Posts Tagged ‘Dedication’

Call it football or soccer, it is the one game that has won the hearts of millions. Today, millions of football fans are following their football stars by their looks, their dress, their behavior or their dedication. This can be seen by the sales of millions of different types of football clothing, shoes, accessories, and kits that are sold throughout the world. Whether it is in its birthplace, Great Britain, or in the most popular United States, football has its impact on the lives of millions. To meet this demand, the Fotoball shirt stores are growing like mushrooms with the original brands, and also their replicas.
Today, most fans do not bother to buy originals from the official teams, and rather go for a replica of the original design of the football teams. Apart from the official uniforms, the replica also displays the names, logos, pictures or captions of the teams. The most famous among these are the faces of famous players or their actions. Right from a kindergarten kid to a professional worker, everybody is bitten by the craze of football.
The season is up again, and the sales are zooming throughout the football shirt stores. People are looking for the latest trends with crazy designs and captions that support the players or teams. Some go even further and tattoo their favorite team’s logo, name or design onto their body.
Although football is a successful game that has a growing number of fans, the fashion is very short lived. The football shirt stores need to update their warehouse from time to time to keep up with the models released by the official teams. In this regard, the football shirt stores are more inclined to bring out more generalized designs rather than keeping a huge stock of the jerseys.
These general shirts, T-shirts and accessories are more popular among the teenagers, who like to follow their football star. This allows them to afford the latest designs rather than shell out their savings on the costlier branded jerseys. The specialty stores which stock the official wear for the big teams also provide club membership for the fans and provide a discounted price on all the items purchased.
This gives the fans a chance to interact with the other fans and also keep in touch with the latest trends in the town. The internet is playing a major role in these kind of clubs and associations. Fans can access via the Internet and keep a check on the products and prices, and order online for the best price in town.
Some football shirt stores not only provide individual items but also has provisions for group purchases: for a small team, schools, or even bigger clubs. Most of the fan clubs or football associations order their official and casual wear from these football shirt specialty stores which give a better price for smaller teams. Keeping track of the updates and adopting them is possible through these football shirt stores.

Football (or soccer as the ‘non-Brits’ refer to it as) is the most popular sport in the World. Millions of people play, at various levels, every single day. Most  people play for fun, others professionally, however the aim of the game is almost always the same – WIN! During the course of the article I am going to suggest ways to becoming a better footballer (and thus increasing your and your teams chances of winning matches). All the suggestions made will result in improvements in your game, however some will take longer than others to ‘flourish’. Here goes:-

FITNESS:

Watch the top footballers and you will notice that they produce a lot of movement during the 90 minutes, often running 10-15km in the process. To do this requires high levels of cardiovascular fitness. To gain such fitness requires dedication and discipline. Another sport where participants have very high levels of fitness, probably more so than footballers, is boxing (maybe not always the heavyweights!). Therefore, my suggestion to improve your fitness would be train like a boxer! Not in sparring etc, but by rising early (ideally between 5-6am) and putting in a session. This should ideally include a distance run followed by cardiovascular activities such as skipping, star jumps etc. Add to that push-ups, crunchies and sit-ups and your fitness will begin to improve significantly. Ideally I would suggest your session should be no less than 1 hour, at least 4-5 times a week. Training so early will kick-start your metabolism for the day plus psychologically it will give you a sense achievement which should motivate you day ahead.

GOAL!:  Rise at 5.30am, 5 times a week and complete a 4-5Km run followed by 5 x 20 push-ups, 5 x 20 crunchies, 5 x 40 star jumps, 5 x 20 burpees, then hold the PLANK POSITION for as long as possible.

TIP: This will seem difficult at first, but once you are into a routine it becomes easy. Have training clothes next to your bed and focus your mind so that you get out of bed immediately when your alarm goes off. Don’t think about what your about to do, JUST DO IT!

