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Jim Trecker a veteran of soccer public relations and communications was appointed to the position of Deputy Secretary General /Communications in late 1996. Prior to that he served as Senior Vice President/ Chief Press Officer for the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the the United States.
Alan I Rothenberg, president of 1994 FIFA World Cup remarked: "Jim Trecker is the best in the soccer business: indeed he is as good as there is in any sport, anywhere in the world. U.S. Soccer is fortunate to be reunited with him.
"World Cup 1994 was only the beginning of the excitement for soccer in the United States," said Hank Steinbrecher, Executive Director and Secretary General for the United States Soccer Federation."We are now entering another cycle of enormous vitality for our sport, and I am especially pleased that Jim will be a part of it. His knowledge of the game, his international stature and his communications expertise are a unique combination, one that will benefit the game." added Secretary General Steinbrecher.
However, Trecker has been involved in soccer for more than two decades, serving with the New York Cosmos, the North Americn Soccer League, the Washington Diplomats, the World Cup 1994 Organizing Committee and Major League Soccer. In addition, he has operated his own consulting business, whose clients have included the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and World Cup Japan 2002 Bidding Committee.
Trecker is a member (co-opted) of the FIFA Media Committee and has carried out a number of signments for the international governing body of soccer.
Aside from reading about Trecker's experience and backround, being in his presence one can feel the intense excitement that he holds for his work and the sport of soccer. While modest in demeanor, Trecker appears to be a literal walking encyclopedia of soccer. He reportedly has over 600 soccer related books in his personal soccer library which has read from cover to cover.
As Trecker is a man who never seems to be too busy to share his knowledge and experience La Cancha was fortunate enough to interview him when he recently visited Giants Stadium, the venue which will host the first two games and opening ceremony of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Trecker Explains why he believes that the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup
will be a ground-breaking event not only for women's socer but women's sports
in general. He gives us the reasons the U.S. women's side has been so successsful
over the years, and explains why their success will continue into the next
millenium.
Interview with Jim Trecker |
Q: Mr. Trecker, if you could describe the impact that you believe the Women's
World Cup will have on the sport of soccer in America, what would that one
word be?
A:
The Women's World Cup could be described as extraordinary, or a showcase,
but the word that came to my mind when you were asking Lielani was
"groundbreaking". I think the WWC will redefine women's sports. When
the media, American people, and other sports followers in this country find
out that 77, 000 people have come to see women's soccer at Giants Stadium
I think tthe landscape will never be the same for women's sports. I
think the WWC will have raised the profile as much as anything that has ever
gone on before it. So I think it will be a ground breaking day.
Q: Why hasn't women's soccer caught on in America the way other sports have
with regard to media participation?
A: I believe the basic reason is because women's soccer is a very very
new sport. You have to understand that women's soccer didn't start
in this country on a truly wide and organized level until around the mid
1980's. So it's a very young sport of about 15 years. Also, soccer
so far generally in the country doesn't enjoy the profile that so-called
traditional sports have. Given that reality of the American sports scene,
I would say that women's soccer has probably made more progress in
a shorter period of time than any other women's team sport.
Q: On that note, why do you believe that the American women's soccer team
has been so successful in spite of the relatively short period that women's
soccer has existed in the US.
A:
Because in America women have always been allowed to be athletes.
Although soccer is relatively new on the women's side in this country
but women participating in sports whether it's track and field, ice skating,
or basketball is not a new. Elsewhere in the world women have traditionally
not played athletic events except in the Eastern block countries. Therefore
American women were athletically very very far ahead generally over the rest
of the world. Now the rest of the world generally started women's football
at about the
same
time back in the mid 80's. That as when as I said women's soccer on an organized
level got a big push world-wide. But the American women as athletes were
way ahead of everybody else in the world. In essence, we,ve come out of the
starting blocks if I can use another sports metaphor way ahead of the rest
of the world. The key now for the American women's soccer team is to
keep ahead of the rest of the world because teams like China.Brazil, Germany,
Norway and Denmark are playing the game at a very high level. They're catching
up pretty fast. Women when given the chance progress very rapidly.
So in this instance, we were ahead of the curve in women's sports.
Q: Are there other factors to consider when analyzing the tremendous success
of the American women's team.
A: Well, the American soccer family and the US Soccer Federation in particular
were blessed with almost an magical generation of female athletes that
came of age, and athletic maturity in the late 80' and early 90's. These
athletes have been together for nearly ten (10) years which is perhaps
a bit unusually. If this were a traditional American league people
would be using the term dynasty. It just happened through luck I guess
that they all emerged and merged at the same time. I'll tell you something
else, there is another generation now right behind them; a group of American
women that are 18, 19, 20. and 21 that are going to be just as good if not
better. So it won't be over after this group it will only change.
Q: I've notice that soccer on the children's level appears to be the most
widely played sport in America if not the world yet people don't appear
to realise this. As you know the American Youth Soccer Association is reported
to have 1,200,000 kids registered with the American Youth Soccer Organization
having well over 600,000 registered youths that's really amazing.
A: It's is quite interesting,. There are only two amateur sports groups in
the USA that are larger than soccer, and those two are bowling and the National
Rifle Association (NRA) which is classified as a shooting sport under the
Amateur Sports Act. Now without insulting our other colleagues in those other
sports, I'd have to state that there is a significant difference between,
bowling, shooting and soccer. Soccer is by far the largest participatory
sport in the country no question about it.
Other Links
Women's World Cup Store
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Interview w/ Marla Messing,
President 1999 FIFA WWC
Women's Global Soccer Links
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