Playing for a Football Team at 18

[Bluebirds1]

I'm posting about my nephew. He's never really been interested at playing football until now. The only problem is that he has never really been very good at it. We've been having a lot of trouble trying to find a suitable club for him to play for. A lot of clubs around where we live are not very inclusive. (If you are not very good then you can't play for the team)

Also he doesn't have much confidence because of after what happened at school, he was never classed as "Sporty". There also seems to be a problem with lack of opportunities to improve skills, where there seems to a lot more available for younger age groups. My worry is that if he does join a team, he would have a lot of catching up to do because there would probably be some there who have been playing since they were 7/8. He says that he feels left out because he missed out on so much.

Does anyone have any tips or advice on what to do?

[MaidOfStars]

Look for a Social Football league in your area. I have played Social Netball and they are very inclusive, focus on having fun rather than being uber-competitive, and cater for all ages/abilities.

[StillStayingClassySanDiego]

Does he have any friends who are already in teams? Look for minor league divisions in the area otherwise.

I don't think you'll find much in the way of improving skills at 18; in my experience by 18 the lads often show up to play after being on the lash the night before.

Training is what the manager [usually a Dad] puts together one night mid week which usually involves jogging around a pitch and playing mini games.

[Collaborate]

Does he work? Some places of work have social games. I used to work somewhere where we played 6-a-side once a week. Any levels of competence were welcome.

He also needs to do what he would have done as a kid. Kick a ball repeatedly against a wall and mess about with it in the back garden. He'll lack confidence because of a lack of fine ball control skills. He can only get better with a ball at his feet.

[Scholes34]

Welcome to the non-inclusive world of football. Forget football and get him to take up korfball instead. It's a very welcoming environment, all ages, mixed sex and great fun.