Any sport helps your children to stay fit and gain good movement. However, if there is one sport that helps to develop the most capabilities and skills, it is football. Even at their basic level of development, your children need to run, throw, jump, catch, hop, kick, skip, dodge, gallop, and run- football imparts physical literacy to children. Kid’s football has become so prevalent nowadays (as of 2018), that playing the game is like a rite of passage. It is needless to mention that the game is perhaps the most popular across the world. Let’s examine how the game rates on the mentioned skills.
Running
Unless your kid is a goalkeeper, football basically involves a lot of running. For a child who is not yet at puberty, the kind of running involved in the game is just appropri
ate for them: short sprints, followed by recovery intervals. This is healthy for your child.
Agility, Balance, and Coordination
These three benefits of football are essential for a healthy central nervous system. Soccer involves movement diversity and quick direction changes, which adapts the child’s central nervous system to agility, balance, and coordination.
Catching and Throwing
Wait a minute; we’re talking about football, but when are the hands used? Well, for beginners, when the ball gets out of the pitch, the game restarts with a throw ball- every player needs to know how to throw the ball. And the player between the posts- the goalie- constantly catches and passes the ball to teammates (of course with a baseball-like throw).
Decision Making
p>Football trains children to read the situation or environment and respond appropriately, by making the right decisions. In the ancient context, this would mean something like deciding to climb up a tree upon seeing a lion. In the football context, it means knowing when to pass, shoot, clear, or dribble. To put things into perspective, football creates cognitive challenges that require the player to make the right decisions.
As you can see, football imparts physical literacy to your children. The sport is like a wonder drug that could be sold a prescription for those children who want to develop movement and cognitive skills. Hence, you should not think twice when it comes to allowing your children play the game.