The Benefits Of Football For Your Child

On Sunday the World Cup final was played out in Qatar with Argentina becoming World champions and wow!, what a football match. It was truly brilliant watching the likes of Messi and M’bappe scoring extraordinary goals.

I have always loved football and being a dad of 10 year old twin girls my hope was one of them would show an interest in playing football. Thankfully one of them did. In fact my daughter is football mad and I’m sure given the chance would play seven days a week. She is always out in the garden kicking a football whatever the weather.

She is currently playing for our local team which, as it happens, I am coaching. My daughter loves to play striker and her main aim in any game is scoring goals.

As much as she loves to play football, which of course ,she does, playing football has many other benefits to your child’s development as they grow up.

One of the first places to start with if your child has an interest in playing football is to enrol them in a football academy for kids. This is where they will be inspired to have fun and joy through physical activity. One such football academy is Kixx. Their main aim is to develop children physically and socially through sport. They have classes all over the country for children aged 18 months to 10 years old.

The benefits of my daughter playing football are vast and varied and it’s not all about playing football. Here are a few ways that playing football has helped my daughter.

1. Making new friends

It’s quite common that when your child is in primary school it can, to some extent, be compared to living in a bubble. They see the same friends day in day out which of course is perfectly fine, but by joining a local football team or attending a football academy which will make their friendship circle bigger and also develop their confidence in talking to different children and improve their social skills which they can then take with them into adulthood. A fantastic life lesson.

2. Working as a team

If your child is playing for a football team or attending a football academy they will learn all about communication skills and being part of a team. It could be something as simple as pass me the ball and talking to their teammates to help and encourage each other. This is so important as they get older and go to high school and eventually the workplace that they are confident enough to contribute to the team. This is another very important life skill which if taught as a child will hopefully stay with them forever.

3. Physical Activity

As we all know children are a never ending huge ball of energy and when they’re awake they are moving at high speed. Playing football is a fantastic way to burn some of that energy off. It is also a great way to teach them that physical activity is fun and hopefully they will continue with physical activity as they become adults so they stay healthy all their lives.

These are a few benefits of playing football. For my daughter it has made her more confident and she is never shy when she meets new children. It has brought out the best in her not just physically but socially as well.

Does your child play football in a local team or attend a football academy? I would love to hear your experiences in the comments below.