DIET:

You are what you eat / drink. You wouldn’t put the incorrect fuel into your car, so why put it into your body? Your performance will be effected by what you eat / drink – in the short term and in the long term. Therefore, your overall diet should be well balanced with large potions of green vegetables and salad. Avoid junk food which you know to be detrimental to you – I don’t need to list these foods, you know them already, but they just taste too good! Right? ‘Garbabge’ – they taste good at time of consumption, but how do you feel afterwards once your taste buds have returned to state – I’m guessing it’s not great! Improving at anything requires discipline and often sacrifice. Give up the junk food and the benefits which follow will be far in excess of the ‘quick fix’ pleasure these foods provide.

Your water intake should be high – you should never actually feel thirsty as this is an early sign of dehydration. Replace consumption of fizzy drinks, tea and coffee with water. Drink a minimum of 2 litres and maximum of 5 litres (dependant on body size and intensity of exercise(s) performed) each day. Carry water with you at all-times, don’t leave dehydration any invitations into your body!

GOAL!:  Drink 2-5 litres of water everyday , whilst avoiding fizzy drinks, tea and coffee. Eat portion(s) of green vegetables / salad or fruit with every meal. Snack every 2-4 hours on fruit / salad / vegetables or nuts. Eliminate junk food from your diet completely.

TIP: Discipline and dedication are again the key. You don’t become an extraordinary footballer by doing ordinary things!

TEMPERAMENT AND FOCUS:

Temperament and focus before, during and after a match is a key ingredient to making a footballer better. Before a match you should  focus on what the overall aim is. That focus must remain strong and constant throughout. This should not make you fearful or nervous, but ultimately guide you  towards achievement. If you make an error or wastes an opportunity, this should not affect your focus as your goal is still the same. It is unlikely that your overall aim was to score at that particular moment or not to make that error at that exact time. Therefore, concentrate on what you can achieve in the remaining time, there will be plenty of time to review performance after the match has finished.

Finally, once the match has ended focus on winning or losing with dignity. This will not just make you a better footballer, but a better person.

GOAL!:  Before a match spend 15-30 minutes focusing on what you actually want to achieve. Be clear of your outcome. So often people fail because they don’t know exactly what they are wanting to achieve.  

DO THE SIMPLY THINGS WELL AND OFTEN:

Not every footballer can do the things Cristiano Ronaldo, Zindine Zidane or Lionel Messi can do. But, all footballers can learn to do the simply skills often and well. I’m not wanting to banish ‘flare’ and extravagant skill, rather dilute it. Learning to play short passes accurately and directly 100% is an enormous advantage to any player. Great players such as Paul Scholes and Claude Makele are experts at doing the easy things well. This is something all players adopt.

 GOAL!:  Practice short passes, correct positioning, striking off the ball, tackling etc often and for a long period of time. Many players believe because they have mastered a technique they don’t have to practice it any more – when in fact mastery and improvement comes from repeatedly practising an already learned skill. This sort of dedication and commitment ensures that in the crucial moments of a game when performing a skill or technique is vital you will be prepared.

LEARN FROM THE BEST:

Why re-invent the wheel? If you want to become a top footballer, benchmark a top footballer. They may have natural skill, but to get to the level they have achieved is not by chance. If you want to get to the level of a certain player(s) copy what they do on a regular basis (the beauty of benchmarking is you can take the positives and eliminate any negative routines the player may have!). With footballers living their life in the media spotlight and all sorts of data being openly available on the internet, it’s never been easier to benchmark.

GOAL!:  Chose a World Class player(s)  you admire both on and off the pitch. Collect information regarding their diet, training methods and fitness ideas. Study their movement and all-round play in a number of games. Record games which they have played extremely well and analyse their qualities. Possibly contact them directly for advice and hints – if done elegantly, with your reasons for contacting them clearly stated,  they should be more than happy to oblige.

Combine all the above with belief and you will most definitely become a better footballer