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best Soccer Books For Kids
Which are the best soccer books for kids? This post will help. There a are few important things to consider before you just go and grab one to try. Whether your young soccer player is an avid reader or a reluctant one, you can find a book that will either entertain, inspire, or educate your child, using the game of soccer as the main theme.
The challenge is how to choosethe best soccer book for your child
WHERE TO START.
There are thousands of good books surrounding soccer and many many of them are centered specifically on youth soccer.
You need to narrow down to eliminate the book readings that wouldn't be right for your son, daughter, or grandchild. First, we need to look at the different types of soccer books. After that you'll get a few simple tips on choosing the best kids soccer books.
“Books make great gifts because they have whole worlds inside of them.”– Neil Gaiman
The 3 Types of soccer books for kids
Before you dive into the long list of best soccer books for kids, we need to look at the types of soccer books that are available. You can divide the books on soccer into three main categories. The different types of kids soccer books include, entertaining, educational, and inspirational. When one of the books you're considering has elements of more than just one of these types, it's a bonus.
1. Fun and Entertaining kids soccer books
Great for preschoolers!These soccer books are the best books for the toddlers and pre-school soccer players, but fun and entertaining books will also appeal to older kids. My Soccer Shots franchise used the Froggy Plays Soccer book for indoor sessions on rainy days.
The younger the soccer player, the more fun and entertaining the book should be. These books are often more illustrations than text. Whether you're a parent reading to your child or a bona fide coach reading to your young team, books like this should be read with energy and enthusiasm.
RecommendAtions for Entertaining books
Kids love to hear stories and kids soccer books are usually written as entertaining stories, but most of them also have an underlying message. This includes the best soccer books for toddlers, preschoolers, and early elementary school students.
The Soccer-for-kids website is geared more toward the younger players, so I spent more time researching this type of book than books for older kids. Here are the 6 soccer books I narrowed down to as the best choices.
This is a good book for the very youngest of children. It's a board book so it's durable for the "abuse" that a toddler can dish out.
Rhyming riddles accompanied by colorful artwork help introduce the game's simplest, most basic elements.
After each riddle, you can turn the page to get the answer with a colorful illustration.
This is my own personal favorite book to read to kids ages 3-5 years old. Froggy learns the important rule in soccer about not using his hands:
Repetition is the mother of learning. This book has a catchy repeating phrase: "Head it! Boot it! Knee it! Shoot it! BUT DON'T USE YOUR HANDS!" that kids enjoy learning.
The characters are all animals and the illustrations are brightly colored. That's a good way to keep the attention of young children.
This book tells a story that serves as a great introduction to young kids on what real soccer is all about, how sports are played.
The message is to enjoy the experience of playing sports and not overly concerned with winning.
This soccer book is best for kids ages 4-7. It's written from the perspective of a young girl, but boys will enjoy this too.
It's a great book to use as a bedtime story and it shows a lot of enthusiasm for the game of soccer itself.
Good for ages 5 and up. This is another one of those books that will appeal to boys.
This story is told in rhyme and closely follows an actual game between these two different types of dinosaurs. It's a fast paced book with great illustrations.
Written for kids ages 4-8, soccer champion Mia Hamm tells her inspiring story about dealing with losing while being a good teammate.
This soccer book will appeal to the girls more than the boys.
2. Instructional/Player Improvement Books For Players
Instructional Soccer BookThis is the least popular kind of book for the youngest soccer players. Kids generally don't get too serious about soccer until the pre-teen years. Instructional/how-to-improve types of books are good for soccer players that are motivated to become better players.
A case in point, the first soccer book I ever bought was a how-to-practice soccer skills on your own that I purchase when I was about to enter high school. Back then in the early 70s , soccer didn't exist in my area and there was no youth soccer programs to enroll in.
