The great Pele popularised the phrase The Beautiful Game to describe football. He was talking about what the sport is like to watch; its chaos and unpredictability as two opponents battle to outscore each other.
But Pele could equally have been referring to the social side of football. The friendships it creates. Groups of people coming together with the aim of achieving a common goal. Experiencing the highs of winning - and the lows of losing – together.
Making friends, being a good team player and learning to handle success and failure are all important life skills. Which is why football is a great tool for enhancing social skills in children. For many, playing the sport is their first introduction to such concepts.
Reflective of this, the role social skills play in football has been increasingly recognised by the FA in recent years; most notably by it having an entire section of the Four Corner Coaching Model dedicated to it.
With the Four Corners playing a significant part in the coaching syllabus at We Make Footballers Cobham, our weekly football training sessions for children aged between 4 and 12 are a great way to enhance social skills that go beyond the football pitch.
Developing friendships through football
How many times have you struck up a conversation with a stranger about football? Because football is the most popular sport in the world, it brings people together through a common interest.
When a child attends We Make Footballers Cobham, they are spending time with other likeminded children with an interest in football. Social circles increase as children bond with others from different schools and areas over a shared love of club or player.
A group of Chelsea fans who meet at We Make Footballers Cobham form a friendship through their support of the Blues.
One child wearing a ‘Jude Bellingham 10’ England shirt from Euro 2024 spots another in the same jersey. From that point on, they look up to and try and emulate Bellingham together during their weekly football coaching sessions in Cobham.
The best part of developing friendships through football is that they tend to be long-lasting. Many adults remain firm friends with people they first encountered in junior football teams or who supported the same club as them at school.
As much as we enjoy seeing children improve and develop their football skills at We Make Footballers Cobham, it is equally rewarding watching friendships grow and social circles expand.
Building teamwork and cooperation
What do the best, most successful football teams in the world all have in common? Teamwork and cooperation.
A side can have four, five, six superstars but unless they are united and happy to work towards a common goal, individual brilliance rarely delivers success of its own accord.
Paris Saint-Germain are a classic example. All that money and all that talent – they could name a front three of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar at one point - yet still to win a Champions League title.
Or how about Portugal at Euro 2024? Cristiano Ronaldo might have a strong claim to be the GOAT, but his continued presence in the Portugal starting XI based on reputation alone was more hinderance than help in Germany.
Children taking part in weekly football coaching sessions at We Make Footballers Cobham soon start to understand the part teamwork and cooperation play in football through drills and small-sided games in groups.
Playing in groups improves social awareness and understanding of others, helping prepare children for when the time comes to join their local team.
With close links to professional academies, We Make Footballers Cobham also know being a good team player is a trait scouts value highly.
A strong focus on building teamwork and cooperation skills is part of the reason we have had over 200 players go onto sign professionally so far.
Learning to handle wins and losses
For many children, the varying highs and lows of football are their first experience of learning how to handle wins and losses.
The course of life rarely runs smoothly and so this is a great example of how football enhances social skills.
Another core aspect of the We Make Footballers curriculum is the idea of learning from mistakes. The academic term for this is discovery learning.
It first gained popularity in the 1960s via a US psychologist, Jerome Bruner, who theorised that the best way to acquire new skills was by problem solving.
We Make Footballers Cobham view mistakes and losses not as some sort of disaster, but as a great opportunity to learn and improve.
By teaching children to react in the same way, they understand that setbacks are not defining – it is how they respond to them which counts. Practice, perseverance and hard work all help turn losses into wins and mistakes into new skills.
The ability to handle losses in the right way becomes easier for children when they play football in an environment free from fear of failure.
That is what we create at We Make Footballers Cobham; a culture where failure is viewed as part of a process rather than a big deal, taking away that fear.
In turn, children become good losers. But they also have to be good winners, too. We Make Footballers Cobham teach the important of sportsmanship and respect, whilst also acknowledging there are always lessons to be learned and things to improve on when winning as well.
We Make Footballers Cobham run weekly football coaching sessions for 4 to 12-year-olds of all abilities every Thursday and Saturday at two sites in Cobham.
The first session is free, so why not book a class for your child and start seeing for yourself how We Make Footballers Cobham enhances social skills in children.
Visit our website, give us a message or drop us an email to find out more!
