GAME BODY MIND OFF THE PITCH NEWS

Using The Power Of Soccer To Fight AIDS

It is not very often that you meet someone that is so humble and cares more about the well-being of others than his own. When you do meet people like Ethan Zohn, they make you want to model their actions and follow their lead to greatness. And leading is exactly what Ethan is doing by creating a grassroots youth soccer movement to help fight AIDS in Africa called Grassroot Soccer United.

After playing professional soccer in Zimbabwe and experiencing the AIDS epidemic first hand by losing one of his best friends to the disease, Ethan founded Grassroot Soccer along with Tommy Clark, Kirk Friedrich, and Methembe Ndlovu in 2002. After winning the reality television show Survivor in Africa, Ethan decided to put his prize money to work by saving lives and fighting AIDS.

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of meeting Ethan and learned about his plan to raise awareness and money to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa with his Dribble Campaign. Ethan started his mission on August 20th at Gillete Stadium during the New England Revs game and will be dribbling 500 miles across the East coast making various stops for clinics then ending the dribble in Washington D.C.

Help Ethan Fight HIV/AIDS

While Ethan is dribbling to raise awareness for Grassroot Soccer United, you can get involved in several ways. Here is a short list of what you can to personally to help Ethan:

1. Join the Grassroot Soccer Dribble Team << REGISTER HERE >>
2. DONATE $10 TO GET STARTED and ask 10 friends to do the same. (That would be $110).
3. Share this blog post by clicking on the Share This Icon below and choosing your favorite places to share the Dribble Campaign OR email this link to your friends.
4. Follow Ethan and encourage him on his YouTube page and his Facebook group.
5. Buy A GRSU T-Shirt or Ball
6. Nominate GRSU for the American Express Members Project.
7. Do something in your local community ( I’m holding a soccer clinic for the kids at my church ).

Why Communication Is Key?

How much do you communicate to your teammates on the pitch?  Do you provide direction when pressure is on coming?  For example, “Watch your back Bill, man coming from your left.  Look at James up top - he’s got Seth to support him - play to his feet”.  This type of communication helps teammates immensely and should be a significant part of your game.

What does communication look like?

Communication – is how well you listen to, instruct, guide and help teammates verbally.

ON THE PITCH

Communication is used to carry out instructions and tactical changes. This has become common practice in modern-day football. Forms of communication used during the match are: vocal anchors, gestures and signals.

Each type can be assigned to an individual, a unit and/or the whole team. Preordained commands/signs or gestures have been used to play offside and press opponents as a team. Often the spine of the team (center forward, center midfield, center back and goalkeeper) would use these forms of communication to keep the balance of the team formation.

OFF THE PITCH

Managers and coaching staff are able to influence the squads’ communication skills by interacting with the players. Often used at the Half-time interval and before/after a training session/match. This can be with an individual, small group or the entire squad. Resulting in an improvement to the working environment and overall harmony that aids the day-to-day running of any large football club.

5 Ideas for action:

1. Look at Captains of National teams and big clubs, how the use the technics of communication available on the pitch
2. Listen to interview and make a note when you feel the player or coach has a good media profile of the pitch
3. Ask advice from players/coaches who you respect
4. Attend courses provided by local or national sporting bodies on this subject
5. On the pitch, this tool is as important as any other skill, never neglect it and always look for new ways or new languages to enhance this tecnique

As part of FFC’s series on, “24 Key Elements To Being A Great Footballer” we are discussing each key element in 24 successive blog posts every Monday, Wednesday & Friday over an 8 week period inside the respective Game, Body and Mind sections. For more information about the 24 Key Elements get our Players Assessment Kit here. Be sure to also subscribe to FFC by email or RSS - just visit the subscribe button in the top right corner of the page.

What ideas, input, experiences or resources can you share?

Resources:

Football Communication

Communication Coaching

Explosive Speed Is What You Need

Are you able to blow past your opponent like a screaming fast Forumla One car does an orange road cone? Can you imagine skinning someone like that? When was the last time you did it?

