The Umbro Kids

A soccer youth-league coach decides to get new Umbro team-uniforms for his kids team, the Kick, and enjoys cheering them on to greater dreams.

I noticed my soccer tales of late have been pretty heavy-handed, so I decided to leave you with a much more lighthearted vignette, a community-values story about team-uniform decisions. While I like complex stories about phantoms and hauntings, I also enjoy writing tales about everyday dreams, so I hope you like it!

Cheers,

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The kids of southern New Jersey were reveling in the spring-soccer league in 2020 and enjoyed participating in the association's games. The kids in the soccer association were aged 8-12, and they loved the idea of applying the skills they learned from their coaches during practice for the weekend games. Since it was spring, the sun was out more and the weather was more amenable to play. One of the coaches, for the team the Kick, noticed that his team was doing poorly because they seemed uncomfortable in the blue team-uniforms supplied by the association. The coach, Dan, resolved to get new uniforms for his team.

Dan decided to purchase a box of black-and-white striped Umbro soccer-uniforms for his team the Kick that season. They arrived one week after Coach Dan ordered the uniforms, and he distributed the new uniforms to his team kids. The next few games, the Kick performed much better, working together as a unit and passing and trying to score more often, all because their new well-fitting black-and-white striped Umbro uniforms were simply more of a joy to wear than the old solid blue baggy uniforms. The uniforms even had an SFC (Southern Jersey Football Club) badge printed on them!

Dan decided to show a video to his Kick team kids of the European (Italian) Serie A league pro-club team Juventus. Juventus had boasted numerous outstanding soccer superstars and were poised to make a serious splash in the important UEFA Champions League tournament that spring! Coach Dan showed his Kick team kids of the SFC that the Juventus team of Europe's Serie A league wore comparable black-and-white striped team-uniforms, resembling the black-and-white Umbro SFC team-uniforms the Kick wore!

The Kick did so well that season that they made it all the way to the Finals of the end-of-season tournament and unfortunately lost to the #1 ranked team, the Fliers, by a score of 3-2. Coach Dan nevertheless congratulated all his kids for a real rising season (they'd risen from the rank of #7 to #2!) and terrific team play! He decided to take them all out to the new Disney Wreck-it-Ralph movie at the Ritz theater in Cherry Hill (New Jersey). Coach Dan was grateful that the new Umbro uniforms moved his team kids to become real superstars.

Coach Dan told the parents of the Kick team kids that the new Umbro uniforms had boosted the team's morale and spirits and therefore encouraged more parents to invest in youth-league competitions, organizational bodies, and games. Dan told them they could cheer more for their kids, attend more games, and invest more community funds into the youth-leagues so soccer could become a prominent symbol of social direction in New Jersey. This was a great American feather for the stylish soccer-gear company Umbro.

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