Kids can start soccer training from a very early age these days. While it is very important for children to be active and participate regularly in sports, it is equally important for children not to over do it. The hard thing is determining how much is too much for our kids. The incentives for children to do well in soccer are getting increasingly larger.

Have you seen the size of some of the trophies that are handed out? Some of these trophies are bigger than the kids themselves. The pressure to excel and win in soccer can push our kids to be more competitive. They’ll work hard to become fitter, stronger and more skilled than their counterparts.

There needs to be a balance in a child’s [tag-tec]soccer training program[/tag-tec]. The development of fitness and technique is important but it must be managed correctly in order to prevent over training. When any type of athlete is asked to do too much both physically or mentally then this could lead to over training.

It is important for parents to maintain awareness of how their kids are responding to the physical and mental strains that participating in [tag-tec]soccer[/tag-tec] can entail. Changes could be a sign of their child being pushed just a little too hard. This can often lead to injuries such as muscle strains.

There are some tell tail signs of over training that we can watch out for such as poorer technique than normal, lack of motivation, getting tired easily, irritability towards team mates and an unwillingness to cooperate with their soccer coaches. It is common for some of these tell tail signs to be misinterpreted.

Parents and [tag-tec]soccer coaches[/tag-tec] may believe that the child is just being difficult or is simply lagging behind due to lack of practice. They’ll then push the child even harder to try to generate improvements in the kid’s performance. Any increase to the amount of [tag-tec]soccer training[/tag-tec] the child is put through will only make the situation worse if the child is suffering from over training.

Pushing our kids too hard in this type of situation could lead on to injuries in the future. These types of injuries are called overuse injuries. Damage can occur to the bones and soft tissues because the body isn’t allowed to have enough time to recover from the demands placed on it by the repetitive physical demands that are involved when participating in soccer.