What To Do When Your Child Wants To Be a Professional Soccer Player

As parents, we want our kids to learn while having fun in what they do. If they enjoy it, then we want them to do well in it. However, many parents of talented children simply don’t know much about the process of becoming professional soccer players. And another good number of parents are afraid that if their children are too focused on their professional soccer career, they will forget about the importance of their education. This is possible and definitely one of the very reasons why your child needs your help. Soccer is the biggest sport in the world; it is played and watched by more people than any other game. This makes it highly competitive and demanding. So how do you your child balance his education and other activities with playing soccer? It is not going to be easy, but it is not impossible, if your child loves the game, and really wants to become a professional soccer player, you can definitely help him.

Eight Steps To Helping Your Child Become A Professional Soccer Player

The paths to becoming a professional soccer player differ around the world. There is a great difference in the journey of a professional player in Europe and in the United States of America. This journey is not an easy one; it requires time, patience, persistence, and strengths both physically, mentally and emotionally. The first step you need to help your child is to educate yourself about the process of how one becomes a professional soccer player, what kind of stage does he need to participate in what level and at what age?

1. Share Your Child’s Dream

This is the most important step you need to help your kid. First, you have to share his dream to become a professional soccer player. Sometimes parents are so possessive and want to make all the decisions for their children, even choose their dreams for them. This could be a huge problem, when it comes to these issues, you have to listen to your child and respect his choices and decisions. Of course, you have to advise him and give your suggestions and recommendations, but at the end of the day, the final decision is his to make. So when your son decides that he wants to become a professional soccer player, you have to accept and respect his decision and support him with his dream.

2. Give It Your Time

Soccer is a very demanding sport. It takes a lot of time and practice to become a professional soccer player. If this is the road your kid chooses to take, then you have to invest your all to help him through, and one of the most important thing you can give him is your time. You have to be there, when he wins, when loses, when he breaks his ankle, when he is frustrated, he will need you every step of the way.

3. Encourage Your Child

The easiest way you can help your child develop all of these wonderful skills is to encourage him as much as possible. Give him praises for trying, help him when he is struggling and never scold him if he fails because failure is a huge part of the learning process and if you scold your child for failing, he will eventually give up. If he gives up trying, he will give up playing and the dream of becoming a professional soccer player will die and that is not the place you want to end up with him. It doesn’t matter if he can’t perform a particular skill at some point, with your encouragement and support, he will develop a special confidence that will help him to try and try again until he eventually performs the skill and many other skills too. It is the same as when he was learning to stand up and walk. He didn’t scold him when he fell down, you encouraged him and after about one thousand times, he finally succeeded. Remember that moment, imagine if you had that attitude towards your child’s football, imagine how confident your child will feel knowing he has the ultimate backing, the support of mum and dad. Plus you will develop a special resilience in your child where he will understand that practice makes him better and making mistakes along the way is part of the process of becoming the best. Once your child develops this kind of attitude towards soccer, he will want to learn and practice more and once you have that in your child then you have something very special. Encouragement is key, so use it to help your child progress and develop.

4. Practice, Practice, and Practice

To become a good soccer player, your child needs to have a great first touch. He needs skills, stamina, discipline, strength and the only way to develop these, is by practicing again and again. You can help your child by practicing the skills and techniques at training and do them at home. It doesn’t have to be five hours a day, even ten minutes of ball mastery a day will hugely improve his skill level and confidence plus it gives you a chance to spend some quality time with him in an enjoyable, distraction-free setting. Just like you help your child with his reading and writing, help him with his soccer training. It will pay dividends further down the line. The saying that practice makes perfect is a practical truth.

5. Help Him Balance Soccer Practice With School

Your child’s dream of becoming a professional soccer player is an important one, but it should not be followed to the detriment of his education. Soccer practice should have a schedule that does not conflict with school hours. Make sure all school work (homework) is done before soccer practice. Education must come first and soccer practice has to be the second priority. A lot of people have abandoned their education and didn’t make it in soccer, don’t let your son be one of those people. Balance the two in a way that ensures that he has enough soccer practice without compromising his education.

6. Don’t Compare Your Child To Other Kids

When attending your kid’s games or practicing with him, don’t compare him to other kids. Though it is really easy to look at another kid and start comparing your kid. You just don’t know how long that kid has trained for, how much practice he puts in at home and what other training he does. This will likely make him lose confidence, which is not good for his progress and development. Don’t expect instant results and avoid comparing your kid to other kids. It will save you a lot of frustration. Patience really is the key to helping your kid go a long way and who knows, maybe all the way, in soccer. So yes, it is well worth it.

7. Don’t Set Super-High Expectations

Sometimes as parents you expect too much from your kid. In our world of ‘instant everything,’ you do expect a lot from your child. Unfortunately some parents have the attitude that if the child is not at Ronaldo standards in the first few months then he has failed. But what they fail to realize is that a player of world-class quality like Ronaldo trained for at least 5 hours every day from the age of six onwards. So be patient, and give all the support you can to your child. Understand that it is a long process of rigorous training and practice, and yes you are allowed to have expectations, but make sure your expectations are not so high that your child fails to meet them all the time. This will kill his spirit and can discourage him a lot.

8. Get Him Into a High-Performance Soccer Academy

Since your kid wants to be a professional soccer player, he has to do what it takes to be one. School practice and home training are not enough to make you kid a professional soccer player, he needs professional support. You can help him by sending him to a high-performance soccer academy. You can even send him to a completely different country or even a different continent if you can afford it, remember it is the effort you put in that determines how far your child goes into realizing his dream. And yes, it is well worth it if you can afford it.

Conclusion  

Your child can achieve whatever he sets his mind on as long as he has your support, your time, your encouragement and understanding. It is not just soccer, whatever your child chooses to pursue in life, it is next to impossible without your support. Your kid’s dream is your dream, and you have to talk it, walk it, and live it with him, you have to go all the way with him. It is never impossible as long as you are with him.