Yes No I've recommended some of my less experienced U12 rec players to watch football on tv, play on their own at home and play FIFA video games. I think it will help them understand the game better. What are your thoughts.
Football games seem to put far too much emphasis on "fancy" individual skills that the kids will most probably have no chance of reproducing when they play themselves. I would also bet most kids play up front and try to score every time they get the ball, learning little in the way of teamwork. Saying that though, it's hard to say if kids watching games on tv will even appreciate good teamwork anyway.
Watching games for sure. Through my 10 years of coaching I've seen a world of difference in soccer intelligence between players who watch professional games and those who don't. For video games? I seriously doubt it.
of the kids (3) who started playing fifa i did see some improvement. they understood the offside rule much better. by the end of the season we had grown as a team and actually won a couple and had a draw in there to boot. our biggest problem was weight. we had four kids that were about 25 pounds over weight. i can only assume that someone on the board @NRS, or our age group coordinator does not like me.