--- title: World Cup: In Defense of Soccer Moms description: After a World Cup victory, it’s time to rehabilitate an abused phrase canonical: https://time.com/3950190/soccer-mom-support/ author: City Journal article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-08T20:42:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:57:10.548Z article:section: Ideas og:title: In Defense of Soccer Moms og:description: After a World Cup victory, it’s time to rehabilitate an abused phrase og:url: https://time.com/3950190/soccer-mom-support/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaaff75e7623bb10e/69885a210a4a22e5079c511f/mom-son-rear-view-soccer.jpg?branch=production&width=358&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 358 og:image:height: 201 og:image:alt: mom-son-rear-view-soccer og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: In Defense of Soccer Moms twitter:description: After a World Cup victory, it’s time to rehabilitate an abused phrase twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaaff75e7623bb10e/69885a210a4a22e5079c511f/mom-son-rear-view-soccer.jpg?branch=production&width=358&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # In Defense of Soccer Moms > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=01616db0-ad39-4df7-acf6-4e8b379a4bbb&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Top Women Soccer Player to Watch [Watch (HLS stream): Top Women Soccer Player to Watch](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/q5gUX9ht.m3u8) (2:21)  _Published 2015-06-05. The women's FIFA World Cup begines June 6th, check out five players you need to keep an eye on._ by [Steven Malanga / City Journal](https://time.com/author/city-journal/) ## Steven Malanga / City Journal Jul 8, 2015 8:42 PM UTC  Mother and Son Walking Home After Soccer Game Mother and Son Walking Home After Soccer Game Getty Images by [Steven Malanga / City Journal](https://time.com/author/city-journal/) ## Steven Malanga / City Journal Jul 8, 2015 8:42 PM UTC The inspiring march of the U.S. Women’s National Team to the World Cup championship has elicited a fair amount of cultural commentary. Advocates of Title IX—the 1972 law requiring equal treatment of female athletes—[claim](http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/cctnews-soccer-and-the-uswnt-should-credit-title-ix-20150609-column.html) that it set the U.S. apart from other countries by creating a competitive intercollegiate training ground for our best female players. To the global inequality crowd, first-world countries like the U.S. dominate women’s soccer because we pour enormous financial resources into player development. For others, it’s [gender equality](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/07/06/how-to-win-the-womens-world-cup/)—the more your country has, the better—that generates victories on the field. But as we look to understand why America’s women are so good at this game, it’s time to rehabilitate a phrase that has been overused, abused, and largely fallen out of productive use: soccer mom. As the players on the U.S. team themselves have told us, mom—and dad, and family in general—had an awful lot to do with their success. The term “soccer mom” [became popular in the 1990s](http://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/20/weekinreview/what-s-a-soccer-mom-anyway.html) as a way to describe a certain voting bloc. The _Washington Post_ described President Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign as targeting “the overburdened middle income working mother who ferries her kids from soccer practice to scouts to school.” Over time, however, the phrase became loaded with baggage. An online search now brings up expressions synonymous with soccer mom, but hardly laudatory, including “helicopter parent,” “stage mother,” and even “angry white male.” Not surprisingly, we heard little about soccer moms during the U.S. team’s procession to the championship. On the other hand, listen to the team members themselves. They’ve explained that what we admire most about them—their tenacity, toughness, commitment to winning—came from their families in general, and their moms in particular. On a Mother’s Day video made by team members, Christen Press [told her mom](http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2015/05/09/17/09/150509-wnt-wishes-moms-happy-mothers-day), “thanks for always pushing me,” and then added with a twinkle in her eye, “and never letting me take a day off.” In [a video profile](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOxmP6PkWYk), Meghan Klingenberg talked about how her parents, after working all day, played in the backyard with her and her siblings “until the sun went down.” She also described a match when she was very young, in which she got kicked by an opposing player and fell to the ground in pain—about to start crying—until she heard her mother cry out, “Get up. You’re fine.” Those of us who have sat on the sidelines of youth soccer know exactly what Klingenberg is describing. None of this is particular to soccer. Our best athletes—Olympic skaters, tennis champions, World Series MVPs, Super Bowl winners—often testify to the influence their families had on their careers. But the father who strings a batting cage in his backyard for his son is never derided as a “Little League dad.” Why, then, have soccer moms come in for such ridicule? Some of it derives from anti-suburban biases—what David