By: Edward Hayden
Practice makes perfect. It's a phrase that has been used for a very long time across a wide variety of sports and arts. But is this phrase outdated? Is it possible for an athlete to be perfect at their sport? We would like to think so in the age of do-it-yourself fitness and skill dvd's, kickback rebounding goals, sweat evaporating training gear, and nine ounce boots with swerve control elements. But even with the help of all these new age technologies, perfection is unattainable. A more realistic goal is to always try to progress towards being better, or improving.
Improvement is a gradual and ongoing process. It has no age limit or boundaries and does not discriminate by gender. It is a rewards program for those with the desire to be the best they can be. In the last four months I have been witness to a large amount of improvement across every age and skill level in The Academy. The technical ability, ball control, balance, and decision making of all the players in our program have taken huge steps in the right direction. Upon noticing the improvement of certain groups of players, I realized that some of the things that they work on week in and week out, I should be working on! As a result, I started to take a little extra time out of my day to work on foot skills.
As a player, I know my best and worst attributes. I'm a good defender, and technically sound. Yet, I'm not the quickest player. I'm also not the most comfortable at taking people on, offensively. In my youth soccer years, I was taught technical skills correctly, and gained an understanding of the game, but I was never pushed to be creative in taking on defenders. Coaching in the academy has opened my eyes to new individual technical drills and concepts that I had never even tried myself as a player, but I now work on daily. I have also been exposed to the Viper speed and agility training, which has helped my general running form and technique and has helped me gain a bit of quickness in the short time I have been working with them. Overall, I have tried to take the most efficient and effective ways of training, and have implemented them into my own training regiment - the same as The Academy has done for the youth players.
The Riverhounds Academy has taken proven effective and efficient ways of developing young players, and has implemented them in a weekly training regiment. As mentioned previously, I have seen a tremendous improvement in skills and technical ability across the board throughout the winter session, from a schedule of training once a week or biweekly. Imagine the improvement that each player could make if they worked on just a bit of technical work daily. A recent study done by the Nielsen Company, a leader in global media and information, showed that American households, on average, watch eight hours and eighteen minutes of television a day. With studies like that being published, I feel confident saying that I believe everyone has at least five minutes a day they can spend on trying to progress to be better at something.
Improvement is not achieved over night nor is it captured without time and effort. Cristiano Ronaldo did not become World Footballer of the Year by playing FIFA on Sony Playstation each day of his childhood. He listened, learned, practiced and competed for years and years to improve his game and become the best soccer player in the world. With that said, it becomes evident that there is always room for improvement. Whether you are eight, eighteen, or twenty eight; whether you play in the English Premier League, the USL Division 2, or for a Western PA youth soccer team, you can always strive to be better technically, mentally, and physically, if you are willing to put the time in.