Did you know research indicates that children who participate in sporting activities away from school often perform better academically?
For this to happen for a young football player, however, there must be a good balance between schoolwork and football.
A busy football schedule can lead to a child falling behind at school. Likewise, when homework tasks take longer than they are meant to because of poor planning or procrastination, the lack of time for anything other than schoolwork can cause resentment and upset.
Here are seven ways you can help your child balance schoolwork and football effectively - for the benefit of their education, their happiness and their love of the beautiful game.
Plan School Work Ahead
Forward planning and good organisation can make a world of difference when it comes to managing schoolwork and football.
Depending on the workload, set aside a specific amount of time on specific days of the week to dedicate to schoolwork.
Knowing exactly when homework is taking place enables a child to focus fully on the task at hand and get more done, rather than haphazardly deciding to use 25 random minutes which have suddenly become free on a Tuesday night.
When the first 10 of those minutes are spent preparing and getting focused for this unexpected school work session, it wastes time and makes the task longer and more arduous. As the saying goes, failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
The good news is that organising time has never been easier. There are numerous homework planning apps out there now, which allow you to block out study time more efficiently. Or, if you prefer the analogue way, a good old fashioned calendar can be used to plan ahead.
Plan Football Training Ahead
Planning works both ways.
As well as organising school work time, scheduling football training on a calendar or app through the week and month ahead offers perspective.
Importantly, it shows children their time is not going to be all work and no play.
You can even use this approach to make it appear as though football takes priority over school work. By fitting in homework around football – training in midweek, matches at weekends - rather than squeezing in football when there is no school work to be done, it creates the impression that you value their love of sport as more important.
And if a child is under the impression that football is more important, they will often make better use of the time set aside for school work.
It might sound like hoodwinking, but we prefer to call it clever planning!
This is where the routine provided by We Make Footballers can help. Our academies run weekly football training sessions for 4 to 12-year-olds in the same place at the same time every week.
What easier way to fit football into the calendar than a weekly organised session in a fun and safe environment led by FA qualified coaches?
If a child knows they are getting at least one hour of the beautiful game every Thursday night for example, it makes it easier to plan school work around that session.
Be Aware of Deadlines and Reduce Stress
Deadlines play a big part in planning ahead. If a piece of homework or a project needs to be handed in by Friday, aim to have it done by Wednesday. A deadline should be seen as a worst case scenario rather than the target for completing work.
Everyone knows how stressful it can be working right up to a deadline. This stress will often impact on quality of work and concentration, causing it to then take even longer.
A vicious cycle then occurs and, well, it is not much fun at all.
Stress can also impact what happens on the football pitch. If a child has a big game coming up at the same time as a big homework deadline, this worry can cause a lack of focus in both areas. Their school work and footballing performance both suffer as a result.
By planning to complete school work 48 hours in advance of the hand in date, that stress is removed. A child no longer spends the night before desperately trying to get the task done and can use that time for much more enjoyable activities. Like playing football.
Avoid Distractions
Procrastination is bad.
Trust me, I have checked my phone at least seven times whilst writing this article, which at current rate is around once per one hundred words.
Planning scheduled schoolwork sessions allows better preparation for the removal of distractions. Turn off that television. Take away that phone (I wish someone would do that to me right now). Sit in a quiet room and focus fully on the homework project at hand.
The fewer distractions there are, the quicker the project gets done and the easier it is to balance school work and football.
Use Time Wisely
Good time management can make a huge difference when balancing school work and football.
This is especially true for children who spend a lot of time travelling, be it to and from their place of education or even football.
Technology means that it is possible to work whilst on the move. Homework is no longer restricted to just the home. A child can use a 30 minute car journey back from school in the afternoon to get 30 minutes of homework done, instead of staring out the window or playing on their phone.
For a young football player good enough to sign for a professional academy, time management becomes even more important. They will often find themselves travelling further distances on multiple evenings a week for training with their club; time which can be used for homework.
When children are encouraged and helped to look at their daily routine and make the most of what might otherwise be dead time to complete assignments, they are learning about time management.
This is not only a good way to balance school work and football, but an important skill to have in later life. Goodness knows we all want more time now, even as adults.
Get Enough Good Quality Sleep
Any pre-planned schedule designed to manage the balance between homework and football training, should recognise the importance of the most important part of a daily routine – sleep.
Children who are over-programmed and unable to have a good amount of restorative sleep will tire throughout the day and this impacts everything; school work, football, happiness and health.
Between eight and twelve hours sleep per night is recommended for children aged 6 to 12. It needs to be good quality sleep too; meaning no distractions before bed and no lying awake stressing about that upcoming homework deadline or how to fit everything into the following day.
This can obviously not be achieved if a child is up late, desperately trying to complete their school work project beforehand the next morning.
Ensuring a child gets those 8 to 12 hours in the land of nod can be the biggest challenge when it comes to creating the right balance between schoolwork and football.
Get sleep right though good organisation and planning, and it is much easier for everything else to fall into place.
Make Time to Relax
There is one other important consideration to make for a happy balance between schoolwork and football. And it doesn’t involve football or school work.
A child needs time to relax away from the classroom and the football pitch for numerous reasons to do with stress, fatigue and burnout. It is good for their development too if they have other interests aside from just sport and school.
Again, this goes back to planning and organisation. Encourage time for reading, hobbies and hanging out with friends. And make sure there are periods where a child just does nothing to rest and recuperate.
Loving football is no bad thing. Being obsessed is okay to a point. But it can be argued that a child who is all-consumed and wants to do nothing other than kick a ball around is not getting a proper life balance and not having as much fun as they should.
Fun ultimately is what playing sport is all about. And by getting the balance between schoolwork and football right, life becomes much more fun.
Through weekly football training sessions, We Make Footballers can help your child achieve a better balance between schoolwork and football. To learn more about what we offer, find your nearest academy and book your first session for free.