Brooks describes as a steady “parade” of clichés about suburban life cooked up by cultural observers who abhor everything from suburbia’s supposed conformity to the carbon footprint of those who live there. Soccer moms, after all, drive gas-guzzling mini-vans and SUVs—the better to ferry kids about—rather than eco-friendly hybrids. Sometimes they inhabit homes with backyards—the better to erect that practice soccer goal—and contribute to sprawl. Sometimes they even put their own careers on hold to raise their future world champions. Nothing to admire there. There are larger biases at work, too. The players can tell us what the support of their moms and families means to them, but according to the commentariat, only larger forces can explain America’s victory. In other words, your mom (and dad) didn’t help build this championship team, the government did. And so Title IX has become the most common, easy-to-describe reason why America has prevailed, as if all those coaches in college programs could take kids without much of a foundation in the game, kids who didn’t already have training and commitment, and turn them into world-class athletes in four short years. Though the phrase “soccer mom” may have been used as a description of a political bloc, it’s a mistake to assume that soccer in America is largely a white suburban sport. Some 1.3 million people watched the World Cup final on Telemundo, the Spanish language network that broadcasts in America. And the composition of the men’s national team that’s now taking the field for the Gold Cup reflects the strength of the game in America’s immigrant communities. Of course, the U.S. men have yet to win a World Cup. Are soccer moms neglecting the boys? Hardly. It’s just that men’s soccer in much of the rest of the world is already an enormously rich and dominating enterprise, where the best professional teams can invest significant resources to create developmental programs for younger players—training that our men’s collegiate programs haven’t been able to match. Soccer moms and dads can offer support and commitment and teach children the right values to succeed, but the expertise has to come from somewhere. America is still catching up to the best of the men’s game around the world in that regard. Throughout this women’s championship run, we’ve heard a lot about how the players were inspired by the 1999 World Cup winning squad. Now, this 2015 team will inspire a new generation of girls to become world class. But kids rarely have the resources to reach such lofty goals on their own. That’s why the next generation will get ferried back and forth to training by mom, practice half volleys into a net set up by dad, get a hug from some family member on a bad day, and occasionally hear someone yell, “Get up. You’re fine.” [_Steven Malanga_](http://www.city-journal.org/author%5Findex.php?author=128) _is the senior editor of_ City Journal _and the author of_ [Shakedown: The Continuing Conspiracy Against the American Taxpayer](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1566638755/manhattaninstitu/). _This_ [_article_](http://www.city-journal.org/2015/eon0707sm.html) _originally appeared on_ [_City Journal_](http://www.city-journal.org) _More from City Journal:_ * [The Greek Endgame](http://www.city-journal.org/2015/eon0702ng.html) * [Cops as Social Workers](http://www.city-journal.org/2015/cjc0621ss.html) * [Still Serving](http://www.city-journal.org/2015/eon0706ng.html) ## Transcript [ APPLAUSE ] The World Cup is the most important event in Soccer. And starting June 6, 2014 will compete for the title in Canada. Here's 5 players to watch during this year's Women's World Cup. During her 15 year career, American Abby Wambach has scored 182 international goals. [ MUSIC ] More than any man or woman in history. At 35, she's leading the US in what is likely her last shot for a World Cup win. She'll get help from fellow striker, Alex Morgan, whose breakout performance during the 2011 World Cup proves she's one of the most talented players in the world. And rightful air to Wamback and Mia Hamm as the standard bearer of US soccer. The 25 year old was sidelined for the teams last three World Cup tune up matches because of the bone bruise in her left knee. But she's expected to play in America's June 8th open. Brazil's Marta has won more player of the year honor On Earth, five than Hamm, Wambak or any other player in history. Marta has a staggering 91 goals in 92 games, earning comparisons to country mate Taylor, who agrees with her. Can she score? Yes she can! The sure hands of goal keeper Nadine Angerer lead Germany into this years cup. [ MUSIC ] The 2013 FIFA word player of the year was the first goalkeeper, man or woman to win the award. [ APPLAUSE ] She announces that she will retire after the world cup, ending her memorable 20 year career. The home team's captain. Christine Sinclair of Canada, was 16 when she made her senior national team debut in 2000. 15 years later, she's the most decorated player in Canadian soccer history, scoring 153 goals, ranking her third on the all- time list. Six in the wool. It is over. Brilliant. What a strike from one of the world's. Canada is looking to avenge a controversial loss to the Americans at the 2012 Olympics. The U. S. is long overdue for a world cup. It's been 16 years since this last one. The rest of the world keeps getting better. 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