Physical activity, like football, holds a great deal of mental health benefits for children. Here, we will delve into some of the top mental health benefits of football training for 8 year olds.

Benefits of football training for 8 year olds. Image shows a BSS class in which students are working on their football skills.

Exercise and physical activity, as a whole, holds many mental health benefits for children. It can help with restlessness, worry, anxiety and help your child to focus.  

Football training holds its own benefits to your child’s mental health and it is those benefits that we will be looking further into today. 

Promotes Socialising And Empathy 

Taking part in football training will help your child to find children to socialise with which will help them to make friends. Having a shared interest can make it easier for people to make friends so this will be a big help to shy or introverted children. 

Attending football training with other children will also help your child to develop more empathy towards their peers. And when they are shown the same level of empathy, they will feel supported by their team mates. 

Helps Emotional Development

During football training, there will be some things that your child masters straight away. But, there will be other skills and techniques that they find harder. There will be some games they win, some games they lose. 

Coming regularly to football training will help them with their emotional development. They will learn how to take the defeats and the harder skills, learn from them but not dwell on them. They will build their resilience within your child as they know not to fear setbacks or failures. They see that these are ways in which they can further develop and learn. 

Eases The Symptoms Of Mental Health Conditions 

In our modern age, more and more children are being diagnosed with mental conditions, like anxiety and depression. The Mental Health of Children and Young People in England 2023 report, published by NHS England, found that 20.3% of eight to 16-year-olds had a probable mental disorder in 2023. 

Regular exercise has been proven to be beneficial to mental health and football training is a great way to get your child involved in regular exercise. Plus, they will meet new people, make friends and develop higher self-esteem. 

Boosts Confidence

Finally, football training will help to boost your child’s confidence which will be excellent for their mental health. Meeting and making new friends, being part of a team and feeling a sense of accomplishment after every training session will all help to boost their confidence. 

Why You Should Choose Football For Your 8 Year Old

There are many other physical activities that you could choose for your child and they would benefit your child’s mental health. 

But research has shown that football can have a significant positive effect on children’s mental well-being. Football has been proven to reduce the likelihood of depression among children by up to 45%.   

Finding Your Local BSS Class

At BSS, we offer classes for 8 year olds, where they will learn skills and techniques, through our training programme which is based on Futebol de Salão, the original Brazilian version of futsal. This will help your child to become a more highly skilled player as they will get 600% more touches of the ball than a regular game. It will also be hugely beneficial to their mental and physical health. 

We have BSS classes up and down the UK and on the Channel Islands, all delivering expert coaching which will help your child’s physical and mental health. To find your local class, please click here

The Mental Health Benefits Of Football Training For 8 Year Olds

Your child’s mental health is really important. Sadly, in our modern world, more and more children are being diagnosed with mental health conditions, making it even more important to find things that they enjoy and that will be beneficial to them. 

Research has proven that football is extremely beneficial to a child’s mental well-being, helping to ease the symptoms of mental health conditions. It will also boost their confidence, help them to make friends and help their emotional development. 

To find out more about your local class, please click here