Soccer For Kids - Have Fun And Get Healthy At The Same Time

All parents want their children to learn the social skills required to survive in today's society. Discipline, respect, determination and confidence are just some of the attributes that they want their children to have. Every parent also wants his or her children to grow up healthy and fit.

Playing sports, in particular soccer, is a great way for children to achieve all of this. Soccer allows children and teenagers to develop social skills, have fun and stay fit, all at the same time.

Despite it being the most played game in the world though, many people, especially those in the U.S. are unsure how to play it. Don't worry though, you can quickly learn the basics of it.

Soccer is a game of two forty-five minute halves. Kicking the ball into the goal of the opposing team as many times as possible within this time limit is the objective of both teams.

The team with the most goals as the end of the match is declared the winner. Should the teams have scored no goals or an equal amount of goals then the match is a draw; if this is the case, then there may be a penalty shot to find a winner, whereby each team has 5 shots at goal and the team who scores the most wins.

Each team consists of eleven players, with one of those being designated as a goalkeeper, whose job it is to protect the goal of his team.

The keeper is the only player that can use his hands to stop the ball. The other ten players are designated positions depending on the coach's style.

These ten players may be assigned as either defenders, midfielders or strikers. Defenders tend to stay in around their own teams goal - their purpose being to prevent the opposing team from being able to shoot at it.

The midfielders are the link between the defenders and the strikers. They operate in the middle of the park and conduct the pace and tempo of the game. They offer support to the defenders while supplying the service to the strikers.

The forwards also known as the strikers are given the job of scoring goals. These players make up the offensive side of the field. Though they aren't the only players that are allowed to score, they tend to score the vast majority of the goals for their team. This is the most sought after position and lots of soccer parents want their child to be a striker because of the increased amount of attention and recognition that they receive.

There's no need to worry about the cost of soccer either as the only thing that is needed to play is a ball. The question shouldn't be whether you can afford to play soccer, but rather can you afford not to play.

Soccer is fast becoming a mass phenomenon with the soccer community growing exponentially with no end in sight. Will you be a part of the ride? Who knows, your child could be the next David Beckham?