Someone once said, “Showing up is 90% of Success.”
If that is true, the other 10% is what truly distinguishes
your talent. In our sport and
environment, we must assume that our teammates and our opponents are ‘showing
up.’ If they aren’t, then we truly aren’t
competing against them for very long. So
the challenge becomes, how do we get the most out of the remaining 10%?
For arguments sake, let’s say everyone is training 2-3 times
a week and has 1-2 games on weekends.
Understanding that you have schoolwork, family commitments, and other
outside interests that also require your time; how can we make the most of our
training and games? And why do some
players improve quicker than others with the same amount of training?
The answer to both these questions is the same…focus. I have heard this called many things,
deliberate practice, deep practice, and intense training. Focus in training is demanding and often
difficult, especially if you are not used to it. Focus is “repetitive practice in which you
are always monitoring your performance, correcting, experimenting, listening to
immediate and constant feedback, and always pushing beyond what you have
already achieved.”*
Take your last practice where you did passing drills. The majority of players pass the ball to the
next player and follow whatever pattern the coach has laid out. Not much thought, just pass and move. Follow the rest of the team, talk about the
school day or the last game. However, if
you are focused you will get every ounce of benefit from this activity. You think about the shape of your foot for
each pass, concentrate on hitting the ball with the correct part of your
foot. You will watch the ball and make
sure it goes exactly where it was supposed to go. You will then switch your focus to your run
and sprint when necessary, check away and back if called for, and be as perfect
as you can with each pattern. Now is
when the focus really kicks in. After
your pass and move, you figure out why your pass wasn’t exact. Why didn’t the pass go to his/her left
foot? Why did I get into the space to
early or late? And most importantly, how
can I adjust so the next one is better?
There is a tricky course to navigate here. I have witnessed many young players who are
very intense trainers, and when they get to this stage they spend too much time
thinking about the negative result.
Example – that pass missed it’s mark by 10 yards. They keep thinking about the poor pass and
how they should be better. The trick is
to identify the problem, a bad pass. Now
you must change your thought process to fixing the problem or a solution. In this case, it may be the shape of your
foot, or the pace of the pass. The more
you can think of and try solutions, the quicker you will improve. Understand that many times your first
solution doesn’t work and you need to run your process again and again.
Always the goal of this focus is to improve. Once you are consistently successful, you
must push yourself to new limits. Switch
to your left foot, increase your speed, decrease your touches, or change the
space which you play. To get the most
out of your 10%, you must stretch your limits and train on the edge of your
comfort zone. You need to find that area
where it is uncomfortable, yet you can still achieve success some of the time
(Usually between 60-80%). Do not play
out of your comfort zone where it is too difficult and your success rate is
below 50%. This will only frustrate you
and make you want to give up or quit.
The other 10% takes time, can be frustrating, and takes
repetitions. To become the best you can
be and a winner, you will have to do things over and over, again and
again. It doesn’t matter if it sunny,
cloudy, warm, cold, raining, or snowing.
You can be on turf, grass, or dirt.
Conditions change, you need to be able to identify the problem, come up
with a solution, and adjust over and over again.
So you are ‘showing up.’
Why only be 90% of the player you can be. Focus and reach your potential. In school, 10% is a grade letter difference. No reason to be a ‘B’ player, when you can be an ‘A.’
*Definition of FOCUS comes from Dan Abrahams book entitled, Soccer Tough.
