Do you want to become a more successful football player?
Help your team win more games?
Score more goals? Keep clean sheets? Assist more goals?
Reach the next level?
No doubt regardless of what level you are at, you can relate to at least one of the above targets.
I don’t doubt that you have AT LEAST one thing you can practice regularly to improve your game.
To make it easy to see where you are currently and where you can improve we have put together a list of just some of the best training tips to help your game.
They are put in three categories:
- MUST DO’s – the basics and foundation of all football performance
- SHOULD DO’s – the things which most players neglect only some do. These are built off doing the basics and are what starts to separate those who will be successful and those who won’t.
- LIKE TO DO’S – Only the players who are serious about their football have the commitment and dedication to do things in this category. This is the category people always talk about doing, but never actually do. Can you walk the walk?
MUST DO
- Attend every team training session.
- Turn up on time. Every time.
- Perform a warm up prior to each session
- Know your strengths and weaknesses
- Drink 2-3L water daily
- Eat for sport performance i.e. healthier food choices
- Sleep 7+ hours per night
- Get fit to play 90 minutes +
- Respect and help your team mates and coaching staff
- Work as hard as you can on and off the ball
SHOULD DO
- Work on weaknesses and strengths a couple of times per week
- Perform 1-3 gym sessions per week to improve performance and reduce injury risk
- Foam roll and stretch outside of sessions
- Do extra work (fitness, technical/tactical work) if out the team
- Get feedback on your performance
- Socialise with your team mates and build a rapport
- Talk with your coach about problems before players
- Don’t complain
- Complete injury prevention prior to warm up
LIKE TO DO
- Video your matches and assess your performance weekly, do you know how the coach want you and the team to play? Learn it. Practice it. Improve.
- Remain positive – no negative emotion after a mistake by you or team mates
- Stay fit in the off-season
- Have a nutrition plan made by a professional
- Have fitness assessed by a strength & conditioning coach and train according to your goals and needs as a player
- Work on weaknesses and strengths daily
- Mentor younger players or be mentored by older players
- Watch the best players/teams in the world and learn from how they play/behave at the top level
- Accept criticism and responsibility
- Dedicate specific time to recovery to reduce physical, mental and emotional stress
Whilst I’m sure you can add to these lists or perhaps may even disagree with some of them. There is little doubt that there are several things on this list that you are not currently doing.
Remember, if you aren’t even doing the MUST DO’s, then the LIKE TO DO’s are not yet a priority.
Work on doing the first category then the second and finally the third. By doing so you will be consistently improving little by little every single day.
It’s not easy work to improve as a football player, if it was, everyone would be doing it!
