The title of this post is a little misleading don’t you think? “Success through failure”, how is this possible? Give me 5 minutes and I will try and explain.
Soccer success is the result of good judgement. I know what you’re thinking, it can’t be that easy. But before you shoot my ideas down let me elaborate. Let me start again, Soccer success is the result of good judgement. Good judgement is the result of experience. Do you agree?
So the sequence is
- Soccer Success is the result of good judgement.
- Good judgement is the result of experience.
Now wait for it, Experience and the lessons we learn are often the result of bad judgement. Are you still with me? The bad decisions or the painful experiences we encounter in soccer are the little gems where you can learn the most. To simplify this, the mistakes you make or the wrong choices you make will inevitably add to your experience. The more experience you obtain the better your judgement. When you are armed with good judgement, soccer success will inevitably fall in your lap.
Now here’s the honest truth. When I was playing and I succeeded, whether it was a win, the championship or a new contract, guess what I did? Let me just quickly change that question. When my team succeeded guess what we did? Don’t look down on this because most people do it. When people succeed, they tend to party. So what did we do? We partied. At one stage the team I was playing for were recognised as having the best after parties. So when we as a team succeeded, the lessons we learnt was not to drink that much and how to disguise the fact that we were partying.
What would happen when we lose? As a team we would ponder, think and try and work out what when wrong. Why did we lose? Why did I get benched? The hard questions would always be asked when things went wrong. It’s from these questions that you learn the most about yourself. You begin to make distinctions through experience that will, in the long run enhance the quality of your soccer and even life.
So for all those players still playing, here’s a little advice. Commit to learning from your mistakes. At the end of the day, I’m human, you’re human, so you are going to make mistakes. Beating yourself up or living in regret does not serve you at all. Everybody is destined to make mistakes, but the difference now is we are committed to learning from these mistakes.
Under no circumstance are you to underestimate the value of personal experience. Personal experience is like a sponge that grows with all your mistakes and acts like a filter the next time you are confronted with a decision. The bigger the sponge, the bigger the filter. So learn from your past and enlarge your future.
Having 25 years of soccer experience myself, I can honestly tell you that personal experience is very important. Would I say it’s the most important?
“No I wouldn’t”.
Opinions will differ and people will argue the next point. But before I announce it, what would you consider the most important path to your soccer success? Could it be personal experience? Could it be training? Could it be the money you pay for private lessons?
At this very moment I’ve placed personal experience as important, but not the most important. As important as personal experience is, think how invaluable it is to have a role model as well. I was going to say father figure, but the sad truth is that not all soccer players have a father. Let’s think about this statement for a while,
“The most important ingredient for soccer success is that of a role model with the addition of personal experience.”
Imagine having the services of someone that has already experienced the soccer journey. Someone who’s navigated the pitfalls before you and has a good map for you to follow. Having someone that can shield you and can save you years of pain and keep you from going off the rails. What would this person be worth to you?
There will be times when your father, parents, coach, manager and friends cannot help you. There will be times when your role model will be absent and the decisions will be made on your own. The difference now is that you’re willing to learn from your experience. Even times you might think were difficult become great because they provide valuable information that you will use to make better decisions in the future.
The trick to soccer success is to
“Use whatever soccer gives you in the moment”.
Decide what it is that you’re committed to achieving. (Only you can answer this question). Once you have decided on your goal, take action and make mistakes. Through your mistakes, work out what’s working and what’s not. Through the decisions you make, you gain the necessary experience needed to succeed in soccer.
Hopefully this argument gives weight to my initial title
“Soccer Success through Failure”.
For those of you that do not have a role model don’t despair. Just by following this site I offer you over 25 years of soccer experience. The secret at the end of the day is this
“Learn from your mistakes”
Soccer Mastermind,
Good post, the ending is clever! I agree success does come through failure. It is no coincidence that some of the biggest superstars and idols in sports had plenty of failures and let downs along the way. Sometimes it is those failures that drive you play even harder. Often it is the players that have success at a young age are unsuccessful when they get older b/c they never had to fight for it. It is easy to say now looking back, but you have to believe that when one door closes two doors open. You just have to find them!
I once saw a quote I liked that said something about experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.
If players have opportunities to learn from role models who have already been there like yourself than that is huge. I didn’t have that growing up and I wish I did. A smart person learns from their mistakes, but a genius learns from the experience of others.
Great post and keep up the good work!