The Benefits of 5-a-side

5-a-side is quickly becoming the most popular recreational sport in Britain. The sport contains many benefits such as offering an outlet to stay in shape, providing an increased ability in various aspects of your all-round soccer game, and of course, the camaraderie that comes with a kick about with friends.

Still not convinced? Here’s just a few reasons you should start playing 5v5 at Sports Central.

Improve Your Game

5-a-side soccer is a great vehicle to improve key skills that are transferrable to 11-a-side soccer. Close ball control, passing, creativity, and movement are a few attributes that will significantly increase as you play on the much smaller pitches.

Passing: Accurate passing will be needed in the tight confinements of a 5-a-side pitch as one pass is a sure-fire way of giving away a goal.

Creativity: Fancy yourself as an Messi type? Great. You’ll need all the creativity possible to unlock a tightly packed defense. As your experience in 5-a-side builds, you’ll start recognizing gaps in the defense and will be able to utilize the clever runs of your teammates.

Movement: Standing still in 5-a-side puts you at a great disadvantage as you become easy to mark. Clever runs towards goal can help your side create opportunities. Making yourself available to your teammates allows your team to continue fluid moves, hopefully yielding a higher amount of goals scored.

Shooting: Goals are a tad smaller than conventional goals which means your shooting has to be on point if you want to beat the opposition. Accurate, powerful shots to the corners are the best way to beat the keeper. As you visit the 5v5 facilities more and more, you will find your shooting accuracy skyrocket.

Play Longer

Goals are a bit smaller than most pitches. This gives you and your team a greater challenge. With an average goals-per-game equating to roughly 10, the ball spends the majority of time on the pitch rather than the time-consuming journey from the back of the net to the center spot.

Our emphasis is on playing soccer and ensuring that all players get a decent amount of touches on the ball instead of opposing keepers constantly picking the ball out of the net.