7 year old son and football training

BusPass_2

Doesn't have to be football to get a kid enthusiastic.


Kid I know has gone to street dance classes because he fancied giving it a try, loved it, auditioned and got a part in Gypsy and is now going to the West End with it for an eight month run.


No theatrical background, no previous training, drive all came from him. Super fit, can sing like an angel and an ace on the stage.


He is twelve years old.

Janepig

DS is 9 and he plays rugby and football, although mostly rugby at the moment because there are more fixtures. He's lucky that he's naturally quite good at both, although when he started football at age 5 he was hopeless, then he started playing Fifa on the PS3 and it seemed to click with him, I swear it was playing Fifa that did it!! His father's not a football fan by any means, and although DS loves Liverpool, he won't sit and watch a match when it's on TV unless there's absolutely nothing else to do! I watch it more than he does.

He plays for a different football team now who haven't been going for long and there's a huge range of ability there. It has an impact on their results when they play matches, but I'd honestly rather that than have DS play for some of the other local teams where the not so good kids get slagged off by the parents, etc... "what's he doing on the pitch, he shouldn't be playing", that type of stuff.

He does get some stick in school when he plays teams with his classmates in and they get beaten, but he can live with it. Luckily his rugby team are all awesome and they've had an amazing season, their first season of contact rugby. They're all really good players. He's the only one in his class who plays rugby so the others are going to have a bit of a shock when they go to comp in afew years because that's all they do!

He also does athletics with his sister, they can train at the local club from age 9 (he started just before he was 9), and that'll give him something to do when there's no rugby and football because all the outdoor athletic comps are in the summer.

I'm bone idle and overweight, so although I'm not the best sporting role model for my two, and I don't force them to go to activities they don't want to do to, I'm determined they're not going to sit around on their bums!

Jx

Gra76

Probably late to the party with this but as a dad of 2 boys and a qualified FA coach (as I see a few others on the thread are) I'd give this advice:

Find a local FA charter standard club. Take your lad along and let him have a go. Nothing is competitive at under 7's apart from the kids themselves. Results aren't officially recorded and the spirit of the game is for the kids to enjoy it more than anything.

As coaches you learn over a period of time that sometimes the best players you have at an early age don't really progress, and vice-versa some of the kids you considered 'weak' at a younger age really come into their own as they grow in the team.

My two boys are like chalk and cheese when it came to football. Eldest loves it and practices all the time. When the garden isn't waterlogged he's out there practicing. He was our player of the year last year and deservedly so. He couldn't kick a ball straight 3 years ago so he's come a long way.

My youngest played for a few months and decided he hated it and hasn't been back since.

You can't force it on them if they don't like it but it sounds like OP's lad wants to play so get him to a club and see what happens! It's certainly not too late to start!