How Football Can Help Kids With Social Skills

 

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Football is a great sport for kids. Whether they want to be pros or just enjoy having a kick about, it helps with many areas of essential skill development and offers fantastic health benefits. One of the most undervalued aspects of football for kids is how the sport can help them develop social skills.

Let’s look at some of the ways football can help kids with social skills, from teamwork to leadership.

Areas Football Can Help Children With Social Development

An early lesson children need to learn is the value of teamwork and in football, teamwork is everything. Teams rely on a cohesive team and a collective effort to succeed. Yes, every team has its star players but winning games is a team effort and this teaches children the value of working as a collective towards a common goal.

Good communication is essential in football and being a good communicator is also something we strive to teach our children. In a game of football, players are communicating with each other constantly, teaching children how verbal communication can help them and their teammates succeed.

An area many children struggle with when they are young is conflict resolution – resolving conflict fairly and appropriately is something kids need to be taught and they need to learn. In the heat of a football game emotions can run high and conflict can occur, even among children. Learning how to handle disagreements in a safe environment with guidance from adults is a healthy way for children to learn this essential social skill.

Football can help kids learn healthy empathy and good sportsmanship skills. Whilst playing, children will learn that everyone else deserves respect, even opponents as they are striving for the same goal – to win. Children will also learn to accept defeat graciously and be humble when they succeed. All good qualities to have!

Some children naturally want to step into leadership roles and football provides all kids a fair opportunity to give leadership a shot and learn what it takes to be a good leader. Children will learn that a good leader leads by example during football games and this is a skill that can be utilised later in life, in the workplace, for example.

One of the best things about football is that the sport goes beyond cultures and class - it has the amazing ability to unite players, regardless of their background. Cultural exchange is important for kids. Kids that grow up with significant connections with children from other backgrounds are more likely to be open-minded as adults.

How Football Academies Can Help

Although children can learn many of the skills above simply by having a kickabout with their mates or by playing for school teams, you may want to consider a football academy for kids.

Joining a children’s academy provides a safe space for children to play football and learn excellent social skills under the guidance of qualified, professional coaches. Kids football coaches operate differently from adult coaches as they understand kids are still learning many life lessons during play so they are always on hand to step in and help out where needed.