There's so many benefits of playing soccer that are much more than the 'physical' part. It helps the overall quality of life and that often goes unnoticed.
Soccer can completely transform lives. It affects mood, emotions, and mental state. It also helps develop life skills like discipline, communication, and teamwork.
As many of you may know, I have played soccer for the majority of my life. I want to share a quick story that helps paint the picture of how soccer has transformed my life.
I haven't played soccer seriously for probably about 2 years due to different factors. A couple of days ago I went to go play late at night randomly, and I completely forgot how good a feeling it is.
If you truly love playing soccer then all you need is a ball at your feet. There is no other feeling like it in the world.
I felt like a kid again. When I was bored I used to play soccer. When I needed to get my mind free and off of something I played soccer. It just brought back all those memories. After 15 years of playing, my love for the game is still the same. I might not play every day but those memories that I carry with me since I was 7 will be here for the rest of my life.
Now, let's take a look at the impact soccer has on emotions, mental well-being, and life skills.
Learning The Ability To Control Emotions
Dealing with emotions is a life skill. In life, there are going to be setbacks and it is so important for a person to know how to control their emotions.
In soccer, you're going to win and lose, fail and succeed, and have triumphs and tribulations.
Dealing with defeats, setbacks, and frustrations is all part of the game. So over time, it becomes easier to process and deal with the emotions that come.
The skills and lessons you gain from dealing with this in the sport translate directly on to life outside the pitch.
Build Social Skills
Playing soccer is a great place for young players to make more friends outside of their usual social circles. It can also provide the opportunity for more introverted and shy players to begin to feel more comfortable in social situations.
Being part of a team is one of the best experiences. It helps to improve self-esteem, reduce anxiety, and helps develop empathy for others.
Players need to work together with teammates and friends for success. This means not only supporting each other but caring for one another as well. It's very easy to build friendships when people have the same interests.
Improves Mood
Not to get too scientific but it's a known fact that staying active releases chemicals in your brain called endorphins which then help to make you feel good, release stress, increase concentration and even help sleep better.
There are other ways soccer improves mood. It feels great to score goals, nutmeg defenders, and experience things with your teammates. However, nothing beats the pure joy of just going and playing just to have fun.
It doesn't matter whether it's on a field, against a wall, or just on a concrete surface with nothing around. When you are truly passionate about playing soccer, it can take your mind off everything and place you in a happy place.
Builds Drive and Resilience
Soccer helps fuel playing drive as they have to work hard practicing to become better players. Seeing hard work turn into goals, assists, and good performances will help increase the belief that hard work truly pays off.
Along the same lines, everything won't always have a good result in the end. Players can work very hard but not achieve their goals. That increases resilience and builds the mental strength to take a defeat but come back even stronger.
In addition to their passion and resilience on the field, players use this blueprint in other areas of their lives off of it as well.
How We Can Help:
At FuturElitez Soccer, we build Elite soccer players by transforming their minds through impactful coaching and mentoring beyond the soccer field! Not only do we emphasize this with our players, but we put out information for everyone to see such as our blogs, Instagram and TikTok.
We try to put out a message to help everyone live their life to the fullest! If you enjoyed this read, it would mean so much to us if you could share this with a friend/family member. Thank you in advance for always reading our blogs on a weekly basis.