Underage Football

[StephenC]

Looking for a few answers ...
What size is the first-touch football would 5-7 yo's use? Want to pick up one for the house.
Best mouth guard for that age?
Any recommendations for kids boots?
Any advice to help my young fella enjoy himself starting out? He's 5.

Cheers.

[INDIANA]

Looking for a few answers ...
What size is the first-touch football would 5-7 yo's use? Want to pick up one for the house.
Best mouth guard for that age?
Any recommendations for kids boots?
Any advice to help my young fella enjoy himself starting out? He's 5.

Cheers.

On the last line. Don't put any restrictions on what he can and can't do on a football pitch and get him to use both feet now.

[Itchy]

Its about fun. Don't stress the lad by trying to perfect skills. Play kids games and just involve the ball. If kids don't enjoy themselves they won't want to play

[StephenC]

Thanks lads. My only aim is for him to enjoy himself.

Anyone able to help on the mouthguard question?

[cluaineois]

A couple of years ago we got a dental technician to come to the club and fit proper mouthgaurds for all the players that wanted them. Got him to do a deal so it worked out a lot cheaper.The boil and bite ones are hard to fit properly and the younger children are less inclined to wear them. Proper mouthgaurds are more expensive but worth it in the long term.

[Walter Cronc]

The mouthguard is a tricky one. The boil and bite ones arent great in terms of fit but then you have the issue of a childs mouth still growing/developing so I've heard a fitted can have issues too.

[Zulu]

No sense in getting an expensive fitted one as Walter Cronc correctly points out the child's mouth is still developing. If he's only 5 he may have issues with any mouthguard and quite a few kids take a long time to get used to them.

[cluaineois]

Yes fitted ones are more expensive but i have found that the children tend to wear them. The boil and bite ones tend to be shoved down the socks and we had one child that had a dental injury while not wearing their gumsheild ,it cost the parents 1,200 euro to get fixed. I would rather spend the extra money on these than on the latest luminous boots. The football season for juvenile players tends to run during the summer months and i get a new one for my son at the beginning of the season.

[NP 76]

My eldest lad is 10 and has had the same bite and boil one since he started. The dentist said it was silly to get a fitted one with the rate of losing teeth. He just kept boiling and changing the design to suit him. This year will probably be his last and will get a fitted one after that as all his teeth are down. It helps that his dentist is a footballer who has an interest in it

[Mikhailov]

My eldest lad is 10 and has had the same bite and boil one since he started. The dentist said it was silly to get a fitted one with the rate of losing teeth. He just kept boiling and changing the design to suit him. This year will probably be his last and will get a fitted one after that as all his teeth are down. It helps that his dentist is a footballer who has an interest in it

This is right according to my dentist also who is a rugby man but accommodates all the GAA clubs locally as well. He says there is no point getting a specialised one from the dentist until the boy or girl is at least 14/15 due to the mouth & teeth not fully developed and even then there may be some issues with certain children. He recommended the bite and boil until that age. He also stated that the biggest problems he faces on a daily basis is the amount of poor teeth in kids as a result of sports drinks which ultimately are laced with sugar and not recommended at all  !!!

[Keyser soze]

Best to get him on a good S&C course pronto. If he hasnt done one before you need start him straight into massive weights with a s***load of reps as he would be well behind the game for his age already.

No need for a pair of boots or even a football at this stage, u can introduce that gradually in his mid teens.

Oh and plenty of laps, working up til he can tow an oul tyre behind him.

[muppet]

Best to get him on a good S&C course pronto. If he hasnt done one before you need start him straight into massive weights with a s***load of reps as he would be well behind the game for his age already.

No need for a pair of boots or even a football at this stage, u can introduce that gradually in his mid teens.

Oh and plenty of laps, working up til he can tow an oul tyre behind him.

Agreed.

Probably best to take him out of school now as well.

He won't need it and they will only want him to play games which could lead to burnout.

[blanketattack]

Surely no need for mouth guard if all he has are baby teeth.

[StephenC]

Thanks for all the replies.

Going to go with the boil and bite option for now. He's at the dentist in a couple of months so I'll mention it to her then.

Best to get him on a good S&C course pronto. If he hasnt done one before you need start him straight into massive weights with a s***load of reps as he would be well behind the game for his age already.

No need for a pair of boots or even a football at this stage, u can introduce that gradually in his mid teens.

Oh and plenty of laps, working up til he can tow an oul tyre behind him.

Agreed.

Probably best to take him out of school now as well.

He won't need it and they will only want him to play games which could lead to burnout.

Great suggestions  . I understand that roaring abuse at him from the sideline is a great way to make him a better footballer so I'll be giving that a go too.

Surely no need for mouth guard if all he has are baby teeth.

No mouthguard - no game. Them's the rules