SoccerUp!Improving the game of soccer by using a ball made from

two commonly available household resources

In MOST soccer games (or football, as the game is known beyond North

American shores), points are awarded when a

thickly padded, smooth leather ball with black and white pentagonal sections is kicked or head butted into the

space or net between opposing goalposts.  

GREAT soccer teams consistently drive the ball towards the goal, prevent the opposing team from getting close to the goal that they are defending, take LOTS OF SHOTS, shoot towards the goalie’s weak side, play as a team and heavily apply masterful skill to whatever and ALL CHANCES that they can.

This is all FAIR and GOOD to both watch and play, but as exciting as the existing game may be,  soccer games

rack up a SMALL AMOUNT OF POINTS!  

Where, for example, the average winning score of a NCAA basketball game - ANOTHER GAME where one shot achieved earns a team one point - is estimated to be...

Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_average_score_for_NCAA_game

76

The average winning score of a soccer game is only...

Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_average_score_of_a_soccer_game

1.63

BORRRRING......

WHAT IF.... by combining two household elements common to nearly every home worldwide......

+

....points awarded in a soccer game could SKYROCKET with additional points that

incentivized CLEVER, team-generated BALL COMPOSITION!!

OUTER LAYER: PLASTIC BAGS

INNER CORE:FOOD WASTE

Creating a NEW SPORT that, say, is called SOCCERUP (as in soccer + “upcycle”, or alternatively, soccer + “up yours!”), I propose the game be modified to REPLACE ORTHODOX SOCCER BALLS with SoccerUp balls made from food waste and food

waste that INCENTIVIZES...

(1) USING AS MANY BAGS AS POSSIBLE

(2) EXPLODING BALLS (BECAUSE EXPLODING GARBAGE IS FUNNY!!)

NEW RULES would require that during the first half, balls made by the HOME TEAM would be used and during the second half, balls made by the AWAY TEAM would be used.

POINTS would be awarded such that a team earned:

.10 points for each BAG used in a played ball1 point for each GOAL scored10 points for each bag-ball that EXPLODED

As the game was played, points would RACK UP according to the number of bags used in the balls, the number of goals scored and the amount of bag-balls that EXPLODED with FOOD WASTE during the games unfolding.

108

96

To allow for the score to add up in REAL TIME, teams would have to CLAIM the number of bags used per ball ahead of the game, a claim that would be PENALIZED if untruthfully stated by ONE POINT per misestimated bag.  

Additionally, the SIZE OF THE BALL would have to be restricted, such as the engineering trade off was the size of the WASTE CORE (and its desired impact) versus the NUMBER OF BAGS that could wrap around the waste core to meet the REGULATION SIZE.  

DON’T WORRY about having enough materials to make enough SoccerUp balls to

support today and tomorrow’s worldwide soccer (eh hem, football) leagues, as both PLASTIC

BAGS and FOOD WASTE are ABUNDANT household resources.....

IT IS ESTIMATED THAT ONE TRILLION PLASTIC

BAGS ARE USED AND DISCARDED WORLDWIDE

EACH YEAR

Source: http://www.cleanup.org.au/au/Campaigns/plastic-bag-facts.html

AMERICANS, ALONE, THROW AWAY NEARLY HALF OF THEIR FOOD,

FLUSHING $165 BILLION DOLLARS DOWN THE

DRAIN EACH YEAR, PLUS COUNTLESS NATURAL AND

LABOR RESOURCES

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/21/us-food-waste-idUSBRE87K0WR20120821

These numbers are REASSURING when considering the NUMBER OF SOCCER TEAMS that exist worldwide,

the NUMBER OF MATCHES per season, the NUMBER OF BALLS that required for each SoccerUp match and the

amount of PLASTIC BAGS and FOOD WASTE required for each ball.

Just imagine a world where SOCCER scores reached as high - or even HIGHER - than basketball scores!

Other IMPACTS of a switch from SOCCER to SOCCERUP would include...

(1) the game of SOCCER would be INTEGRATED into WASTE management SOLUTIONS

(2) SPORTS CULTURE would RAISE AWARENESS to mounting waste challenges in a fun, sportsman like manner

(3) FANS would be offered an additional CHANNEL via which they could CONNECT with their favorite teams, no longer limited to wearing their jerseys and cheering for the teams whilst in game, but could be a PART OF MAKING the game happen, by sending their waste into ball-crafting centers

(4) SOCCER STRATEGY would be MERGED with ENGINEERING, where the masters of the game not only exhibit great athleticism, but also had the opportunity to affect how each ball performs in the game

A team could choose, for example, to have...

(a) alternating BALL TYPES that kept the opposing team on their toes....

(b) a SIMPLE, STRAIGHTFORWARD approach that used the same ball design throughout the game that BUILD UPON THE TEAM’S STRENGTHS

(c) a CONNIVING APPROACH that designed balls that played against the OPPOSING TEAM’S WEAKNESSES

(d) incredibly MESSY waste-cores that made the soccer field slippery, a condition the team could TRAIN TO MASTER

(e) incredibly STINKY waste-cores that teams could train to become conditioned to but would PARALYZE the opposing team

By making use of two commonly available household items - PLASTIC BAGS and FOOD WASTE -

a new sport would be born, building upon the popularity and legacy of soccer worldwide!

LONG LIVE SOCCERUP!!

FIN!

Proposed by:Libby Garrett

Inspired by:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0GQZFlO4tM!