For every Tiffany Roberts or Brandi Chastain, there are boys and girls as young as 4 playing soccer in community, city or school leagues. According to the National Sporting Goods Association, an estimated 13.2 million players of all ages passed, dribbled and shot goals on the nation's soccer fields last year. As American team sports go, only basketball, baseball and softball are more popular. But unlike those organized sports, soccer doesn't penalize short stature. Tiffany, at 5' 2," is the most goal-happy of the U.S. Women's National team and Brazilian soccer maestro Pele is just 5 foot 9 inches tall.

Whether they are tall and lanky or barely make 5 feet in height, the number of soccer players, up 0.4 percent from 1998, will continue to grow in the future.

The non-stop, heart-healthy sport has solid fitness payoffs. Although childhood athletes are not typically troubled by love handles or beer bellies, children still need to participate in healthy, aerobic exercise. For a child weighing 100 pounds, an hour of soccer burns 435 calories.