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There are lots of reasons why soccer is good for kids. Most of those reasons also apply to other team sports although soccer does have its advantages over some of its main rivals.

The main reasons why soccer is good for kids include:

1. It's active exercise:

Too many kids these days don't play any sport. Indeed, playing games on their Wii is about as active as some kids get. As a result, obesity is increasingly common amongst kids and can have devastating long term consequences both in terms of health and social stigma.

When you watch small kids playing soccer it's very noticeable (and quite funny) that they all chase after the ball. In adult soccer, players take up positions and stick to them but kids just want to chase the ball and as a result get loads of exercise!

2. It teaches them about being in a team:

Being in a team is about being part of a group. It helps kids to be accepted by their peers and therefore helps avoid kids from being isolated.

It also teaches them how sometimes you need to work with other people to achieve things. You might like to think that you can dribble the ball around all the opposition players and score a goal but the reality is that you need to pass the ball and then get the ball passed back to you. That way, you stand a much better chance of scoring and winning.

3. It helps them make friends:

Most of my best friends at primary school were the guys that I played soccer with during lunch time. We then ended up representing the school team, which strengthened those bonds still further. Some kids find it easy to make friends but for the shy ones it's great to have a mechanism to make friends.

4. It keeps them off the streets:

You hear many sportsmen (and women) talking about how their dedication to their chosen sport helped them avoid the pitfalls of some of their peers. Instead of participating in gangs, underage drinking and whatever other vices, they were busy playing their chosen sport or putting in the hours of dedicated training needed to become good at it.

5. It make s them happy:

Soccer (and sport in general) is fun and we all want our kids to have fun and be happy. Trust me, there's nothing quite like the buzz of scoring a goal and seeing your team win.

So, as you can see, there are lots of reasons why soccer is good for kids. So instead of worrying about whether they might pick up minor knocks and scrapes, be happy that they are exercising, making friends and having fun.

Learn more about this author, Simon Wright.
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