What age should I start my child with football training

One of the biggest questions for parents is when to start their child on a more serious training regime if they want them to pursue or try for a professional football career. In today’s blog post we are going to answer that question and help you decide if football coaching is right for your son or daughter and at what age to start getting them interested in the sport initially.

At what age does competitive football competition start?

If we are looking at professional level football, here in the UK we start competitive national competitions at the age of 15 in the Football Association Youth Challenge Cup and competitions continue into the Professional Development League for U18s, U21s and U23s.

If you look at the season winner tables of the Professional Development League in particular, you will see that Carshalton Athletic, where I coach, has had some good results in years past. In fact, Carshalton Athletic is one of the top clubs in Europe for training football at grass roots level and we start with U7s.

What age should I start getting my child interested in football

If you have room at home start introducing ball play as young as possible but be really careful here. We do not want to become overbearing or pushy, we want our children to enjoy ball play, even if it never leads to any club, or professional links later on. Early ball play should be interactive fun, that helps your child learn better co-ordination. Start with five minutes at a time with simple skills like kicking, catching, or throwing a ball. It does not need to be a football; in fact, I recommend starting with something smaller and more manageable for tiny hands.

Some of my favourite childhood memories were of kicking the ball about with friends and that is what I want for my children and any child I coach. As your child gets older this social aspect of football is crucial. This has been really driven home to me now that I have started training sessions again with the Carshalton U13s, after Covid-19 lockdown shut us out from training for ten weeks.

Seeing the team laughing and joking reminded me just how crucial it is to keep the social aspect in the game before we drive home the desire to pursue the sport further.

Between the ages of 5 and 8 we are looking to develop ball mastery skills as well as stamina and the ability to run on and off the ball. So, this is the perfect age to start researching what is next for your child in your area.

What age should I consider football coaching for my child

Here at Ultimate Footballers we start between the ages of 5 and 8 with our Saturday Sessions – Soccer in the Park and we keep things very fun and social, looking to develop key foundation skills. At this age I feel children have the necessary motor skills to develop their game and ball mastery.

I blend the technical, tactical, social, physical, and psychological elements of the game into fun, exciting training sessions that keep the children engaged – because that is what is important here.

Ball mastery at a young age is crucial to a player’s long-term development and builds a strong foundation for the child's progression through their footballing journey. If a child shows potential through our training, I flag that to the parents, offering help to train that child for trials into club teams.

What can I do as a parent to support my child through football coaching?

The key thing here is that your child enjoys the game, so whilst training in a coaching, or local team environment will be helpful, it is also important to encourage their genuine love of the game. Take your child to football games or watch them on the TV… bond with your child in a fun way through a shared love of the game.

On top of this there are training drills you can complete at home, examples of this can be found in our ‘Football Drills you can try at home series’. When and if you choose to introduce these, be mindful of time, do not train for lengthy periods of time and, to begin with, certainly not each day.

Watch your child at this age, are they really enjoying what they are doing? We must remember that at this age our children will likely pick up new activities and put them down as quickly as they change their clothes, so it is quite ok if they’d rather not go football training every week, or their attention turns to another sport, or interest. Above all help your child to pursue what makes them most happy.

Coach Phil’s Top Tip – Finding the right football coach for you

You want your child’s football coach to have two things, firstly, passion for coaching the art and foundations of the sport to young players in a fun way, with the aim of development and secondly, you are looking for credentials. Choosing a football coach above a local children’s football club is a big decision and it should not be taken lightly. So, take some time to do your research and talk with your intended choice to make sure he, or she is the right fit for you and most importantly your child.

If you would like to talk with me about coaching availability for your child, then please contact me here.