Why should kids start playing football at a young age?

Football, also called soccer, is quite an engaging sport and is one of the most widely played games in the world. Football involves a lot of body contact when being played. Early in their lives, kids are usually encouraged to play football by their parents. This is one of the reasons why students, who use many a dissertation service or a similar writing service for their dissertation writing, wonder, ‘Should kids play football?’

For a child, engaging in football at a young age can be the best and most cherished experiences of their lives. When a child plays football, parents become excited when they see their kids in possession with the ball in a game. The excitement even gets better when the child scores. This is the reason so many parents turn up when their child has a football game in school.

However, as with every other physical sport, there are certain cons associated with playing soccer, the most prominent of which is injuries. Other sports like tennis, basketball, golf involve minimal injuries, and this explains why some parents prefer their children to engage in sports other than soccer. These parents believe when kids play soccer even at a young age, there’s a high tendency for them to get hurt. Some parents even ask the school football coaches at their kid’s school, ‘How do you play football?’

When kids play soccer at a young age, there’s a ton of advantages for them. One of the most crucial of these advantages is emotional benefits. It’s necessary for kids to have the memory of kicking a ball with their dad or mum, running into a park and playing soccer with other kids, and even lacing up their miniature soccer boots. Other benefits of playing soccer at a young age for kids include:

1. It keeps kids healthy and physically fit: Football is a sport as well as an exercise. When a kid is playing soccer, he/she keeps on running throughout the whole period of time. At times there are even times the kid will be required to let out huge bursts of speed. This constant physical activity allows the child to build strength, stamina and springiness on the feet.
2. It aids in creating friendships: Most of the time, teammates are close friends. When a kid plays soccer constantly with a team, there is a high tendency that the teammates the child plays with will remain friends with him/him for the rest of his/her life. This benefit of playing football cannot be understated, especially if a kid is reserved. Basically, engaging in soccer can drive loneliness out of a child’s life. When a child is with his/her friends, he/she will be happy.
3. It helps with life skills: When a kid plays soccer, the child is developing a skill. The skill of juggling a ball, kicking a ball into the perfect spot in the goalpost, and even controlling a ball with the leg. Basically, the child improves dexterity with the leg. Apart from that, there are certain skills in life a child can learn while playing soccer from a young age. While playing soccer, there are certain patterns to be followed, rules that have to be adhered to and ethics that guide the sport. If a kid can begin to learn this from a young age, it will help the child later in life.
4. It builds up resilience: When a child plays football, it will build him/her physically and mentally. At the start of a football play, one constantly needs to stay competitive with the other team and at the same time, be in sync with one’s teammates. Each and every time the ball is in the kid’s possession, there will be a defender who serves as a tackler, ready to take the ball from the child’s leg. When an opponent is advancing, the child will also have to charge at the opposition to dispossess him/her of the ball. Also, a kid will learn through football that life is not always about wins. There are also losses he/she needs to deal with. This way, the child’s mind is strengthened. During the period the child has an injury, getting past the injury will build the kid’s mental toughness.
5. It helps build muscles: Football helps burn calories, which, in turn, burn fat in the child and develop muscles majorly in the calves and hamstrings. When a kid plays football, the child’s torso also becomes very well-built. The biceps and triceps also develop.
6. It could form the basis of the career: Playing football from an early age could make the child determined to keep on playing soccer later on as a career. If the child is quite good, colleges could offer him/her a scholarship. On that level, the kid can gain easy access to play for prestigious football clubs in major leagues like Major League Soccer, the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, and others. Some of the best players in the world started at a young age. Professional footballers also get paid really well, gain popularity, and receive a lot of love from citizens of their country.