Editor’s note: This story was written by a high school student in Northwest Asian Weekly Foundation’s Summer Youth Leadership Program. This story is part of a special back-to-school issue.

By James To
SYLP STUDENT

James To

Soccer has been a well-known sport throughout the whole world for many years now. Some say it is the best sport in the world. I personally disagree with that. I can recognize that it is a fascinating sport, but soccer is just not for me.

Due to the World Cup earlier this summer, everyone watched soccer. If you do not know what the World Cup is, I’ll explain it in a simple way. Basically, it is a gathering of the best 32 soccer teams in the world playing against each other for the grand prize of $30 million. This gathering is held every four years, and this year, it was held in South Africa.

South Africa was the first African nation to host the World Cup. Everyone tuned in across the world to watch these matches. It was expected to become the most-watched television event in history.

FIFA officials expected the cumulative viewership to exceed 26 billion, an average of 400 million viewers per match. There was also an estimation of 700 million viewers for the World Cup Final.

This event has really brought friends and families together to have fun. A lot of people have parties to watch the World Cup.

The World Cup has really brought peace to the world and lots of entertainment. It has brought up many of the countries’ national pride. This event even brought out the non-soccer fans to represent their home countries. This includes me!

I am not a big fan of soccer but I always tuned in when the United States was playing. I love our country and will always support it.

Like others, everyone was extremely saddened when their respective country lost. I sure was! As time goes on, we got over it and were happy for Spain. ♦