The Best Time to Start Training Your Child If You Want Him to Become A Football Star

When Is the best Time to Start Training Your child, If You Want Him or Her to Become A Football Star?

In Nigeria where I live, a football is probably the first toy every boy child gets as a gift from their daddy. So from age zero, the boy child has already started fiddling with a ball. It is a culture in this west African country.

 In neighborhoods with such community culture, where children can freely go outside and play, kicking football around is one of the prominent games kids find to play. It is nothing more than the kids just having fun at this stage, from 0 - 4 years old.

At age four or so, you may begin to direct your child to have a more concrete interest in football, by frequently turning your television to sports channels when they are showing a football match or taking him or her to stadium to watch football games.

From Age 4 to 7
Every boy or girl who likes to play football is dreaming to became famous one day like their favorite player. He or she may even begin to imitate the skills of the players they so idolize.

The ages between 4 and 7 years old may be the right time to catch your child's attention and interest . The easiest and most convenient way to teach them skills in football is to play the game at home with your child.

When they are young it is better to leave the child to learn to explore the game of football without much restriction to following any guidelines or rules. This is especially prevalent in children under the ages of 5, when it is most difficult to play football in a team and follow rules. Keep the rules to minimum, let them enjoy and develop skills.

From 4 to 7 the kids are able to run ,jump ,throw a football ball or any other ball they start to learn and develop balance . Their vision at this age is still in development, you may observe that they can find it difficult to follow the ball if is moving fast.

What kind of training they should receive at this age ?
The most important thing you need to start playing football is a ball. The football balls come different sizes .

If the ball is not the right size the kids will not be able to kick, pass and dribbling properly because the size of their foot is too small for a full size (recommended FIFA balls)...the ball would also be too heavy and difficult to control.

For under 7 years old kids is recommended to use size 3 balls, from 8 years old to 12 is recommended to use size 4, over 12 years old size 5, which is used in official soccer games all around the world .

It is better to use the appropriate size to help the kids to learn the skills and develop the game easy and efficient.

Usually now they should learn the basics in my opinion . Teach them how to stop the ball with their feet by passing the ball slowly towards them, give them instruction each time you pass the ball also show them yourself from time to time how to do it .

Moving with the ball at their feet is another skill they have to develop at this age , show them yourself how to do it . They tend to take the ball in their hands, try to teach them to don’t play the ball with the hands, only with the feet. Ask them to use left leg and right leg alternatively in order to develop coordination and balance.

 Changing direction with the ball first time slowly and you can increase the speed step by step.

When give indications and explain moves try to be very short usually at this age the attention span is very short usually 10 seconds. The session time should be around 15 min. If they want to play more just let them do what they like with ball.

If they don’t want to perform the tasks you require them to do don’t quit try again in some minutes, hours later or next day.

If they can’t perform the task you want properly, just let them to get used with the ball in the end they will learn how   .

Another way to teach them how to do the moves if you can’t perform them yourself is to search on YouTube some videos with kids of his or her age performing the tasks and to watch together. The kids tend to imitate the behaviour of other kids. Try to look for games ideas on internet, don’t forget that the learning should be fun, if they don’t enjoy they can start to dislike playing with the football ball.

If you want professional coaching you have to look for some football schools, clubs or football academies that are organising training sessions for under 5 years old.

At the football schools, clubs, academies or summer camps the kids will develop skills in a fun enjoyment way , together with other kids.

  The football holiday training camps are using a different approach to get the children involved through games and stories to make the learning process easy and less boring.

 Always when you go to park with your kids take a  football with you, keep it in the car.  You can play in your back garden with your friends, at the picnic and park, you and your kids will have a lot of fun . You can also buy a training football kit for kids with cones and pop-up goalpost ,inflated goalposts .The kit is small size and will be easy to carry in your car or when going to parks . As goal posts you can use stones, plastic bottles, as cones or goal posts.

Read this: The Making of Alex Iwobi - A Perfect Example!

From 7 to 13
It gets more serious at ages 7 to 13. The kids begin to learn core skill sets and also begin to choose position, either to become a striker, midfielder, defender or goalkeeper. Now you need a professional! It is time to choose a football school or academy for your child.

There are several football academies in Nigeria: Kwara State Football School, Abuja Football College, Pepsi Football academy to mention a few.

Some top flight European clubs have also established academies in Nigeria: Barcelona (FC Bescola Academy Lagos), Real Madrid Academy Port Harcourt, PSG (Iruka Academy Nnewi Anambra State), Juventus and Bayern Munich Academies in Abuja etc.

Some successful football stars and ex-international have also established academies: Nwankwo Kanu's Papilo Academy Owerri, Emmanuel Amunike Academy both in Lagos and Eziobodo in Owerri Imo State, Daniel Amokachie's Highfliers Academy Kaduna etc.

In case these football schools and academies are not close to you and you need to consider other choice then I recommend you read this article first
Before You Enrol Into Any Football Academy - Check Out These 10 Important Factors

The challenge usually is, your child is still in primary or secondary school and can only afford to attend the football training few days during the week or at weekend. That you cannot compromise. I do not recommend you compromise your child's education (schooling) in anyway.