life soccer moms. At the first session of soccer camp, parents were asked to participate in the after-practice talk with the coaches. The coaching staff was made up of English and American soccer instructors. Some were tall, some were short, some were young and some were older, but they were a good-looking group of coaches.

They asked the young soccer players (approximately 8 to 12 years old) to go home and find out who was the first American to score a hat trick in the World Cup and be ready to answer the question the next day. After some post-practice ice-cream and a 30-minute drive home, Tommy and I looked up on the internet who this legend was. Google said it was Bert Patenaude. Never heard of him. Not an easy name to remember either, so I wrote the name down on a piece of paper and left it near my wallet ready to take to soccer camp the next day.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when Tommy and I got to the picnic tables near the soccer fields the next day. We saw the name Bert Patenaude all over the place. It was on cakes, it was on brownies, it was on balloons and it was on several posters.

Did I miss the instructions? Was I not paying attention? Nope. I just wasn’t as interested in impressing the coaches as the soccer moms were. I looked at Tommy, he looked at me and I said, “sorry man, but mom’s back in Spain and I’m not going to be able to bake cookies with the answer to the daily soccer trivia question every day.” At 10 years old, he already knew I wouldn’t be up for the task, so we just skipped the daily soccer trivia question.

I never really got to know the coaches or the soccer moms, I just did a lot of observing from afar. I came to the conclusion that stereotypes are just that and not all moms who take their kids to soccer practice fall into those preconceived categories, but some do, and that’s OK.

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