The experts agree — if you want to stick to your fitness plan, you need to find something you love to do. For more and more people, that plan involves teammates, some wide-open space and a black and white ball.

Soccer is a fantastic cross-training opportunity that has some mental benefits, too. Improve your cardio The aerobic fitness demands of soccer increase the ability of the heart to pump blood to the muscles and helps clear the build-up of plaque inside the arteries, which is a sign of cardiovascular disease,

Soccer is an ideal game for kids of virtually all ages because of its simplicity. All kids need to play soccer is a ball and a safe place to play. Unlike other sports, soccer doesn’t require any specialized equipment for a game to get started, which makes it a useful option if cost is a factor, and because the basic rules are very simple, they are easy for even young kids to understand. Any child capable of running and kicking a ball can get involved.

The very nature of soccer as a game of constant movement keeps the muscles engaged over long periods of time, which is great for overall muscle tone, improve body coordination, increase endurance, improve hand-eye coordination, learn teamwork, caving for fun and fitness

Soccer can also be used to help kids gain the life skills which will help them succeed in the wider world. Soccer teaches young people to learn about respect, communication, discipline and leadership—all skills they can use throughout their lives. Soccer is a great tool because it’s easy to apply it in the context of a hands-on example so that we can focus on very obvious and transferable skills that the kids can use in other arenas of their lives.