Recently, my first-born boy turned 3 and for his birthday I got him a little soccer ball and his face lit up. My dad is an Englishman and moved to Wisconsin when he turned 26 so growing up I was surrounded by English culture and history even though my mum was born and raised in the USA, he wanted me and my younger sister to be shown the difference between England and America. Part of my upbringing was his obsession with “football”, he would kill me if I called it soccer the entire time, and this obsession has translated to me. I have been following football and the Premier League since I was young and I want my son to have this same obsession.
So when I gave him the soccer ball and I saw that he was happy I was filled with pride, I spoke to my wife and we decided to put him into soccer training but this wasn’t smooth sailing, it took a lot of convincing and I am going to tell you the reasons I gave my wife in case you need some convincing too.
The Main Benefits Of The Sport
One of the biggest things about the sport is the sheer benefits that you get from it. As a kid, it gives you great development towards your motor skills, with your hands and your feet as they are both essential for the way people play football.
As well as this the actual physical aspects are great for the children who play it, it has massive benefits on your body with each training session or match needing players to run, kick and make strategic moves as football is such a competitive sport, you can view here and see that even the biggest games are close and the biggest footballing tournaments are hard to predict and I like to make all of my son’s games feel like the biggest match in soccer history.
Another major thing about football, it is less effective for my boy but could be more useful for parents whose kids are teens, but the mental impact of sport in general is essential to help adults and teenagers alike. Having poor mental health is a massive issue and I definitely don’t want my kids to grow up feeling that way and sport is a great way of feeling better and avoiding stress and depression.
How It Helps Their Development
All parents obviously want their kids to be the best version of themselves and I think “football” is a massive teacher for people and kids especially. Soccer uses a range of different skills that people will take with them for life and use in every aspect of their lives. Some of the key life skills that it uses are teamwork, discipline, leadership and toughness are all key things people can take with them forever.
As well as this it gives you the chance to make a range of new friends as a kid which is always a lot of fun. At first, the idea of starting soccer may seem daunting, but the potential for lifelong friends is a genuine possibility, I started soccer at 5 years old and when I was 7, a young boy started and we became friends, not only did we become friends then but we became best friends and he was the best man at my wedding 3 years ago, there is serious potential to meet people who could be in your life for a long time and I hope that happens for my son.
As well as this, football is a great place to show inclusivity and accessibility for your child at such a young age, the sense of community you get from sport, and especially soccer, is something that needs to be shown and taught from a young age.
