Why does football contribute to children’s development?
Football has been one of the most popular sports for many years. From the moment a child can walk, it can already run after a ball. Boys and girls choose this sport because they simply ‘like’ it. But besides having fun, the sport also contributes to their general development.
Important football moves
While playing football, you are constantly in motion. This is good for fitness and health. In addition, it also improves children’s motor and cognitive skills. The different movements of football have different effects on children’s development.
- Running: Besides muscle strength and endurance, running improves children’s ability to judge speed and develop spatial orientation. It helps them learn to react quickly and make the right decisions. Running also affects self-confidence. It makes children feel good about pushing their own physical limits and improving their speed.
- Aiming: In football, it is important to aim the ball properly. This teaches children to judge distance, depth and power and contributes to their precision and ability to concentrate. As a side effect, they unconsciously learn to set goals and it encourages their self-control by waiting for the right moment.
- Zig-zagging: When children move quickly across the pitch and slalom, they improve their coordination and reaction speed. They have to anticipate what is coming. This contributes to eye development and stimulates certain connections in the brain.
Why is sport important?
Children move all day, but sports is something else. Sport is a conscious choice with specific goals and is about being active and getting results. You train to master the techniques of the sport with the aim of achieving the best result. This creates a certain ‘drive’ to constantly improve, develop and come up with solutions.
Besides achieving success, children also learn to deal with loss while playing football. You can’t win every game, unfortunately. By experiencing disappointments, they develop resilience and perseverance.
Strong together
Playing football is not something you do alone, but in a team. Playing sports in a team offers many advantages for children, such as learning to work together. They discover that working together leads to the best result for everyone. Moreover, it offers children the chance to make new friends. Children are less likely to feel isolated because they have a group of friends working together towards a common goal. Playing as part of a team also helps children overcome shyness.
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Football: fun and development for children
Looking at all these aspects, we cannot help but conclude that playing football contributes to overall development for the growing child. It is a source of fun and it also provides numerous benefits for their motor, cognitive and social skills. These areas of development form the basis for their growth. So take your child outside and kick a ball around on one of the BOERplay playing fields!
