Helping your son to progress in football: 9 essential tips.
Want your boy to be a professional footballer? Do you have trouble advancing it? Or you are simply running out of time. If you dream of seeing him a world champion, he’s going to have to improve. Football is very selective. Helping your boy to improve his football skills can be difficult and difficult. You certainly lack time, knowledge, and pedagogy. Do not be afraid! In this article, we give you 9 tips to help your son progress in football.
HELPING YOUR SON TO PROGRESS IN FOOTBALL: 9 ESSENTIAL TIPS
What is a good footballer?
It is difficult to answer this question. Every player has their strengths and weaknesses in football. Nevertheless, we can identify some qualities common to great players.
A good footballer is the one who adapts best to the maximum of the playing situation. He is the one who will get out of a two-player scoring or the one who will not lack lucidity in front of the goal.
To adapt to a maximum of situation, whatever his position, must necessarily be:
- enduring and fast;
- good technically and tactically;
- psychologically and socially strong.
Even if your son is a goalkeeper, he must be tough to take all the little efforts for 90 minutes. And yes, relaxing on a high strike in the 5th minute is easy! But repeating this gesture in the 90th is another story.
A good footballer is therefore a complete footballer!
Before giving you the 9 tips, we explain to you why your boy must start football very early.
To break into football, you have to start as early as possible
“Everything is decided before 6 years,” writes Dr. Fitzhugh. According to him, everything a child does before this age determines his adult intelligence.
To make your boy a future professional footballer, start as early as possible.
At around 2/3 years old, familiarize him with the football environment. You can take him to the stadium to watch a game, for example. And when he’s playing, encourage him to use the ball with his feet.
At 4/5 years old, start applying the tips given to you right after.
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9 tips to make your son a footballer
Make him love football
If you miss this step, your child will never make football their profession. A professional dedicates his life to football: he lives in the city of the club where he plays, trains regularly, follows a strict diet and regulations.
Easier said than done you’ll tell me. Yes and no actually …
This step can be very easy. What youngster doesn’t like football? Show him the exploits of Griezmann or Mbappé, or buy him a France team jersey, so that he has starred in his eyes.
However, this will not be enough. We will really have to make him love this sport.
To do this, play with him and cheer him on! For example, when you play in your garden with him, value each of his little actions. Whether it’s a dribble, a strike, or a header.
Above all, if he is wrong, support him. There is nothing worse than a parent yelling at their troubled child. Does he miss a shot? Tell him it’s okay.
And please help him in the right way. No “shoot better” or “make better passes”. Your child will not understand. It must therefore be given clear indications. Instead, try saying “with the flat of the foot” or “more force in your shot”. These examples are concrete and applicable.
Now that you know how to make your son love football, you have to give him the right mindset. We see that just after.
Give it the right frame of mind
Love football is (very) good, having the right frame of mind is better.
When your kid plays football, it is imperative that he possesses certain psychological qualities.
With the pressure and challenges of top-level sport, it is unthinkable to be angry or disrespectful. Indeed, the image of the player and the club is at stake. You must therefore transmit values, such as respect for the referee, fair play, humility, etc.
These are essential in a training center. If your child insults the referee, and a recruiter is around, they are losing their chances of being spotted.
To do this, catch him when he gets angry, and have him referee matches.
We will now explain how to improve your son’s level in football.
Contextualization, or the most important element
This is the point that everyone misses. But this is the most important.
To put it simply, contextualizing football is: making training resemble match conditions.
Thus, in each exercise, add at least one element that is found during a meeting: time pressure, an opponent, a partner, a target to defend, a target to attack and boundaries.
Does your son make passes? Mark a defender on the receiver. He shoots? Set up goals that he must defend.
If you do not contextualize, your child will never reproduce the actions he has repeated in training.
Making passes without opponents is easy. But doing the same thing while being tired with an opponent chasing us is less so!
You absolutely have to contextualize.
You know the basics to make your child a future football master. So we move on to more specific aspects.
Improve his game vision
A technical player, who does not see the positioning of the other players, is a bad player. It is enough to dribble in the wrong direction to spoil a scoring opportunity.
We give you an example of an exercise, to improve your toddler’s play vision:
- with colored spots, make a circle 5 to 10 meters in diameter;
- your child stands in the center of the circle;
- at the signal (“green!”), your child runs to the concerned block;
- have him repeat the exercise 10 to 20 times.
Read the next part to technically advance your son!
Advance it technically
This is the element that fascinates me the most. We are all blown away in front of a roulette wheel that erases two players. Beyond the spectacular aspect, the technique is a service to the team. Thus, a player who eliminates two defenders puts his team in a position of numerical superiority.
Again, we give you an exercise (easy to set up):
- place cups in line and equidistant from each other;
- your child must slalom the ball at the foot between these cups, with a time limit (contextualization!);
- adapt the modalities of the exercise: outside of the foot, inside of the foot …
Be careful, even if your son is a goalkeeper, make him work on his technique. The goalkeepers, taking part more and more in the construction of the play, must have a better play with the foot.
There is no point in being technically good without sharing it with your team. We give you the solution just below.
Advance it tactically
Here you are going to need several other players. Do not hesitate to ask the children around you to take them to play. They will appreciate it.
Once you have enough people (4/5 players) you can work on the different positions in football. On a space, organize a match where each player will have to respect the zone where he is. Place cups to delimit: defense, middle, and attack.
You have all the weapons to train your son on your own. However, you won’t be able to do everything. So now we have to choose a good club for him.
The criteria for choosing a good club
By choosing a good football club, you are providing your son with quality support. So don’t waste all your training. Pick a good club! We tell you the criteria for choosing a good club:
- level: choose a club operating at regional level (minimum R3);
- the presence of young section: U7, U8, U9, U10, U11, U12, and U13;
- the level of qualification of the coaches: check if they are qualified;
- the reputation of the club: get information from the inhabitants of the city;
- the attitude of the coaches: go observe some training sessions;
- infrastructure: the number of land and equipment;
We’ve told you almost everything. There are just two small elements missing.
Get him used to physical effort
Top-level football requires great physical effort. Many players train several times a day. And some follow the championship, the champions league, and the cups.
You are not being asked to make your boy a future athlete. But get him used to physical exertion. To do this, set up games. It is one of the best ways to train your endurance and speed. Above all, do not run him around a track. He will be bored and hate the effort.
Instead, opt for games like mover or relay.
More than a point to make your son a future League 1 star.
Above all, do not force it, otherwise …
Don’t act like those parents who put their dream on their children. In addition to ruining his life, you will decrease his chances of seeing him play on TV. Indeed, your child will not force himself for you.
If he doesn’t want to play anymore don’t force him, and if he doesn’t, don’t yell at him.
Also, don’t spend your time playing football for him. Discover other activities with him: reading, music, or cinema.
Thus, do not force especially, under penalty of seeing it take another path.
As you can see, making your son a footballer is not easy. You have to invest. However, if you have the right reflexes, you will be ahead of all the other contenders. So don’t hesitate to apply all these tips.
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