I was motivated to learn the basic skills and understand the game before I joined the high school team as a Freshman in 1974.
recommended instructional soccer books for kids
The large majority of instructional soccer books are intended for coaches to use to teach skills, tactics, and strategies of soccer, but it doesn't mean there aren't any good books for kids to read to improve their game. These books listed below are good for the young soccer players to read.
This book is a #1 Best Seller on Amazon for a reason. It was also named the top soccer book by football.com. It's intended for players, not coaches.
The Soccer IQ book is about common mistakes and how to fix them. It teaches you how to make smarter soccer decisions.
This is a book that I wish I had when I was first learning soccer. There were no youth soccer leagues to play in my town. I had no one to coach me.
This is a great DIY, practice-soccer-at-home by yourself (or with a few buddies) type of soccer book.
Aimed at 9-12 year old kids that are serious about become great soccer players, it contains many of the basics that will appeal to beginners as well.
This book teaches 75 skills, tactics, and mental exercises to become a complete soccer player.
3. Inspirational/Motivational youth soccer books
Inspiration For All GirlsInspirational kids soccer books are the ones that can make the biggest long term impact on a soccer player. Although reading a fun book to a 3 year old make inspire them to want to play, the inspirational soccer books tend to be more popular with older soccer players.
The inspirational books often tell a personal story of overcoming odds or are a journal of events that can teach life lessons.
“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.” – Walt Disney
recommended inspirational soccer books
The category of inspirational soccer books is dominated by women and the market for soccer books intended for pre-teen and teenage girls is huge. I recommend these three books for starters. Kids soccer books make great gifts.
inspirationAL Soccer Books for girls
Inspirational Soccer Books For Boys
Not to be outdone by the girls, boys benefit from inspiration too.
This is of the not that many soccer books for kids that is clearly for boys to read. It's written from the perspective of the boy main character which draws the reader into the story.
Part of a series of popular "Sean" books, this one is a good one about Sean who is inspired by the amazing Argentine soccer player, Lionel Messi.
This book is about Charlie Frye, a kid who is just crazy about soccer. It follows his journey of friendship and sporting achievements, despite an issue with his legs.
Multi-purpose Kids Soccer Books
Although many youth soccer books have a main goal (pun intended) most are a blend of types that can entertain, inspire AND educate your young player to some extent. Unless your child is seriously passionate about becoming a stud soccer player, it's unlikely that a dreadfully boring instructional soccer book will appeal to her.
As an example, the book Soccer Smarts for Kids: 60 Skills, Strategies, and Secrets by Andrew Latham is a fundamentally sound, no-fluff, instruction book for soccer players ages 8 to 12. It's about strategy, goal setting, mental preparation, and pre-game preparation.
Although its a Best Seller on Amazon, it's not going to keep the interest of the casual soccer player wanting to read an entertaining book relating to soccer.
Like wise the more casual youth soccer player can benefit from an underlying message in additional to just reading an interesting storybook centered around a young soccer player
“As an 8th grader preparing for his first time participation in soccer back in 1974, I got a great jump start in my level of play by following the techniques I learned in a soccer book.” – Coach Bruce
If your kid loves reading and soccer, you should definitely add some of these books to their reading list.
Whether your child is a toddler, preschooler, boy, girl, 8 or 10-year-old, get him/her one of these kids picture books about soccer. And read it with them.
Hopefully, your kids has an interest in reading. Consider getting her one of these books. Books about the game of soccer can educate and inspire kids to become better soccer players, but more importantly can help them grow into better adults.
Whether they're a toddler, a preschooler, elementary school, or middle schooler, you can use one of these soccer books to inspire a child today!
Soccer coach Bruce Lovelace started playing soccer in 1974 when, as a young boy, he constructed his own makeshift soccer goal. He played in high school, then in college and beyond. He started to coach his own children in the 1990s and then ran a Soccer Shots franchise for 12 years. Now, Coach Bruce publishes the soccer-for-kids.com website. Find out more about youth soccer coach Bruce Lovelace and what inspires this website.
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