Benefits of playing football
The Benefits of Playing Football Are Long-Lasting Beyond the Final Whistle.
Five-a-side football is rapidly overtaking the 11-a-side game as the most popular amateur sport in the UK. About 1.5 million people in the UK play “small-sided” football each week.
Football reduces the risk of heart and lung disease and diabetes by lowering blood pressure and body fat, improving cholesterol levels and the heart’s efficiency. Football is better at enhancing fitness than almost any other sport, including swimming and cycling. Only running is equal. Then, there are also all the benefits to mental wellbeing. The benefits of a kickabout are far-reaching.
PLAY FOR LAUGHS
Football players report significantly higher levels of happiness, general health, confidence and trust.
PLAY FOR LOVE
Over 20% of all adults in England played football at least once in the last month. It’s the nation’s favourite sport.
PLAY FOR FITNESS
600 Calories (On Average) Burnt in 1 hour of playing football
IMPROVED QUALITY OF LIFE
MENTAL WELLBEING
Studies time and time again have shown the impact of a five-a-side football game on mental health. This sport involves intense physical activity and exercise, which is known to release hormones like endorphins and serotonin that are responsible for uplifting your mood and keeping your spirits high.
Football allows you to put your head into the game and participate in it fully. This enables you to expel all the pent-up emotions and frustrations into the game and play it as intensely as possible. After the game, you find yourself in a fresh mental state, and a positive frame of mind, ready to take on any challenge or hurdle life throws at you.
INCREASE SOCIALISING
SOCIAL INCLUSION
Most of your working hours are spent with people from your department. This limits your network to just a handful of people throughout the workplace.
Being a group game, a five-a-side football game gives you a fantastic excuse to leave your house and mingle with a new group of passionate and energetic individuals like you. Not only do you get to enjoy kicking the ball with your mates, but you also get to mingle with new team members and socialise with them. This increases your social circle and improves your networking skills.
Football is one of the most inclusive sports available, with many different forms and ways to participate. Football transcends age, physicality, culture, race, religion and anything else that can divide or exclude participants. With it being a team-based sport, everyone can get involved and play a part, no matter how big or small.
BUILDS CONFIDENCE & SELF ESTEEM
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Football can be used as a method of bringing positive change for both individuals and society as a whole. It has many qualities that can teach us lessons that can be carried off into everyday life. Communication, teamwork, coordination, dealing with mistakes, building confidence, and self-esteem are all essential aspects of the game which can be improved by playing football. Then, there are also the benefits in confidence and self-esteem that are gained when players improve their fitness, making them feel more empowered.
Football can help promote self restraint, discipline, and time management, as players need to balance playing football with other responsibilities, helping them develop strong work ethics. Additionally, it instils the values of sportsmanship, teaching individuals how to both win and lose gracefully, as well as to respect rules and authority. Moreover, football builds resilience and mental toughness as players face adversity, learn to cope with pressure and bounce back from setbacks.
HEALTH BENEFITS
FUN METHOD OF EXERCISE
FUN METHOD OF EXERCISE
Playing an exhilarating game of five-a-side or walking football with your mates increases your body’s agility, flexibility, and overall fitness levels. In this way, your stamina and speed levels spike and you lose fat, all that while having fun. The regular stretching and warm-up session before the game promotes blood circulation and facilitates the lowering of cholesterol levels and high blood pressure, while also keeping your muscles and bones healthy.
