"The will to win is as important as the skill to win"

Soccer at the highest level requires players to perform with an incredibly competitive intensity.

Question: "How do you think these players learned at your age to reach such high levels of passion?"

Answer: "They learned that during practices the harder they pushed themselves the better they
became in their matches."

Read the answer again and explain why you think this is.

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The amount of effort and attention you give in training sessions is transferred into how you play in your "real matches." It's very simple: if you don't give everything you have in training you will never develop into as good a player as you could be.

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Think back to your last coaching session and give 3 examples of where you could have given more.

1) ............................................................................................................................................
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2) ............................................................................................................................................
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3) ............................................................................................................................................
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Whichever example you think is most important, make a point of working hard at improving this at your next session.
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Do you really want to become the best player you could possibly be?

If you answered yes, then from now on YOU need to give yourself a score for how good you think you are at each of the following based on this scale:

1 = Excellent
2 = Very Good
3 = Good
4 = Average
5 = Poor
6 = Terrible

Place your score after each statement. BE HONEST OTHERWISE ITS NO USE!

1) A COMMITMENT TO BECOME THE BEST YOU CAN BE.

A. Approaching every coaching session with seriousness. ....................

B. Come to enjoy yourself but eager to learn ....................

C. Be determined to leave the session having learned as much as you possibly

2) SET YOURSELF HIGH STANDARDS

A. Make sure you arrive in plenty of time & remember everything you need to

B. Every week try to make your homework the best you've ever done .....................

3) GIVE EVERYTHING YOU HAVE

A. Have pride and strive for excellence in EVERYTHING you do .......................

B. Concentrate and think as hard as you can .......................

C. Challenge and push yourself in technical practices ..........................

D. Keep focused and concentrate in tactical practices ...........................

E. Think quickly in scrimmages ............................

F. Work as hard as you possibly can in scrimmages ............................

Whichever lines you have marked with a high number are the areas that you should work to improve first. You should even try to improve those areas that you have marked with the best scores. No matter how good you are at something you can always improve. Keep working to get even better at it.

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The kind of player that YOU should be looking to be is one that:

* WANTS to be the best rather than thinking they ARE the best.

* Is prepared to push themselves harder than they ever have before.

* Won't take the easy way out and settle for standards of others that are below theirs.

* Will fight and battle to win the ball back for their team as well as for themselves.

* Takes a consistent pride in his/her effort and determination.

* Is excited about the thought of getting better.

These kinds of players rise to the top and because of the amount of effort they put into their performances in training, they feel great satisfaction when they start to see big differences in their level of play in matches.

If you are aspiring to develop excellence you need to work hard to make all of the above parts of both you performance & personality.

YOU NEVER LOSE YOU ONLY LEARN!

Too many players get down on themselves when they consider their team has "been beaten."
The result of the game isn't as important as the level of effort and pride you performed with.

It's hard to understand why anyone would step on to the field of play if they are not going to give 100% effort to their team and their play. To do well as a team you need every player to give their maximum personal effort.

Professional players will not tolerate a lack of effort from anyone on their team. If one player gives up and they lose, that is unacceptable.

The fact is that almost all young players don't know what giving their all means because when they start to feel tired they either give in or get substituted.

Character has 4 essential elements, the last one can even be considered an entity unto itself:

1. Honesty

2. Respect

3. Responsibility

4. Courage

Please complete the following tasks for each of the above 4 words:

A. Write in your own words what you understand the word to mean.

B. Now look up the word in the dictionary and think about what it means to you.

C. Give examples of how you can show this character trait in the following aspects of your own life:

1 In soccer
2 In school
3 At home

In no more than 50 words explain how your participation in the Academy will make you a better person. You can return this paper by email tony@starfinderfoundation.org

Be the best you can be .

"Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent," therefore it is crucial that when you are training you spend valuable time concentrating on learning correct techniques.

What do you understand by the word technique? Explain what you think it means.

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Technique is how you perform a certain soccer skill such as passing or shooting. If you look at a brilliant goal scored by a great shot, you can look at the players shooting action and break it down into certain technical points.

Remember when you started to ride your bike and you kept falling off because you tried to go too fast? Well that was because you didn't learn the correct techniques. In soccer practices most young players want to rush into playing games before they have laid the technical foundations, which are the pillars of your future performance.

You can learn these techniques from watching soccer on television, videos, attending professional games, and also from good players you train with. You should then try to copy or imitate what you have seen. Next, try to introduce what you have learned by doing it in a game.

In the following section try to remember back to the sessions we spent on each area of the game.
Think out the questions carefully and try to imagine yourself actually doing what is described and
what would happen in each case.

Put a circle around the letter you think represents the correct answer.

DRIBBLING

1) When dribbling use:

A. only the inside of your foot.
B. all surfaces of the foot.
C. mainly the outside of the foot.

2) When dribbling you should;

A. keep the ball under your feet.
B. keep the ball 5 meters away from you.
C. keep the ball close to you.

3) When dribbling you should try to run;

A. the same pace all the time.
B. while changing speed and direction.
C. as slow as possible.

4) When dribbling keep your eyes;

A. looking up as much as possible.
B. looking at your feet.
C. looking at the ball.

* When you are working on your technique you must be patient. Don't expect it to come straight away. Once you get it right you will never lose it.

HEADING.

1) When heading the ball keep you eyes on;

A. the player you are heading to.
B. the ball.
C. the defender nearest to you.

2) When heading the ball you feet should be;

A. along side each other.
B. one behind the other.
C. as close together as possible.

3) When heading the ball in defense

A. get in line with it.
B. head it down.
C. head it up.

4) When heading to get more power:

A. jump.
B. arch your back and follow through.
C. use your legs more.

In this next section you have to give 3 technical points of how to perform each skill.

PASSING

1) .........................................................................................................................................

2) .........................................................................................................................................

3) .........................................................................................................................................

CONTROLLING

1) ..........................................................................................................................................

2) ..........................................................................................................................................

3) ..........................................................................................................................................

SHOOTING

1) ...........................................................................................................................................

2) ...........................................................................................................................................

3) ...........................................................................................................................................

1) Imagine you are the coach and you have a new player arrive at your session. He has never played before and keeps asking you "when can we play?" Write down what you would say to him about how important technique is to him. Answer under 3 areas:

A. what is technique

B. why is it important

C. what will happen in a game if he doesn't learn this

2) Explain how you would teach him to defend against a striker who has his back to goal.