Great title don’t you think? I know, I know, a little misleading.

Did you believe it? Sorry!

Unless you’re living in Fantasyland or in the district of delusions, age is definitely not on your side. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, tick, tick, tick.

A.G.E in this case stands for Attitude, Goals and Execution.

Attitude is the most important out of these. Questions like

How do you deal with pressure?

How do you deal with failure or mistakes?

Are you happy and hungry for the game?

What about your likeability? Do you enjoy the game?

Do you train with enthusiasm and high spirits or do you merely drag your feet and go through the motions?

If you have the wrong attitude and lack motivation then your path to stardom will be a difficult one. Goals and the execution rely heavily on your attitude.

If you ask any youth coach these days they will preach training and execution is the most important. However, I’ve just spent the last two days reading a book purely on coaching kids soccer.

390 pages of bullshit and at times it felt like he was writing to fill his quota. Don’t bother asking who the author is or what the book is called. But what amazes me is that this book is a best seller on Amazon.

Best Seller?

Gee Wiz, how many parents with all the best intentions will coach from this book? Parents with no experience will learn from this book and try to coach their kids. Is it the right message?

News Flash, Big News or just simply wake up.

No player has ever succeeded because they executed tactics or training drills from a book. Instructional books are worthless if you do not set yourself goals and short-term targets.

What’s the point of training if you do not have goals?

As far as I’m concerned, the most important aspect of the game is never talked about. Don’t get me wrong here, training is important and so are drills. But if you’re going to write a book about soccer success and struggle through 390 pages of rubbish, please mention Attitude. Surely goal setting would make an appearance but it never showed.

What a waste!

In the middle of this post are 6 questions that never get talked about. If you’re attitude is wrong, no amount of goal setting or training will help. A book that simply displays training drills will not guarantee you success, far from it.

Answer the following questions honestly and you will gain more from this exercise than reading any book.

Remember this before I go,

Attitude is everything. The best coach and training facilities will not guarantee you anything in this game. Get your attitude and goals in order and let the coach worry about the drills.

“May the Winds of Destiny blow you to the Stars.”

Lets start today with a scenario.

If you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, what would you do? You’re not going to fool around by going to a lot of doctors. You’re going to search and find the best doctor.

Aren’t you?

Why would you risk it when you only get one chance?

When your time is limited and opportunities are scarce, why wouldn’t you search and find the best soccer coach?

Isn’t the principle the same?

You should always seek out quality and never succumb to the convenient. You only get one chance at the big time.

Let me twist things a bit more.

Just about everything you learnt in school about life is wrong. Don’t laugh; give me a chance to explain.

Schools teaches students to be well rounded. If your report card read 1A, 3B’s and a C, you would be pleased and so would your parents. But what happens if you came home with A+, A and 3D’s. Would you be satisfied? Would you be in trouble? I think you would.

How often do well-rounded players get scouted by the big clubs? Being well rounded is just a polite way of being average.

What happens to the players that play to their strengths and stand out? Whether it’s physical strength, speed or skills it doesn’t matter. They stand out and form an imaginary line between them and the rest of the masses that play the game. They stand out the same way an A+ does in a report card.

Players that specialise are definitely not part of the masses that play the game to become well balanced. In today’s transfer market, we reward the exceptional, the A+.

Super quick players become over lapping full backs and terrorise the flanks. Big, tall, strong physiques become stoppers and set fear in all the strikers. Skilful players sit in the middle of the park and orchestrate the game with precision passing. Strikers sharpen their killer instinct by spending days shooting at goals and celebrating to the imaginary crowd.

So before you become well balanced and average, strive for the A+.

Stand out, be different, play to your strengths and become an A+, not a handful of B’s and C’s.

Good luck in your next report card.