A Professional Soccer Player's Day is Like?

Should I play Soccer this year?

• Ok so I played JV soccer last year (sophomore year in HS) and I absolutely loved it! When it ended I was a bit sad. So this year I went to the soccer meeting the what really turned me off was that the coach told us that JV will be doing the same drills as Varsity. Now the conditioning doesn't really bother be, its just the way we'll practice. For JV practice last year, we played a lot of mini games and every now and then we would do some drills. But I absolutely loved this type of Coaching! It was fun and we all learned how to play the game well! Now last year when I would watch Varsity practice I noticed that they would do drills that the professionals did. Now and saw this and thought to myself, "good thing I'm not on varsity (yes I know most people shoot for varsity, but I just play for fun, so calm down) because that doesn't look very fun" and now the coach is making us practice the same way as varsity just so its easier for him to pick players from JV to go to varsity. The Varsity team takes soccer seriously and I don't take soccer very seriously. So if we are going to be playing "serious" soccer then I'm totally out since I here to play soccer for fun. Its a game to me. Yes I do enjoy soccer very much but if the coach is going to take is very seriously, then I won't play. I don't want to join the team (JV) and have to play serious soccer and have to go through the process of quitting. But I also don't want to not join soccer and find out that the coach decided not to make JV practice like the varsity. So I am truly lost in this decision, I need help on whether I should join or not. If your going to say, join soccer because is good exercise, it is. But I also run for 40-50 every day at home on my treadmill. So I run around 4-5 miles every day. So please. Help me out!

• Answer:

  If you just want to play for fun, join a league in the community. Many kids in highschool take their sports seriously because of scholarships or even getting scouted. If you want to be on JV or varsity then you need to practice. Most importantly you need to be working to become a better Soccer player each and every single day. If you think you’re “good enough” you’re wrong. Make a commitment to improve in some way every day and you will be on the road to Soccer success. If you want to become better you should be looking to improve all areas of your game not just a select few: Technical Skill, Physical Fitness, Mental Toughness, and Tactical Understanding. First of all you need to start training on your own - work to improve the basic ball skills, dribbling, shooting, passing, and ball control. Example: Dribble a ball around the house, practice your passing and shooting on a wall for 10 minutes a day. Work to improve your fitness: strength, power, speed, acceleration, endurance, and flexibility. Example: every second day do 50 push ups, 100 squats, and 50 sit ups .... go for a run every morning, gradually increasing your speed each time. Next you need to always give your best effort on the field. Remember you only have one chance to play that game so leave it all out there. Make a promise to yourself to be the hardest working player on the field, every time you step on the field. You should also start watching professional Soccer at least 1 game per week, you can learn so much from pros. Don't just watch the ball, watch specific players and watch what they do both on and off the ball. If you’re really serious about seeing those improvements your talking about pick up my Free Training Guide and complete the Beginner training program at the end of the book. I promise if you stick to it and give your best effort each day you will see changes in your game. You can get that Free Training Guide as well as weekly tips and updates by filling out the form on the right side bar of my website, I will post the link in the resource box. I want you to write back after you have completed the program and tell me about your improvements. Best of luck and keep me posted on your progress.