What's a Good Age to Start Playing Soccer?

Editor's note: this article includes changes made to the original post to better reflect the points shop owner Danny D'Angelo was making.

It’s here! Youth soccer season comes…today to the villages and certainly no business owner could be more delighted than Danny D'Angelo of The Village Soccer Shop.

The colorful shop is stocked with cleats, shin guards, socks, all the things your little one needs to get started in the sport, which seem to do here in Tarrytown in abundance.

What's a good age to begin?

Kids can start playing here as young as four, which may or may not work for you or your child. For D'Angelo it's a matter of personal preference and what your own kid is ready for. "Every child is different and some are more up for playing team sports than others at that age... Some children take a little more time to take to the concept of the sport," he said.

He remembers when his niece at the age of four, was sitting in the center circle with three friends picking flowers during a soccer game. A few years down the road, however, and her dad is the coach and she’s “a little superstar.”

That said, AYSO provides the perfect, laid-back entry into the sport. "I have plenty of great kids come into the store who love the sport and are eager to play from even younger than four," D'Angelo said.

Seeing as "some children take a little more time to take to the concept of the sport...it shouldn't be taken too seriously and competitively at that age, instead they should just play for fun, which is what AYSO and other programs do provide," D'Angelo said.

D'Angelo has been playing in competitive games since he was 7, he said. But it all began at the age of four or five, casually kicking the ball around with friends and family in the park. “I’ve been playing ever since.”

It helps that he was born in London and lived there until he was about 8, so the soccer, or football rather, is in his blood.

At the age of 32, he still plays now at OnTrack Sport Center in Tarrytown and in a semi-pro league in the city, but he said he's feeling his age. “You have to run and be in shape.”

The store itself has just hit its one-year anniversary here (it moved from Dobbs Ferry) and so far so good. There are of course the seasonal bumps of such a trade (D'Angelo sells clearance items in the winter months) but he’s found the community very supportive. His trade benefits from having international students at EF and a large Spanish-speaking population. Between these groups, the many visitors here, and those numerous kids stocking up for their first soccer seasons, business is building. 

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