Soccer Training Tips: A Superstar Is Not A Statistical Inevitability

The one key ingredient that cannot be taught or given is that of desire. Do you understand what desire is? Do you have desire?

Desire that is strong will never allow compromise. Desire is that burning ambition that allows you to train when it’s freezing and raining outside when the rest of the soccer community sits at home playing computer games. Desire entices you to be your best and to push your body and mind to breaking point. Simply put, desire drives the player towards the final destination and to that inevitable championship.

You could be the most gifted athlete on the park, but if you lack desire your journey in soccer will be short lived. Desire is required to complete all those boring routines that need to be completed daily, without doubt and distraction.

Do you have the desire to wake up in the morning before work or before school to train? Answer honestly; do you want to play top flight soccer?

Why do some players have desire and most don’t? Believe it or not, desire is directly proportional to being a champion soccer player. How many champion soccer players have you played with or seen succeed and go on to play in the big leagues. Chances are very few.

The champions of the game understand that the small compromises are the ones that make the most difference. Compromises so small that they are evident only to them. Imagine what would happen to your child if you traded the PlayStation or the Nintendo in for a couple of solid hours training. Could your child be the next David Beckham? Absolutely, why not.

Resisting temptation or the luxuries of life set apart the superstars of the future and the kids that take part in soccer. Resisting the easy way out and those small insidious compromises is the only way to stardom. Giving in to technology and the marketing exploits of the big companies is the destroyer of all those that might have been.

If you don’t believe me, pick up any good sporting autobiography. The common theme that most sportsmen talk about is the sacrifices they had to make. The 4-6 hour training days that pushed them to mental boiling point. The early starts that would give any unprotected athlete frost bite against the all conquering winter months. Do you have this drive in you? Do you want to be the best?

All of the greatest soccer players in the world had a burning desire to be the best. Most players attribute their success to their childhood upbringing. Most were poor and soccer was a means to an end. Soccer was seen as a survival mechanism not a social gathering.

The path to becoming a professional soccer player is no secret. The path to follow is well trodden and well understood if you know where to look.

The journey or the path begins with perfection. You need to have a powerful desire to get close to perfection, to be the best.

To get close to perfection you need, wait for it, intelligence. You need intelligence to select the right training methods and to train in the correct manner.

You must learn to recognize and overcome boredom and persist with all the repetitive training drills. Believe it or not, many players get close to stardom but can’t hack the boredom of sticking to the same training regime every day.

Don’t look for the easy way out. I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, grit those teeth and push.

When you’ve pushed yourself to the limit, you have every opportunity to further improve and beat your old record. Revel in doing it because it’s tough, be proud.

Along this journey you will encounter various twists and turns. These forks in the road represent your strengths and weaknesses. If you want to be the best, you need to conquer all the various components of soccer. Identify all the components of soccer and write them down. They include things like strength, speed, agility, skill and the long list goes on.

Once you have identified all the components, deal with them one at a time. Deal with one aspect of the game until no-one is better than you in that component and then move on to the next. This is no secret, it’s called specializing.

But remember this, the journey to stardom will only guarantee you one thing. It will make you aware of all your weaknesses. This is the key to being a superstar. Remember champions are never incubated in their comfort zone. Pull up the sleeves and work.

Last but not least, if you acquire the necessary desire and are willing to travel on this path, the journey alone will put you in the top 5% of all players.

Don’t entertain the idea that being a superstar is a statistical inevitability. That it will happen to someone else. If you really want it, if you have that burning desire, you can have it.

I’ll see you at 6am for that sprint session you’ve been neglecting.