As parents, you all want your kids to gain the physical benefits of sport but equally, the joy of competitive sport (and football in particular) is its ability to teach them so much that will be of value in later life.

Football is the ultimate team game, and this is the main benefit in preparing children for life.

One day you may have an absolute blinder or consistently be the best player in your team, but this does not mean your team will win, you learn that the whole team working together is the main reason a team will win a game. It is a great feeling knowing you played well and gave your all, but an even better feeling when you and your teammates all worked as a team and did their best.

Cooperation and teamwork are vital aspects of being part of a family (even more so in these difficult times) and in countless educational and working environments, so if your child learns to be unselfish through football, job done!

It is an often-quoted phrase in the game but nevertheless worth saying again; you learn more from losing than winning and that certainly will help all children. Life is about dealing with setbacks in our personal, educational and professional lives and football is a great way to develop resilience and to learn to put things in perspective.

As Jurgen Klopp recently said, 'it’s the most important of the non-important things' and as parents you can play an important part in the maturation of your child by encouraging them to enjoy the victories but also get over the defeats, because in life they are going to have as many losses as wins!

So, at training and every Saturday morning, by being part of a football team of any level, they are not only getting exercise, enjoying themselves with friends, they are learning valuable life skills that will help them navigate through life.