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Training & Playing "On The Edge"
MENTAL PREPARATION FOR PERFORMANCE.
TRAINING & PLAYING "ON THE EDGE".
"The will to win is as important as the skill to win"
Soccer at the highest level requires players to perform with an incredibly competitive intensity.
Question: "How do you think these players learned at your age to reach such high levels of passion?"
Answer: "They learned that during practices the harder they pushed themselves the better they became in their matches."
Read the answer again and explain why you think this is.
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The amount of effort and attention you give in training sessions is transferred into how you play in your "real matches." It's very simple: if you don't give everything you have in training you will never develop into as good a player as you could be.
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Think back to your last coaching session and give 3 examples of where you could have given more.
1) ............................................................................................................................................
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2) ............................................................................................................................................
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3) ............................................................................................................................................
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Whichever example you think is most important, make a point of working hard at improving this at your next session.
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Do you really want to become the best player you could possibly be?
If you answered yes, then from now on YOU need to give yourself a score for how good you think you are at each of the following based on this scale:
1 = Excellent
2 = Very Good
3 = Good
4 = Average
5 = Poor
6 = Terrible
Place your score after each statement. BE HONEST OTHERWISE ITS NO USE!
1) A COMMITMENT TO BECOME THE BEST YOU CAN BE.
A. Approaching every coaching session with seriousness. ....................
B. Come to enjoy yourself but eager to learn ....................
C. Be determined to leave the session having learned as much as you possibly could..............
2) SET YOURSELF HIGH STANDARDS
A. Make sure you arrive in plenty of time & remember everything you need tobring..............
B. Every week try to make your homework the best you've ever done .....................
3) GIVE EVERYTHING YOU HAVE
A. Have pride and strive for excellence in EVERYTHING you do .......................
B. Concentrate and think as hard as you can .......................
C. Challenge and push yourself in technical practices ..........................
D. Keep focused and concentrate in tactical practices ...........................
E. Think quickly in scrimmages ............................
F. Work as hard as you possibly can in scrimmages ............................
Whichever lines you have marked with a high number are the areas that you should work to improve first. You should even try to improve those areas that you have marked with the best scores. No matter how good you are at something you can always improve. Keep working to get even better at it.
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The kind of player that YOU should be looking to be is one that:
* WANTS to be the best rather than thinking they ARE the best.
* Is prepared to push themselves harder than they ever have before.
* Won't take the easy way out and settle for standards of others that are below theirs.
* Will fight and battle to win the ball back for their team as well as for themselves.
* Takes a consistent pride in his/her effort and determination.
* Is excited about the thought of getting better.
These kinds of players rise to the top and because of the amount of effort they put into their performances in training, they feel great satisfaction when they start to see big differences in their level of play in matches.
If you are aspiring to develop excellence you need to work hard to make all of the above parts of both you performance & personality.
YOU NEVER LOSE YOU ONLY LEARN!
Too many players get down on themselves when they consider their team has "been beaten."
The result of the game isn't as important as the level of effort and pride you performed with.
It's hard to understand why anyone would step on to the field of play if they are not going to give 100% effort to their team and their play. To do well as a team you need every player to give their maximum personal effort.
Professional players will not tolerate a lack of effort from anyone on their team. If one player gives up and they lose, that is unacceptable.
The fact is that almost all young players don't know what giving their all means because when they start to feel tired they either give in or get substituted.
Writing Exercise : Explain what you think giving your all means for a player. Give examples of what you think would happen to a player like this in a game. Give practical examples. Also comment on how you think his/her teammates would look upon him/her and how do you think YOU would feel if this player was YOU.
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