What speed looks like?

Very simply put, speed is your explosive ability to consistently outpace your competitor.  Explosive speed is an essential element in football. Players with speed both on and off the ball wreck havoc on their competitors. It is both a physical and mental skill that can be enhanced with practice.

Players like Cristano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi exude speed. Off the ball they are lightening fast - they cut and they explode. On the ball they pierce defenses like daggers and only defenders with speed to match are able to shut them down. Players with excellent speed create lots of problems for defenses and lots of opportunities to score. In fact, defending such talent takes even greater speed and focus.

Increasing Your Speed

Developing your speed means having great body posture and a sharp muscular physique. Players that possess great speed have very strong quadriceps, hamstrings, calves and abdominal muscles (for balance, posture and strength). More importantly than muscle physique, players with speed have excellent movement mechanics.

Similar to developing your technical ball control skills, developing strong running movement mechanics takes consistent practice as well.

Ideas for Action:

1. Video tape yourself running, watch and understand the mechanics of your posture. Compare your running technique to that of a world class runner.

2. Read a book on running mechanics and watch specialized videos on the mechanics of running.

3. Practice speed visualization – imagine yourself running extremely fast and take mental notes on what you see in order to accomplish it in real life.

4. Stretch and do flexibility exercises regularly like performing Yoga.

5. Strengthen your abdominal region with a series of consistent abdominal workouts. This will help improve your posture.

As part of FFC’s series on, “24 Key Elements To Being A Great Footballer” we are discussing each key element in 24 successive blog posts every Monday, Wednesday & Friday over an 8 week period inside the respective Game, Body and Mind sections. For more information about the 24 Key Elements get our Players Assessment Kit here.

What ideas, input, experiences or resources can you share about speed?

Playing Smart Soccer With Positional Play

When you’re in the heat of a match do you find yourself relaxed and setting the pace of play? Or, do you feel hurried trying find an opportunity to breath? Read more

24 Key Elements To Being A Great Footballer

Have you ever wondered what makes a footballer great? Do you dream of being a great footballer one day? Well, what is it that makes one a great footballer? I’m sure there are many opinions and suggestions to these questions Read more

Switch On Your Confidence

Who controls your thoughts? You guessed it - YOU DO! Do you believe in your abilities or do you doubt them? Think about it a bit.

How can you expect to succeed if you don’t believe in yourself? Having confidence in your own abilities plays a major role in your ability to succeed. So, what is confidence really?

Confidence

Confidence – is your personal belief in your ability to do something, your emotional state of mind.

What confidence looks like?

If you think you cannot do something chances are you won’t. If you think you can do something chances are you can. If you do not believe in your own ability to achieve a goal you are creating your own competition. Why would you do that?

If you have to play against an opponent you must know that you will out compete them. Once you allow doubt into your mind you give your opponent a teammate and now you are playing against them and yourself. Now, the probability of success when you play 2 against 1 are that you will lose most of the time. It sounds so simple right? Believe it or not, it is that simple.

Make Up Your Mind To Achieve

Once you make your mind up that you have the ability to achieve something you will. Maybe it takes a few times but, if you do not believe in yourself, achieving success is much harder than it needs to be.

Confidence is a mindset. Think of it as a light switch that you have the power to turn on or off. If you are not confident in your own ability - ask yourself why? What makes you unequipped to achieve success? How can you change the elements in your thoughts that create timidness?

Professor Raj Persaud said, “true self-confidence comes from an attitude where you “promise yourself, no matter how difficult the problem life throws at you, that you will try as hard as you can to help yourself. You acknowledge that sometimes your efforts to help yourself may not result in success, as often being properly rewarded is not in your control.”

