Why Freestyle Football ?
A while ago somebody asked me a very stupid and yet intriguing question —
“Why do you do freestyle football ?”
I simply replied because I like doing it, it is my passion and the similar ‘follow your passion’ lifestyle dialogues. Most of the people would reply somewhat similar to what I replied at that moment.
But he was seeking something else from me. He inquired again — “Okay, I understand it is your passion, but how will you convince someone else to do it? Why should people take this sport up?”
I could have simply replied ‘all you need is a ball to freestyle’, but honestly that would not have satisfied that guy or even myself.
So I sat down the next day(today) to examine various facts and points that make freestyle football unique and interesting enough for the next generation to pick up as a choice of sport.
I really have found quite a number of good reasons to the big question but the three major points that should be enough for someone to take up freestyle football are —
- Advanced physical activity — I use the word advanced knowingly because freestyle football requires much more physical strength and also co-ordination to perform even the simplest of the tricks. From a viewer’s perspective we may be doing just one particular set of motion using a single part of our body, but these tricks are quite physical in nature and can only be done by combining a set of muscles and motions in sync with each other. Let us understand this by a simple example —
This trick is known as neck stall and is one of the most basic tricks in freestyle football.
Looks like he is just bending over to keep the ball. Right ?
Well , it is not the case at all!
Neck stall requires you to hold a proper posture by bending your knees while having them separate to keep balance. At the same time you have to keep you back arched along with your head facing upwards and your shoulder blades pushed inwards to keep the ball in position .
So what looks like a simple bending motion requires the use of over five different muscle groups to hold the ball in position. And this is just the most basic step! As you advance with this trick you will have to use more muscle groups as well as more physical strength to perform them.
So even though it looks like freestyle football involves just keeping the ball in the air it is a highly athletic sport which requires lots of practice as well as high levels of physical movement.
2. Increased mental awareness — Well, this is a given. Sports in general helps you lead a healthy life as well as helps in improved brain functioning. So why choose freestyle football over all the other options available out there?
The answer is a bit complex but I will try and break it down to you as simply as possible.
The human brain is basically divided into two parts —
The left side is the logical side.
The right side is the creative one.
The biggest advantage of freestyle football is that it helps in increasing functionality in both the sides of the brain!
- Repetition of a particular trick helps in deducing and understanding of how to do that trick properly. Patience and control helps us in mastering that trick. This in turn helps the left side of the brain to focus better on things. Our brain gets trained to analytically break down things and understand them piece by piece. And then with repeated practice we can learn any new skill or subject with ease. Also it helps us in disciplining ourselves to learn any new skill or subject.
- Freestyle allows you freedom. One may think that freestyle football is very limited. But to the contrary, new tricks and transitions are being made almost each day. The creative part of freestyle helps us in thinking better of how things can be done in a new and different way. This makes the right side or the creative part of our brain more functional and active. The world’s best freestylers are in fact the most creative ones.
3. Better social life — Freestyle football gives you a huge family! Being a relative new sports, the freestyle football community is a tightly knit one and also very helpful and friendly. Which other sports allows any beginner to have a one on one interaction with the world champion? It is almost like when you were kids. Any one with the same interest as yours was your friend!
Other than this huge family, freestyle football also boosts your confidence as well. Live performances and stage shows help in eliminating your stage fear which brings out the extrovert person inside of you. This comes from self experience as well.
From being a guy who barely talked to anyone to giving lectures to hundreds of students, freestyle football has helped me come a long way.
Also if you want to learn freestyle football go to our website www.freestyleworks.org to check out a new and innovative way to learn freestyle football.
So these were a few ways in which freestyle football helped me and could help you definitely as well. Just an extract from the list of reasons of why you should start doing freestyle football.
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Hope you guys got what my point was. If any of you wants to add something to this article, you are welcome in the comments section below. Subscribe to stay updated on this section.
