«People laugh at me because I don't like playing football.»

«Ask Sarah!»

I don't like football. That's why everyone always laughs at me. And in PE, the boys don't want to pick me for their team, even when we play other games. They treat me as if I'm not a real boy. It makes me so sad.

Aaron, 9

Dear Aaron

If you ask around in school classes, you will find that almost every boy plays football in his spare time. Most of them don't just play on the lawn behind their house, but actually several times a week in a football club. And many of these young footballers dream of a career as a professional footballer.

More than a third of boys do not play football. So you are not alone.

In Switzerland, around 64 per cent of boys play football and around 12 per cent of girls. This may not come as a surprise to you. But the good news for you is that a full 36 per cent of boys do not play football. That is more than a third of all boys. And a significant proportion of them definitely do not like football at all – just like you.

So you're not alone. And you don't have to feel bad because you don't like this sport. It's not a mistake or anything like that. You're allowed to think football is stupid. Period.

Many other hobbies

I'm sure you have other exciting interests and hobbies. What could they be? Are you musical? Creative? A bookworm? Or more of a computer geek? Or do you just like other sports?

Did you know that there are over 500 sports in the world? Personally, I think it's cool that not everyone likes the same things, because the world is so big and diverse – there are enough different things for every taste.

The more self-confidence you have, the less you will be bothered by the opinions of other children.

Please don't let your schoolmates get you down. Of course, it's not okay for them to ignore you when forming groups in PE . Your teacher should have noticed this. If she hasn't done anything about it yet, I think it's important that you tell her.

Get help

For example: «Mr ... / Mrs ..., the other boys always tease me because I don't play football, so they never choose me for their teams. I'm often picked last, and that hurts my feelings. Could you perhaps choose the teams next time? Or let us draw lots so that chance decides?»

I realise that it takes a bit of courage to talk to the teacher about this. If you can't bring yourself to say it yourself, your parents could certainly support you and ask the teacher for help.

I think it would be good if your parents talked about how you are suffering from the negative comments of your classmates at the next parent-teacher meeting (maybe you could be there too?). There is no reason not to treat you like a boy. No matter what you are like. You are you – that's all that matters.

Boost self-confidence

Good self-confidence can help you with this. The more self-confidence you have, the less you will be bothered by the opinions of other children. But how can you achieve this? Unfortunately, there is no easy recipe for this, and you cannot buy it. But you can start to strengthen your self-confidence with a few simple tricks.

Trick 1: Strong hands

Draw the outlines of both your hands on a blank sheet of paper, tracing around your fingers and palms with a pencil. Then, using a different colour for each finger, write down one skill that you are good at: for example , «doing maths», «laughing», «riding a bike», «being helpful», and so on.

Once you have found 10 things that you are good at, you can see how amazing you are! Hang the sheet with the power hands in your room so that you can see your strengths every day. If you discover more talents, you can add them to the palms.

Trick 2: «I'm proud of this» book

Ask your parents to give you a small notebook with only blank pages. Every evening, write down what you are proud of that day. Maybe you comforted a child on Monday. On Tuesday, you studied really hard for a test. On Wednesday, you are happy because the test went well. On Thursday, you helped your mum with the cooking. On Friday, you successfully defended yourself against stupid comments at school.

If you can't think of anything yourself, please ask your dad or mum what things you could be proud of on this day. A diary like this will help you to understand more and more that you are a really great boy. Even without football.

Have fun with it.