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At what age did you start playing football, and what impact do you think it had on your body? (alien.top)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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A friend of mine has a 6 year old boy, who has just joined a Premier League clubs pre-academy group. After speaking to some of the parents, he has found out that some of the boys there (6 and 7 year olds) play 3-4 matches at the weekend and train everyday, sometimes twice.

I think that is too much and have advised against following suit, but was wondering if anyone here thinks their body now suffers from playing too much football at a young age? Or maybe not and you are fine?

Edit: I'm not looking for pro footballers opinions, anyone at any level.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I like sports science as a hobby, in general, i don't think children should specialize until they get competitive. I know a lot of top American college systems like to select recruits who play multiple sports, and then specialize once in college. For a child as young as 10, have them play multiple sports, track and field, tennis, wrestling, gymnastics and biking are sports you could have kids do that will complement their athletic performance. Football in Europe has the same advantage as weight lifting had in communist countries such as China, and Russia as they have so much talent and can afford to be super specific all the time with a high intensity, it doesn't matter if 80% of people burn out, because you will still have hundreds of thousands of kids from the millions who can stay in the system, and from there you pick your top players.