Football Clubs for Children

Stakan wrote:

Our child (6 years old) is huge football fan and is part of a very good football club where we live now. The training is highly professional (and still age appropriate). It is meant to help kids with desire and potential to develop their skills.

Do such clubs exist in Budapest? Are they expensive? And are there any in English (we do not speak Hungarian)?

My son is 6 (almost 7) and he is in the Budakeszi football (soccer) club.  He absolutely loves it and it's really changed him.  He's really a "team player" now and he knows everyone and of course all kids like playing football - easy to make friends.  Amazing really considering Mrs Fluffy and I have no real interest in football.  In fact his interest has spurred our interest somewhat and we've met plenty of other families - some speaking English - through our kid's interest.  There's probably at least 15 kids in this age group and maybe 20+ in the upper age groups.  So it's incredibly popular.  I think it's very easy to find such football clubs in Hungary.  I could not vouch for other clubs coaching but the  local one to us seems very dedicated.  The cost is quite cheap - perhaps 2000 Ft a month. That's about 7 EUR.  I will check that with Mrs Fluffy.

I should say my son speaks Hungarian (and English) but football transcends national barriers so it need not be a real problem to not speak Hungarian.  He'll learn the vocabulary in no time.

Stakan wrote:

Thank you!

It is funny how similar our situation sounds. We had no interest in football, but somehow our son is a huge fan. Because of that that we've developed some interest too.

As for language, our son speaks English and Russian fluently. He started his "career" at a club in the Middle East. It was in English, but it was mixed with Arabic since that was the native language of the coaches and some of the kids. He did well there. Now his training is all in Russian and he does really well. Still, we think it is hard to really get the full benefit of coaching when you don't understand the language so English would be best. Not really the end of the world if that's not possible though.

Odd how the world is.  The top "star" in our son's football group (and my son's friend) is half Ukrainian - father is Ukrainian Hungarian - and obviously speaks Ukrainian and/or Russian too.  The mother is Hungarian but is an English teacher.  So they've got it covered as far as WE are concerned.   Rather oddly they've chosen not to speak to their child in Ukrainian or Russian.  Don't see the point really as the tensions will not always exist into the future and it's lot harder to learn afterwards.

Not many people speak Russian here any more (my FIL an exception - Russian teacher) but I was in Balaton (holiday area) and I heard Russians talking a couple of times. I also notice a lot more Russian cars driving about.  But then again, I've seen a bunch of other cars recently which are relatively unusual - Georgian - comes to mind. I have a feeling the visa situation for Georgia has changed. Hence more cars. No idea really.

Mrs Fluffy knows some Russian but like all school kids here in the Communist time, they all passed the Russian language exams perfectly even though they couldn't string two words together. 

There's a Russian school in HU but don't know anything about it really as not my cultural circle of knowledge. Same for Arabic. More Islamic types are around the tourist areas but no idea why. Could be asylum seekers.  Saw them on holiday in Balatonfured (water park: Annagora - Google it).

Anyway, look here: International Schools.

Stakan wrote:

Interesting stuff Fluffy. Thanks!

We prefer that my son is schooled in English actually. He is half Russian and gets plenty of Russian practice at home. Plus Mrs. Stakan studies it with him regularly so that he can read and write it as well.

OK, happy to help. 

I know from my colleagues, the schooling costs are oppressive unless the employer is paying most if not all of the costs.  I know from my own posting opportunities, there's very few places where it could work out with me paying.  Obviously we don't have that problem in HU ourselves as our kids are bilingual.