THE NOTEBOOK

Sorry ladies, I am not talking about Ryan Gosling.  Gentlemen, you will not have to read this with your significant other and pretend it is a good story.  Instead, I am referring to keeping a notebook.  To become a great player or just a better player every little bit helps, and unless you have a photographic memory (which you don’t)…write it down.

Notebooks can have anything you like in them.  Many top performers keep some sort of journal.  Eminem actually uses a shoebox to store scrap pieces of paper with new ideas and inspirational themes.  Write down something you heard from a coach or teacher.  Pen new concepts or drills that you like.  I know many goalkeepers that would write down teams, names, or numbers of players who took penalty kicks and which way they shot, so they could reference them before games in case they took another PK. 

Your notebook is for you and it doesn’t need to make sense to anyone except you.  I have seen several over the years.  Ones that have diagrams of training sessions, quotes from coaches, players, and even parents.  There are notebooks of things that work well and things that didn’t work at all.

The important aspect of a notebook is that you not only write things down, but you review it as well.  A notebook can bring clarity and act as a GPS for where you want to go. When you write it down and review it, it will help you from travelling in circles.  It also can help you get back to a place you really enjoyed.

Being 'Good Enough'

Sometimes being ‘good enough’ is perfect.  We all watch in awe at Messi dribbling three defenders and calmly slipping a ball past the keeper, or Gareth Bale dicing a player and serving a ball right to the head of a striker.  But what we often fail to see is when they take these opportunities.  All great players have one thing in common…most the time they are just ‘good enough.’

According to soccerlens.com, Messi averages 97.2 touches a game.  That is 2722 touches in La Liga in 2010/2011.  He scored 29 goals in 28 appearances.  He scored a goal on 1% of his touches.  Add in his 17 assists and it rises to 1.3% creating goals.  This is arguably the best player in world.  What this means is that 99% of the time Lionel Messi has to be ‘good enough.’  He needs to be able to keep possession so his team can find opportunities.  He needs to allow other players to take their opportunities.  1,926 of Messi’s touches were passes, that’s 70%.  Of his passes, 86% were completed to a teammate.

Where am I going with this?  For the best player in the world, only 1% of the time does he produce a goal or assist.  You don’t have to make something happen every time you touch the ball.  In fact, you need to be ‘good enough.’  Good enough to be patient and wait for the opportunity to shoot or beat a player or serve a ball.  Good enough to trust your teammates that they will also be good enough. 

This is the beauty when you see Barcelona, Manchester United, or your Ohio Elite team playing good enough.  Eleven players understanding their different roles and executing their skill.  Taking opportunities when they open and not forcing opportunities because you think you are a talented player.

I tell my goalkeepers that their #1 job is to keep the ball out of the net.  I don’t care if it is with a beautiful full stretch tip save or with the side of their face.  Just KEEP THE BALL OUT.  Believe it or not, we train at doing precisely that.  Many hours go into learning the correct technique, how to move, and hand position; however there are times when the speed of the game is too fast or we slip or whatever.  Example, a corner kick and the attacker heads the service on frame.  The ball takes a deflection, the goalkeeper is already diving one direction and he reaches back with his foot and blocks the ball.  A defender clears the danger.  This is not the way we draw it up, but it was ‘good enough.’ 

We train at staying big, and letting the ball just hit us.  We train in situations that are fast and above normal circumstances.  We make mistakes and we correct them.  We make more mistakes.  We talk about being perfect by just being good enough.  We are trying to be good enough which forces the opponent to be perfect.  And being perfect is hard.

In the same vein, field players don’t have to be a difference maker every time they touch the ball.  Defenders don’t have to hit a 50 yard cross field pass to put a midfielder in, midfielders don’t have to play forwards behind defenses every time, and forwards do not have to shoot or beat a defender whenever the ball comes to you.  Your opportunities will open on the field, and when they do take them.  Until then make sure you are good enough.