“If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life. With confidence, you have won before you have started.” - Marcus Tullius Cicero. (Quotes Sourced from Wikipedia)

Ideas for Action:

1. Start every activity by believing in your ability to succeed.
2. Spend time visualizing what your success looks like. Then BE Successful.
3. Make up your Mind and understand that BEING SUCCESSFUL IS A STATE OF MIND.
4. Hang out with positive people and ignore negative people.
5. Read about confident athletes and practice their strategies to maintain confidence.

What ideas, input, experiences or resources can you share about confidence?

As part of FFC’s series on, “24 Key Elements To Being A Great Footballer” we are discussing each key element in 24 successive blog posts every Monday, Wednesday & Friday over an 8 week period inside the respective Game, Body and Mind sections. For more information about the 24 Key Elements get our Players Assessment Kit here. Be sure to also subscribe to FFC by email or RSS - just visit the subscribe button in the top right corner of the page.

Good Fuel Makes A Difference

What structure food intake looks like? (minus the fry’s)

Food intake is about eating healthy and wisely with a plan in mind. Having a nutritional plan is a crucial part of preparation for footballers both on match days and during the training cycle. Not only is it important to consume the correct foods it is also crucial as to ‘when’ and in ‘what’ quantity they are taken.

A recommended balanced diet in football players consists of 70% carbohydrate, 15% protein, and 15% fat.
Carbohydrates are used during performance to produce energy and the muscles store this energy as glycogen. Complex carbohydrates, polysaccharides and starches are considered ideal for the delivery of a substantial amount of for footballers.

Foods that contain carbohydrate properties

Pasta, rice, bread, potatoes, cereal and raw/steamed vegetables are great for pumping your system with carbs. Simple carbohydrates can be used to maintain or ramp up the level of glycogen stored in the muscles. A few snacks that contain great carb values are; fruit, sponge cake, fruit tarts, jam, marmalade, honey, lemon curd and yogurt.

Foods that contain protein, fat and essential vitamins and minerals

Pulses, fish and white meats such as turkey and chicken (grilled whenever possible). Selecting foods from each of these categories (carbohydrate, protein and fat) to the desired percentages (70% carbohydrate, 15% protein and 15% fat) will deliver and thereafter help maintain the the nutritional balance needed for a healthy and nutritious footballers diet.

5 Ideas for action:

1. Experiment during preseason to find the best balance for you both in food type and in quantity
2. Give yourself enough time to find the right food and to digest before competition or practice
3. Enhance your own knowledge by reading and studying nutrition in football
4. Ensure your diet is balanced and variable, never settle for second best when your diet is concerned
5. Prepareing and organizing a structured eating plan will help you focus on the right foods. Desire to be the best you can and be willing to help others as you learn.

Resources:
The FA’s Football Nutrition Guide

As part of FFC’s series on, “24 Key Elements To Being A Great Footballer” we are discussing each key element in 24 successive blog posts every Monday, Wednesday & Friday over an 8 week period inside the respective Game, Body and Mind sections. For more information about the 24 Key Elements get our Players Assessment Kit here. Be sure to also subscribe to FFC by email or RSS - just visit the subscribe button in the top right corner of the page.

What ideas, input, experiences or resources can you share about best nutritional practices?

Marking To Protect Your Net

This kicks off our first post in our focused series, “24 Key Elements To Being A Great Footballer”. Over the next 8 weeks we’ll be taking an in-depth and fundamental look into the key skills that most great footballers possess. Today we are talking about marking.

What marking looks like?

Marking is your ability to track and apply pressure on your opponent or a specific area on the field of play. The two major forms of marking used in modern day football are known as ‘Man marking’ and ‘Zonal marking’.

MAN MARKING

There are a couple of critical factors to consider in this role. First, the distance between the marker and the opponent must remain minimal. Make your presence known by your opponent with contact - if your opponent knows your just a step from them they understand that they must be sharp to handle the ball or work harder to shake you off. Second, a marker’s concentration is to be on the player’s positioning, rather than the ball. Managers will often use ‘man marking’ when defending set pieces. So, don’t get caught ball watching or your opponent will break free and be in a position to score or become a serious threat on your net.

