I do my best to encourage positive change and goal setting all year around here at Soccer Mastermind.
But that doesn’t change the fact that a new year-new decade- has just passed us by.
What better way to start fresh?
The start of the year is a great time for setting New Year resolutions and a great time to map out some goals.
If you’re like me, you’ve just finished a week-long binge on food, alcohol and spending.
It’s that time again. The time has come again to put ourselves under the microscope and under pressure to commit to new goals and to make decisions to start doing something or to stop doing something.
Lets start with some questions.
Are you motivated?
Are you passionate about Soccer?
Do you love playing the game?
Will you do anything for that elusive contract?
Chances are you’ve answered “yes” to all of the above. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while I can guarantee that you have answers, techniques and solutions to the above questions and how to get that elusive contract.
Congratulations!
Do you spend a lot of time thinking about training?
Do you read a lot of books and magazines about the game?
Did you read the latest autobiography about the young boy with nothing that became the million-dollar pin up boy for Nike?
Of course you did!
But how much time did you devote to actual training? How much time did you spend in the gymnasium pushing weights? How much time did you spend with your coach working on your weaknesses?
Congratulations!
Everybody wants the million dollar contract. Everybody wants to be sponsored by the heavy weights and the blue chip companies. Everybody wants to play the game professionally and never have to work.
But how many of you are getting things done? How many of you are actually following my advice?
If you have been, get out the Goals you set at the start of 2009.
Did you accomplish your goals? Have you become a better player? Hang on a minute; you didn’t set any did you?
Time to get serious in 2010.
As you look into the screen, get a nice idea of the player you want to become. Try and visualize it.
Have you got it?
Now back to reality. Lets get real honest and eliminate all the bullshit and pipe dreams for one second. Think about the player you’re now.
Notice the difference.
The lesson today without trying to be cynical is this,
Step 1- understand and workout exactly what you want out of the game.
Step 2- understand exactly where you are today
Step 3- Make up the difference with sweat, blood and tears.
That’s it!
I’m not going to annoy you with goal setting tips, mind maps or a list of things to do. If you’re interested you can find all those resources for yourself, this site being one of them.
So the message for 2010 is this, “Notice the Difference.”
If you can prove to me that you set goals when I posted
Soccer Goals Or Goal Setting, Choose Wisely
I will buy you a new pair of boots, your choice of course.
Can you see the point? Goal setting does not work unless you actually set goals and write them down.
“May the winds of destiny blow you to the stars.”
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As usual, great post. We can all bang on about how to get goals out there but if you’re not writing them down and checking on your progress throughout the year, what’s the point?
Thomas, you are on the mark again!
Understand the gap between the player you are and the player you want to be (notice the difference), and close the gap with hard work (blood, sweat and tears)! Nothing else will work.
Excellent thoughts my friend! All the best to you.
@Tony, thanks for the feedback and kind words
@Coach Mark If I’m not mistaken we talked about SEO some time ago. Looks like you’ve come a long way since then, congratulations and thanks for the feedback.
topic for a future post that is related to this. I have a kid who is really into soccer at age 5 and is good, but not likely to be an exceptional athlete because I am not. I’d like him to develop and be good enough to play the game into high school- which is tough as we are in Los Angeles. (He of course thinks he is going to win the world cup.) The difficulty is that he’d like to just play one on one all day-which is fun and we do it- but not work on any technique, not even real basics like turning the ball. Should I just be patient and wait for him to ask or really push him to learn some basics? I’m torn because I prefer to just be a fun dad, but its also valuable to learn early that you have to work on technique to get good.
Gday Anon thanks for the question.
I’ll definitely cover this issue in more depth in a future post.
“I have a kid who is really into soccer at age 5 and is good.” Thats fantastic Anon you must be proud.
“not likely to be an exceptional athlete because I’m not”. If you rely on genetics to land you a professional contract or to become an athlete I’m afraid you’re going to fall short. The gap or difference caused by genetics can be overcome with hard training and dedication. A well conditioned player that plays to his strengths will always beat a genetically gifted player relying on his parents good genes to win.
“Los Angeles” I’m assuming LA is very competitive with limited opportunities since David Beckham has created a soccer frenzy. Am I right?
“he thinks he is going to win the world cup” That’s what childhood is all about, why wouldn’t he play in the world cup if that’s what he really wanted. Notice how I said what “HE” really wanted. At his age, the bigger the dream, the better. Support his enthusiasm and protect his dreams.
One-one is a great start and the fact that he has fun has enormous value.
“Fun Dad” Absolutely. Keep your child smiling and having fun. Just a few quick questions for you Anon,
Have you played the game?
Have you coached the game?
Not being cynical or anything, but what qualifies you to teach your son? Do you know the basic techniques?
If you really want to him to learn some basic techniques take him to some soccer clinics and see how he copes with that. Young children listen when they do not know the coach as opposed to listening to you, the father.
My advice, be the FUN Dad. At the age of 5, concentrate on fun and enjoyment. Technique and skills will eventually come with time. If your child doesn’t enjoy the game he will not pursue it and will quit. You take care of the fun and laughter during the one-one’s and let a coach (a good one of course) handle the basic techniques.
Who says he can’t play in the world cup? You! I hope not.
Hope this helps, if you have more questions I would love to hear them.
Thanks, I appreciate it, – and I’ll try to find a good coach or clinic.
I like truly liked the response you gave to Anon. As much as parents and/or coaches would like to speed up the learning process of a young athlete, we must respect the athletes’ developmental process.
it is great that a kid is dreaming to play at a world cup at a young age. this is how all of great and exceptional athletes accomplish extraordinary things…with a dream in mind.
also, at the age of 5 the main focus should not be to start specializing a particular sport, but on developing the multilateral skills to build a good overall solid athletic foundation. this focus will help a young athlete become an efficient mover and be ready to transition into the later stages of athletic development.
“Notice the difference”. Very basic and complicated at the same time. Love it. Keep up the great work.
Thomas,
Yes, we talked about a number of things a while back. It was a pleasure talking with you. I have something coming out soon that I think your readers will absolutely love. I’ll look you up when it’s finalized.
In the meantime, great job on the Blog/articles. Good stuff!
@Coach Mark
Sounds Good, when the time is right we can hook up on Skype and discuss what you have in mind.
I hate to come across as shamelessly plugging my company but anyone following this discussion of goal setting and tangible player development metrics should find what we’re doing with http://www.iSoccer.org very interesting. iSoccer is an objective, quantifiable, comprehensive technical assessment that allows players to benchmark their technical level, identify strengths and weaknesses, target their training, and set tangible improvement goals. Rather than writing everything on paper, we provide a set of tools for players to set goals, create training programs, and track their progress online. We also have a library of 500+ individual training exercises (videos) that players can customize like an iTunes playlist and download to their iPod for personal training without a trainer.
Someone made the comment about “noticing the difference.” This can be a challenge because soccer is such a subjective game. By quantifying technical ability as we have done, it’s easy for players, parents, and coaches to “notice the difference.” When players see a short-term, attainable goal they are motivated to work for it. When they see their effort paying off by achieving their goals, they are motivated to continue putting in the effort. Seeing other players of similar age with a slightly higher skill level is also a great motivator. There is a wealth of research behind the motivation of competition and self-modeling (check Albert Bandura’s research on self-efficacy, Anders Erickson on expert performance, and Anson Dorrance’s concept of the “competitive cauldron”).
My apologies for the product plug but I thought this post was so consistent with the founding principles of iSoccer that sharing would be a relevant contribution to the conversation.