Every soccer player wants some degree of success. Each player might want it in different forms, but I’ve never met any player who didn’t want to be successful at soccer. Is this good a good thing?
Success will mean something different to each individual. I believe everyone is entitled to pursue success and to some extent glory. But remember this before you get all excited, Soccer success is not an entitlement. The world game at the end of the day doesn’t owe you a thing, not even a cent.
Soccer riches, fame and fortune will not be handed to you because you’re a nice person. Or your father was a great player. Or you come from a rich family that will provide all the necessary benefits that comes with money. If you believe you will become a great soccer player because you are entitled to it or you deserve it, get your head out of the clouds and wake up. Stop living in a world of delusions.
The only way you’re going to make it in soccer with some degree of success is with “hard yakka”. The soccer journey is determined largely by your hard work and your choices. It’s amazing how many players think they deserve to be successful because they feel they have trained hard. I know many players who train and work hard but make bad decisions. Are they entitled to soccer success?
On the other hand, I don’t know many, if any, successful soccer players who made good choices but didn’t work hard.
Do you think that training hard will guarantee you a future contract worth millions? Please, I hope you’re not that naïve or ignorant. Training hard is only the first part of the journey. Making educated, informed decisions or choices is the second part. You need both if you’re going to play in some of the best leagues in the world.
Speaking from experience, making the right decisions or choices can be tricky on the best of days. Did I make bad choices playing soccer? You better believe it. As they say hind sight is a beautiful thing.
But before you stress out, remember this, not every decision you make has to be a good one. In the spur of the moment or the heat of the situation, what is a good decision anyway? Can you predict the future? I’m guessing not! But one thing I will hold you accountable for is this; make sure that you make more good choices than bad ones.
If you eventually work out that you’ve made a bad decision, which you will, make sure to minimize the impact by fixing it quickly. Simple isn’t it? Don’t let choices scare you, it’s these choices that will inevitably lead you to you’re your first professional contract or whatever it is you envision as success.
Looking back at my soccer career, some of my biggest lessons have not come from my successes but from my losses and wrong choices. If only we had a time machine. But don’t despair, having choices is a great way to develop and progress in the world of soccer. I’d be more worried and concerned with having no choices or opportunities than making the wrong decisions. There’s something to think about, next time you’ve got a major decision to make.
Before I go I’ll leave you with a thought, have the new generation of players simply forgotten about “the work ethic”?
Even worse, have we, as players, fans, parents and coaches too, forgotten that hard working players from humble beginnings can achieve extraordinary results and play in the big leagues with the big wigs?
I wonder what the secret is. Could it be train hard and work on your skills on a daily basis? Could it be making the right choices? Surely it’s not that easy.
But what if it is!
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