As a parent, if you are looking to put your child on the right path towards playing professional and/or collegiate soccer, then you need to seriously look around for a premier competitive soccer club in your area.
Such clubs can provide a conducive environment for the young kids to learn and develop their soccer skills. The commitment to player development is really important and a premier competitive soccer club can ensure that for your child.
To drive home the point, let us look at some of the benefits of competitive soccer for youth:
1. Licensed coaches
Coaches play a very important role in shaping the career of any athlete. Young athletes who get to train under licensed coaches are at an advantage and can grow up to achieve their full potential. To a child or a teenager, a coach is a mentor who he or she looks up to for guidance, positive reinforcement and motivation.
From taking care of the physical fitness of young players, their mental health, self-esteem, ability to handle pressure to paving the way for these players to achieve more than they can imagine – a soccer coach has a tough task at hand!
Handling young and impressionable minds is a big responsibility and a licensed soccer coach at a premiere competitive club will make sure to develop a child’s game to a level that is geared for long-term success.
2. Developmental Approach
A player-centric approach is followed while preparing the young athletes for competitive soccer. From teaching the fundamentals of soccer in a fun and stress-free environment to maneuvering towards technical development – the focus is on working on each player as an individual who will have his or her own rate of development.
A newly launched soccer club in Dallas has at its core a program that is focussed on individual skill development and enjoyment.
3. Tournaments
A premier competitive soccer club ensures that the young players get to play at their correct level. The aim is to gradually move the young players to participate at the top local, regional and national platforms. These tournaments provide the young players an opportunity to hone their skills and also helps them in achieving their soccer goals.
Participating in various tournaments and leagues throughout the year gives these young players enough exposure to the competitive soccer environment and prepares them to play the game at a professional or collegiate level. Getting visibility from the college coaches and professional scouts is also a huge advantage.
Having said that, it is equally important to see if your child is ready to play soccer or any other competitive sport. One should make sure that the learning happens gradually and seamlessly. It is always a good idea to get the kids started into soccer with an environment that is fun and non-competitive. Doing this will ease them into the game organically without any stress or pressure.
A good club will usually have age-specific curriculum that will first work on the holistic development of the child. It is also imperative that the child-coach ratio is kept at an optimum level and each child is allowed to develop at his or her own pace. At this stage, the focus should be on physical activity, learning in a non-stressful environment and using positive reinforcements. Doing this will lay the groundwork on which the future of a child in soccer will be built.
It’s only after the initial foundation has been built that the child can move on to playing competitive soccer. Above all, the child’s interest and love for soccer should be the deciding factor for moving onto the next level. The motivation has to come from within!
