The chance to play professional soccer is within reach if you follow the path less travelled. You can follow the status quo and become a statistic or you can opt to go against the grain.
Against the norm.
Against the majority and possibly against your coach.
Against your parents?
Settle down and don’t get carried away.
Most players want to be told what to do. Do this and do that, train like this and kick it like that. Don’t eat that, eat this. The merry go round continues endlessly to the point of no return.
Do you know why most players want to be told what to do? Whether it’s the coach or the parent the principles are the same. If I tell you what to do or how to train, the responsibility for your soccer becomes mine.
You get the easy way out, phew, lucky!
Really?
But what happens when you place the responsibility in the wrong hands? What happens when the fountain of youth dries up and the responsibility has changed hands several times to no avail?
Whether you’re starting out or a veteran of the game, take control of your soccer career. Don’t give the responsibility to anyone but yourself.
Giving up the responsibility is like shooting yourself in the foot. Have you ever tried playing the game with one foot?
“May the winds of destiny blow you to the stars.”
fascinating, I’d love you to expand on this. here is a video to get you started: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORBUYfVYJKM&feature=related
I look at this and think, my kid could do this if he would really drill it, but then, he doesn’t like to do that, he want to play, mess around with a few moves, try to juggle a bit, then play a game and he doesn’t want to do the kind of drills it is necessary to get this skill level.
because he wants to play his own games, he isn’t going to achieve the skill level of this kid. I’d like to believe that just letting him take charge of his own development will eventually be better for him as a player. But I don’t think that.
I think the focused drills of the kid in the video would be much better for player development, but much worse for my kid’s fun. Am I wrong?
(none of this is any comment on this kid, he looks like he enjoys the extreme focus, but 99% of 5 year olds are more like my kid, where they want more play to their practice.)
Gday Anon,
Once again, thanks for the questions and thanks for being a loyal reader. Anon you raise some good questions and issues so I will dedicate the next post to you. Stay tuned.
just to add, I let him do his thing, no forcing any drills on him.
“Do you know why most players want to be told what to do? Whether it’s the coach or the parent the principles are the same. If I tell you what to do or how to train, the responsibility for your soccer becomes mine.”
One counterpoint though. I believe that players who are told what to do and how to train will eventually become self sufficient and won’t need that extrinsic motivation any more. Those who can take the external motivation and turn it into intrinsic motivation is a small percentage, but it does happen.