(Youth 1) – Soccer is vital for young kids for multiple reasons: starting an exercise routine, building a competitive spirit, and establishing confidence and dedication. Yet perhaps the most important reason to partake in youth soccer is to create a social environment for children.

With the growing rate of video gaming systems and the culture that follows them, each day, more children across America are not leaving their rooms, let alone their homes to explore the realm of youth soccer teams, clubs, and organizations.  Further, the exponential increase of social networking sites may have children interacting across the Internet waves, but it’s limited their interaction across the soccer field. A January study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation discloses “8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes to using entertainment media across a typical day (more than 53 hours a week).  And because they spend so much of that time ‘media multitasking’ (using more than one medium at a time), they actually manage to pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes worth of media content into those 7½ hours.”   

However, these social mediums cannot build and preserve friendships and camaraderie the way that youth soccer programs can.  Soccer practices and games allow children to communicate and interact in a way that will benefit them all throughout the different strokes of life.  

But why soccer?

Soccer is a sport that lives and dies by communication.  Whether it’s calling for a ball, listening to a coach during practice, or cheering on a teammate, interaction is crucial by players.

This type of interaction should begin when children begin their schooling.  Recreational soccer programs give kids the opportunity to socialize and compete with other students that they may not have known if they did not participate in such programs.  Once a child improves socially and on the soccer field, club teams and organizations are a great means to not only play soccer at a higher level, but to connect with athletes from neighborhood towns and districts.

It’s up to the parents to encourage youth sports, in particular soccer, and to the coaches to instill the importance of interaction on and off the field.

There are numerous teams, clubs, and organizations right outside a child’s home.  So turn off your gaming system, sign off of that social networking site and sign up for your town’s soccer team, where your future friends await.

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