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Social media is a phenomenon that has taken over everyone's lives. It has been used for a lot of great things but it has also been used for a lot of bad things. In the old days we did not document every single minute of our lives as we do now. And that is fine if you are just documenting your life. But in today's society others are documenting your life and sometimes without even you knowing about it. The worst part is that you must always be aware of your surroundings and always do the right thing so you do not get caught in bad situations where someone may document them through social media.
Student athletes have even more to fear as they must live by the university's code of conduct they must not put themselves in situations that can harm them. If the school code of conduct says no drinking on campus do not get caught drinking a beer and then take a selfie with your buddies. That selfie will wind up on social media by someone posting it and coming back to the university to harm you, maybe get you kicked off the team or even campus. Athletes have worked so hard to earn that scholarship and play on a university team. Don't let a foolish moment ruin your college experience. Who knows maybe social media will force us to better behave and make us more responsible or completely destroy our lives.
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So here we are April 1st and the emails for next fall tryouts have began. Every paying organization is claiming to have the best scenario for your young soccer player and his/her path to a college scholarship. As long as you trust them with your soccer player and write the check they will make your soccer player's dreams and off course yours, that is of a free college education a reality. Some organizations are massive and claim to be great fit because of their size and contacts others are medium size and off course there are the smaller ones. But not everything is as it appears to be. Families must do their research and come up with what is best for them which is no easy task. New Jersey Soccer Tryouts can be very strenuous and produce all kinds of results which sometimes are not realized till the families are in those organizations and find out first hand the consequences of their decisions. In today's soccer market which is full of options we are happy to be founding members of a new amazing program that we can not wait to show. It fuzes soccer and futsal in a year round curriculum. Most do not understand the magnitude of this because as we said before things are not always as they appear to be until we really take the time to review and understand them. We urge you to watch the entire video below and hope you see exactly what we mean. Before each athletic competition most people will wish the athletes “good luck”. I ask why?
Is it really about luck? Are there variables that are beyond the athlete’s control and left to luck? When you buy a lottery ticket you have no control of the outcome. There is no preparation that will be able to change your odds at winning. That is my definition of luck. Not being able to prepare to change or influence the chances of altering an outcome. So how is luck going to change an athletic competition? Is it a lucky bounce of the ball? A lucky shot? A lucky rebound? All these things mentioned can be actually prevented. If a player watches the ball has proper body shape and is actively engaged in the game, not just being in the game, he will be prepared to handle a crazy bounce of the ball therefore not making it a “lucky bounce of the ball”. If he marks properly, hustles and defends with vigor a shot will not be allowed. If a shot is not allowed there will be no chance of a rebound. Does this make sense? A player takes a toe shot or just miss kicks the ball from 25 yards out of the goal, no one is expecting that shot, the wind takes it and before you know it is in the back of the net. Coach yells “unlucky”, let’s get it back”. Was it really unlucky? Let’s examine the situation. First of all if the player who miskicked the ball was actively tracked and marked in a reasonable amount of time and had not been given the time to just kick the ball the miss kicked shot would have never happened. Secondly if all the players including the goalkeeper were always ready to expect the unexpected by utilizing their agility and reaction skills the ball would have never sailed into the goal. Do you see the point here? So when does all this preparation start? Is it after the warm up as soon as the referee blows the whistle for the game to begin? I think not. Preparation starts at training, at home, in the back yard, every time a player has a ball, every time a player watches a game every time a player thinks about the sport. Now we cannot expect most youth players to feel like this about the game in the early years with the few exceptions but we can teach them about it. We can teach them about effort, working hard and not just going through the motions. But first we have to get them to fall in love with the game. Human nature dictates that most people will give it their all if they love something. It is no different here, if they love it they will try harder. “Hard Work Beats Talent When Talent Is Not Working Hard” By the way most people’s definition of talent is a player’s skill ability. My definition of talent is a player’s total outlook of the game. Does he love the game, is he able to read the game, does he always give 100% effort, always puts himself in a situation to make the best possible play as well as make the players around him better, and lastly how are his skills? Yes skills are last in my book. I have met and played against some great skilled players. But that’s all they were; great with the ball at their feet. They only performed when the ball was given to them at their feet. They never worked to get to the ball or put themselves in a good situation to receive the ball. They never looked to share the ball or make the players around them better, it was always about them. They had no team vision and could not read the game. But they had great ball skills. That is every knowledgeable coach’s nightmare “a selfish player”. Those players never worked hard and always lost to hard work from their opponents, those players never prepared themselves in training or elsewhere. They only depended on their ball skills. Some players are great athletes, they have great speed, size and mental ability. They have been given some great tools to begin with, but it’s what they do with those tools that is important. It is not luck that will make them better but the love for the game, hard work and determination. Please do not misunderstand me here; Fundamentals are the basis of all, no matter what you do, in sport and in life. One must have sound fundamentals and always work on those fundamentals, but the key here is the word “work” not luck. They have to put in the effort and commitment to get better at it and then maintain it. Hard Work Beats Talent When Talent Is Not Working Hard, not Luck. Learning to prepare yourself for any situation, being willing to commit to work hard and will give the best chance at being successful. One does not have to love the hard work but he must crave the end result of success. It may sound like an easy question and depending on who you ask you will get a different reply. But think this for a minute; If you like to be told what to do all the time you will never grow and develop in anything that you attempt. If you are spoon fed information and decisions all the time