Healthy lifestyle habits like exercise are essential to instill at a young age. Youth sports are a special way to teach children valuable lessons, such as teamwork, commitment and hard work. Youth soccer leagues are very popular. Even if you haven’t played before, you might want to consider coaching your child’s team. Here are a few reasons why.
Bonding
Coaching your child’s team gives you extra time with your child in a different setting. This can promote bonding and a closer relationship. Your child will most likely be so proud that their mommy or daddy is the coach at a young age. How cool for them! You will also have extra time with your child during practices and games. Plus, you will have a shared experience to talk about, spend extra time practicing at home, and even watch television to learn more. Some lessons in life are best taught by example, such as how to use shave cream, driving and sports. Use coaching as a way to teach, encourage and bond with your child.
Involvement
All too often, we get caught up in our work or other commitments that we may not make as much time to share special involvement with our children. If you are a coach, you are committing a certain number of hours a week to be involved in your child’s interests. It is the perfect excuse to step away from work calls, stop checking emails and live in the moment, enjoying the sport with your kid.
Time
You may be turned off of the idea of coaching because you assume it is a time commitment you just do not have room for on top of your already busy schedule. Try to spin your thinking into a positive approach. You will most likely be at all of your child’s games anyway. You probably have to drive your child to practice, during which you will stay at the field. Youth practices are for an hour or two, one or two days a week. Choose to view the time it would require to be a coach as an opportunity to spend time with your child, teach children valuable lessons and have fun.
Learn
Coaching, especially in a very young age group, can be a learning experience. Soccer is a fun and exciting game. Even if you’ve never played soccer before, most leagues are happy to have someone enthusiastic and willing to learn the rules of the game. There are tons of coaching books and books on soccer rules to help you as you begin. The best part is you can learn with your child. There are coaching clinics, videos and plenty of resources to help you in your journey. You can even begin as an assistant coach with a more experienced coach to help build your confidence.
Teach
If you are already familiar with soccer, this may come naturally to you. Coaching is a great way to add more to your life. You get the benefit of teaching youth athletes. You might even come across a child or two who could genuinely benefit from the lessons you teach. Soccer teaches children so many things aside from the rules of the game. You can help instill healthy eating habits, finding ways to encourage your athletes to eat nutritious and well-balanced meals. You can teach the importance of daily exercise, ways to exercise and how much to exercise. The lessons you can fit in are numerous.
Conclusion
If you have been thinking about coaching your child in soccer, you should go for it. The younger age groups are learning as well, so patience is more important than experience. Your relationship with your child can improve thanks to the specialized and individualized bonding experiences. You may feel more accomplished by volunteering some of your free time to the youth league. Most importantly, the children will be grateful for an attentive, helpful, caring and fun coach. Just do your best, stay positive and enjoy the experience.
