Aggression Can Set You Apart
September 7, 2008
So you think you’re aggressive huh? How would your peers rate you on aggressiveness? Better yet, how would you rate yourself on your level of aggression? Since, it all starts with you - where do you stand?
What aggression looks like?
Aggression – is your attitude and competitive nature. Aggressiveness is a mindset that the best players in the world just have. Being aggressive means that you are in the mix of play at every chance you get. You desire to receive and distribute the ball. When you don’t have the ball you pressure your opponent like crazy to win back possession.
Mia Hamm is one of those players that optimizes aggression. She did not become one of the most dangerous strikers in the world by being passive. Mia put everything she could into the game and always came ready to play mentally.
To be aggressive requires a certain mindset. Simply put, it is nothing more than deciding that you are going play with high energy, passion and determination. Go – Go – Go is the rate that you play and never stop. When you fall, you get up and you dig in harder.
Improving Your Aggression
No matter how aggressive you think you are, there is always room to improve. Playing with aggression for 90 minutes requires a lot of stamina both physically and mentally. However, you have to make up your mind to be aggressive. If you are the aggressor with in your own 1 on 1 positional battle, chances are that you will wear down your opponent but, he who has the greater mental muscle most often wins.
To improve your aggression you need to first evaluate where you think you are on the aggression scale. Go ahead, assign yourself a rating 1-10 and take action to turn up your aggression knob up.
Ideas for Action:
- Determine who you think is the most aggressive player in the world then try to match that players level of aggression.
- Before playing listen to aggressive music to help get you into an aggressive mental state (that’s what I did).
- Visualize your self as a Cheetah chasing down its prey. Can you feel the energy?
- Do 50 push-ups before a match as fast as you can to get your blood pumping (worked for me).
- Watch a movie like Braveheart before play to get pumped up. Better yet, watch film of yourself playing at your peak performance then beat that performance.
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?
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