your brain will never learn to think on its own, become lazy and actually become counterproductive regressing in its learning and developing. Well, at any given day on any given youth soccer field that is what’s going on. Every game has 16 or 22 players on the field, (depending if you are playing small or large side), and tens or hundreds coaches/parents around the field screaming directions and what to do at every moment of the game to the players. I realize that everyone wants the best for the players and truly want to help them but in actuality they are doing just harm to them. There are coaches on the sidelines that give instructions to the players and it’s the players’ job to execute them. Furthermore often the directions that come from all the parent/coaches are inaccurate. The team coach has given certain directions that apply to a strategy, plan, development that the team is using and the parent/coach is yelling something totally different. The player gets confused, does not want to make either coach upset, does not learn how to make his own decisions, his play ability slowly declines while his frustration increases. A player just kicks the ball to nowhere and the parent/coach cheers: “Great kick awesome job”. Maybe the situation didn’t not warrant a kick to nowhere at that particular moment of the game. Maybe the player needed to maintain control of the ball and keep possession instead of just kicking it away. Knowing how to cheer and when to cheer is another way of supporting the players and it comes from properly learning and understanding the game. The best part about the game of soccer is that it is a “PLAYER’S GAME”. It is a game where the best players make up their own minds by reading the game and constantly adjusting to situations. The fastest a player can read the game, think, prepare and adjust to situations the better he will be. The players learn from making both good and bad choices. “SILENT PLAY/” is a way that SoccerSkillz Training helps the players accomplish their development. After an instructional training session players will be asked to play in small sided games, varying from 3v3, 5v5 or 8v8, where they will have to make up their own team shape, line up and substitutions. They run the teams as if they are in the school playground with no adult supervision. You will be amazed at how much more they communicate, help and create situations. As coaches, parents and spectators, we can help the players more by giving them a chance to play on their own and make their own decisions. There is a right time for teaching a better way and a right time to enjoy watching them play.    Futworks training with futpro trainers This article has been perceived as too controversial.
We apologize to anyone who was offended by its nature. Furthermore, although no names or teams were disclosed, we apologize for the comment of a particular player lacking effort or otherwise perceived as "lazy." Our intent was not to publicly criticize, embarrass or label any one player, but we see how this may have been taken that way. Many teams face situations where its players are on different levels, whether it be talent, aggressiveness or effort. The beautiful thing about youth soccer is that, as players continue to develop, these levels can change and you can have a totally different player a few seasons down the road. Coaches and parents both must be careful not to label players at a young age. Again, our intent was to give an opinion, and only as to who do we think should pay for an academy program, when to pay for an academy program and how to choose an academy program. If you wish to read this entire article please email us at info.soccerskilz@gmail.com. We do not see anything wrong with academies charging fees and offering a higher level of coaching and developing programs than the free clubs do. In fact the academy programs were created to do just that and be selective about which players they accept. They were supposed to accept players of an advance playing level and skills and were supposed to be the stepping-stone to a college showcase program or even the professional levels. It used to be impressive that a player played for an academy team. In General I do not think that applies any longer. There are still academy programs throughout the country that have high standards and offer a higher level of training and do not compromise their standards for the old mighty dollar. So how does a parent know if they should pay for an academy program, and if so which academy program should they choose? In my opinion it’s simple. If your child is not playing at a premier level free club team and is not excelling at that team you will be wasting your money. As far as which academy program to choose from, do your research. Do not get impressed my fancy training gear, training grounds or coaches with accents. Look for the academy’s record on that particular age group as well as the coach’s record. Meet with that particular coach and speak with him. Just because he is a great coach with a proven record it does not mean he will be a good fit for your child. Great coaches do not always mesh with players and that is why you see changes at the professional levels. You have every right to interview the academy just like they try to interview you and make it look like you are so privileged to be accepted by them. Remember, it is your money you are spending. View more photos and videos of non academy training with futworks here Regardless of what you think the answer to the above question is, the truth may surprise you. Hundred’s of thousands of kids enjoy and play the sport of soccer across the USA, yet only 5,000 males are recruited to play soccer in college every year. The challenge to secure a soccer scholarship starts a lot earlier than any other sport. Playing for a club, academy or attending soccer camps that showcase the players to colleges is a must in today’s process for securing a soccer scholarship.
With over 1,200 men’s college soccer programs and over 1400 women’s programs securing a soccer scholarship is much harder than you would expect. Today’s college coaches are forced to divide their money and very rarely do they give full ride scholarships. For women’s programs there are a maximum of 14 scholarships for a DI team, 9.9 for DII, 12 for NAIA programs and a fully funded NJCAA program has up to 18 scholarships per team. Men’s soccer can offer 9.9 scholarships per team DI, 9 per team DII, 12 at the NAIA level and 18 scholarships per team for NJCAAA programs. To be considered by college coaches for a soccer scholarship a player must play club or academy soccer and travel to a few tournaments per year. High school soccer does not get the same attention that club and academy play gets from college coaches. Perhaps all those years of high schools handing out their soccer coaching jobs to unqualified teachers has finally caught up with them. Please keep in mind that not all club teams and academies are equal and vary in circumstances. For example being part of the biggest name club or academy but hardly getting any playing time may not be as good as being a part of a smaller club or academy but getting much more playing time. Lastly, constant improvement on fundamentals, footwork, agility, conditioning, speed and timing is an every day must for a young soccer prospect. With the hectic schedule soccer players endure sometimes the basics get away from them. Here is an easy fun solution that can be utilized anywhere. http://www.soccertoplay.com/futworks.html |
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