8th December 2016.Any parent knows that children are full of light, love, laughter, and a whole lot of one other thing, too: energy. When you see your daughter running around, playing outdoors and having a great time, it's natural to think about other possible outlets for her. While young boys frequently find encouragement to go into athletics, girls don't often receive the same treatment. Why not? There are a whole bunch of benefits to getting involved in sports, and not just as a way to vent extra energy. If your daughter loves to run, perhaps you've introduced her to football. Would it be a good idea to consider encouraging her to join a team? Yes! As long as you focus on the important word there: encourage. Joining any sports activity should always ultimately be up to your child ? let them choose to participate in the activities they enjoy. Perhaps your daughter already expresses interest in trying to play football; maybe she picked it up from going to see a match with her parents! Either way, it's an excellent sport for girls to play. Let's look at six of the reasons why encouraging your daughter to participate in football is a good idea.

  1. There are tonnes of excellent role models for young girls playing football. For growing children, there are few things as important for their development as good, healthy role models. As her parents, you naturally act in that role, but it's also important for a child to have role models outside of the family. Role models represent an opportunity for learning, growth, and even inspiration towards greater things. Luckily, there's absolutely no shortage of excellent role models to look to in women's football!

Around the world, many women play at a competitively high level. One only needs to look at the inspirational stories to be found in the United States Women?s Soccer Team to see that's true. That's saying nothing of all the many stars who have excelled in the game in the past. Many of these athletic stars can provide inspiration for your daughter as she works through her journey with the sport. You can even point to her favourite star's struggles or difficulties in the game when she needs encouragement to keep on moving forward.

  1. It's excellent for a young girl's physical fitness. Every parent wants to make sure their child grows up to be healthy. That's why we tell them to eat their vegetables, so they become "big and strong," right? All those greens need supplementation with exercise for a truly well-rounded approach to fitness. That's another reason why football is such an excellent sport for young girls to play. It helps them to develop physically in many different ways.

First, the sport itself is excellent for cardiovascular health. All that aerobic exercise, chasing the ball up and down the pitch, is excellent for your daughter's heart and lungs. Football can also help develop her muscles. For the growing girl, the regular amount of physical activity football generates is extremely helpful. The sport even helps improve both balance and coordination as they move nimbly around the field. Overall, football contributes to promoting fitness in a fun and engaging way. From practice to competitive games, it's an opportunity for her to begin testing her limits and improving!

  1. It's ideal for developing good mental health in addition to building physical strength. Beyond just helping your daughter to become more physically fit, being a part of a girls' football team can have positive benefits for her outlook on life as well. It's a well-researched fact that playing sports can help improve mental health. The physical activity alone is often enough to trigger positive chemical reactions in our bodies which contribute to feeling good. It's also an excellent outlet for any stress that your daughter feels. As she gets older and faces more challenges in school and life, this kind of stress relief can be absolutely vital to maintaining a positive attitude.

Being in a group of her peers where she can socialise is also very important. Social interaction contributes to an improved mood as well. Not only that, but it helps to build up her social development as well. As a matter of fact, this is one of the best reasons to encourage your daughter to play. Being a part of a team can be life changing!

  1. Football provides an outlet for energy and a chance for building teamwork skills. Being on a football team doesn't just boil down to putting on a jersey and showing up to practice. Nor does it consist of thinking only about yourself while you're on the field. On the contrary, football is one of the sports where teamwork and close coordination are the most important aspects of the game. To succeed, your daughter will need to work together with both her teammates and the coaches. While this isn't always easy at first, that difficulty can prove to be full of valuable lessons for her.

In the process of learning how to work with others, your daughter will be able to mature emotionally - an important step in her development. While she's out there having fun, she's also learning how to work in a group of people that won't always agree. Talk about a real life skill! As she gets older, diplomacy and compromise are immensely valuable things for her to learn.

  1. Those teamwork skills can turn into lifelong leadership ability. It's true. Beyond just improving your daughter's ability to work in a team to accomplish a goal, football might inspire her to take the lead. This is one of the areas where athletics shine the most. They create an atmosphere where individuals can step up and learn how to guide others towards their goals. Even if your daughter doesn't eventually become captain of the team, she'll still have to take a lead role at times. What if it's late in the game and her teammates feel demoralised because they aren't winning? You could let her know that that's the perfect time to try and be encouraging herself.

These are all skills which can have a long-lasting impact on her life. When you think about the ways you want to help influence her towards being a good person, think about leadership. From working hard in group projects to eventually learning how to compete in the world of employment, leadership is an important skill to develop. Girls' football teams help.

  1. Sports participation and its various benefits can contribute to better academic performance. Finally, believe it or not, playing on a football team can actually help your child to do better in school. No, she won't be learning long division while playing goalie. What we mean is that the benefits we've mentioned all work together to create a healthy mind better suited to learning.

Less stress means she'll be able to focus on her assignments better. The confidence she builds up on the pitch will enable her to tackle challenging school work more readily. Athletic involvement in sports like football can even aid the brain in improving. Since all these benefits are only really in play when the level of activity remains consistent, football is once again ideal. Why leave it to the boys to enjoy improved academic performance and fitness? Girls can and should cash in on all of these benefits as well.
Don't forget, you can get involved, too
All of these benefits are available to your daughter, but there's one key thing that will be the linchpin: your support. Encouraging your daughter and supporting her through even the tough times in the sport will be crucial to her success and growth overall. Remember that pushing her to do more is good in small measures. However, always try to let her ambition guide the way ahead. Watching your child play football is not just exciting; it's important to see her develop into a young woman. Sports have a transformational power through the ways they teach teamwork, cooperation, and leadership. When you combine these things with the physical fitness benefits, it's truly an excellent sport for girls around the world to play. Think about asking your daughter about her interest today!