3v3 soccer offers added excitement as it gains ground in Charleston area

Soccer typically involves a lot of running back and forth, fairly limited "touches" with the ball and low scores.

That's why it's boring to many American spectators, who are used to higher-scoring games and more potential for lead changes, and why soccer can be a challenge for some youngsters trying to learn the game.

But a new kind of soccer, "3v3," or "short-sided" soccer, is gaining ground in the Charleston area, and its proponents say it adds a new level of excitement to the game.

Lowcountry Soccer, a soccer event management company, believes in it so much that it is starting to hold 3v3 tournaments, including the Applebee's 3v3 Soccerfest youth tournament Dec. 20-21 at Foster Creek Park in Goose Creek and a series of tournaments next summer throughout the state.

"We need to get away from lines, laps and lectures," Kenyon Cook, director of Lowcountry Soccer, says in reference to the conventional soccer practices of youth recreation leagues of 11-player-per-side games.

Cook says three-on-three soccer represents the essence of the game because "the

11-side game is really 3v3 games stripped together." He further describes it as the sort of pickup "street soccer" that hones the world's best soccer players from Latin America and Europe.

Played for 24 minutes using smaller goals (4 by 6 feet), smaller fields and without a goalie, 3v3 gives players a chance to make contact with the ball hundreds of times. In turn, that keeps young players focused, builds confidence with more chances to score goals and nearly eliminates the pressure put on kids by coaches and parents.

Cook adds that 3v3 is now the preferred game of the U.S. Youth Soccer Association for beginning players ages 4-7. While the tournament is organized, Cook says he hopes it will foster soccer as a pickup game in the area, similar to what happens at local basketball courts.

Three-on-three soccer is not new to the area, but it is gaining momentum, says Brad Stewart, who played soccer locally for 16 years and has been a U-8 (under 8 years old) coach for four years at the Goose Creek Recreation Commission.

"It teaches ball control. (In 3v3), you can't play kickball. You have to learn to pass and it's easier to do that because you can see the field," says Stewart, adding that it's beneficial not only to developing youth players, but experienced teen and adult players.

"The main thing is you get to play the game, and the biggest teacher is the game itself," says Stewart.

But he says some parents resist it, at least initially.

"We had to fight the naysayers at the beginning of the year. ... They believe soccer is played with a goalie and you have to have positions," says Stewart.

Clark Brisson, coaching director of the Bridge FA (Football Alliance) club, agrees that 3v3 is becoming more popular in the area. He strongly recommends participants in the club, which caters to advanced players, to play 3v3, especially in the off-season.

Kevin Allardice, the owner of numerous Applebee's restaurants in the Midwest, is backing the December 3v3 tournament because he believes in the format.

"It's a fast, fun, high-scoring game. The action doesn't stop," says Allardice, adding that even the most challenged soccer spectator likes to watch.

Reach David Quick at 937-5516 or dquick@postand courier.com.