ZONAL MARKING

Zonal marking is based on the position of the ball in regard to the closest opposition player. Markers can increase the distance between the player and themselves if the ball is distant from them. A general guide in this case, would be to allow no more than a 90-degree angle of vision between the ball and the opposing player. Think of a perfect triangle with you at the point. If you’re equidistant between your opponent and the ball then your in position to manage potential offensive threats.

5 Ideas for action:

In order to improve your marking skill consider the following:

1. Watch the best strikers and how they lose their marker, remember the tricks and learn. For example Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
2. Look at how the best markers stay with their man and how they read the game. For example Riccardo Carvalho.
3. Practice with the best strikers available, play against different styles like tall, strong or quick and skillful. Create 1v1 and 2v2 situations with a server to play the ball in to your striker. Make these happen in and around the realistic positions of the pitch
4. Find evidence in the league tables of top scores and best defence and watch both teams (if different)
5. In training try new ways of staying with your man for man marking or reading the game when playing zonal. This will give you more confidence in the game and also give you better knowledge of your own capabilities

As part of FFC’s series on, “24 Key Elements To Being A Great Footballer” we are discussing each key element in 24 successive blog posts every Monday, Wednesday & Friday over an 8 week period inside the respective Game, Body and Mind sections. For more information about the 24 Key Elements get our Players Assessment Kit here. Be sure to also subscribe to FFC by email or RSS - just visit the subscribe button in the top right corner of the page.

What ideas, input, experiences or resources can you share?

How Tough Are You Mentally?

It’s a challenging question isn’t it? Yet, it’s what separates the men from the boys and the women from the girls. Your mental toughness is as important as your physical conditioning and technical skill and in the big games - it’s often what makes champions. Looking at it closely, what makes up Your Mind? As a player let’s take a look.

Your Mind Consists Of:

1. Communication – how well you listen to, instruct, guide and help teammates verbally.
2. Confidence – your personal belief in your abilities.
3. Aggression – your attitude and competitive nature.
4. Understanding – how well you know and study the game.
5. Reading the Game – your thought process and ability to impact the game tactically.
6. Awareness – your vision and foresight to capitalize or reduce pressure in the game.
7. Preparation – your ability to concentrate and perform consistently at high levels.
8. Composure – your capability to recover mentally from performance lapses or manage high stress situations.

Get Stuck In & Share Your Thoughts

Now, while we work to lead the discussion we need your participation and open mind. What do you think about these key elements? Where do you think you stack up? If you’d like to find out where you stand click here. Share your thoughts below and make sure to subscribe to the blog so you get everything right in your inbox or RSS feed reader.

What Does Your Game Look Like?

Well, players we are kicking off a focused fundamental study just for you. We want to help you Sharpen Your Game and we’ll be working over the next 8 weeks to discuss the key elements that we have outlined below.

Your Game’s Key Elements

1. Marking – your ability to track and apply pressure on your opponent.
2. Positional Play – your ability to consistently be a step ahead of your competitor.
3. Ball Control – your technical ability to hold, secure, distribute and attack with the ball.
4. Intercepting – your ability to dispossess the opponent and transition play.
5. Tackling – your ability in taking the ball directly from your opponent.
6. Heading – defensively or offensively, your ability to play with your head.
7. Attacking – your ability to penetrate and threaten your opponents goal.
8. Shooting – your ability to hit the target and score!

Get Stuck In & Share Your Thoughts

Now, while we work to lead the discussion we need your participation and open mind. What do you think about these key elements? Where do you think you stack up? If you’d like to find out where you stand click here. Share your thoughts below and make sure to subscribe to the blog so you get everything right in your inbox or RSS feed reader.

Next Page »

Copyright © 2008 Soccer Training Advice For Players | Footballers FC · Log in