ZenFooty Blog Archive - October Calling All Parents - Get Your Kid Practicing
Published on Sat 10/03/2009 | 6 total comments
I'm tellin' ya right now folks, whatever we are doing its not enough!! I have surveyed at least 20 kids this past week at training and asked them if they are practicing on their own in between training sessions. The answer is a tentative...."Yes, a little." When I ask them if they are really telling me the truth, they say...."Not Really." If you are looking to develop real skill, players need to practice relentlessly; 10,000 hours through their youth development years. And we MUST understand that practice is DIFFERENT than training. Training is where you learn how to play the game, practice is done away from the training pitch and it is where you PERFECT YOUR GAME. There are little cues that tell me whether players are practicing on their own or with a friend in between training sessions. The cues include: Is their ball showing more wear, are their shoes showing more wear, are they excited about showing me a new move they made up, do they know the skills from the last few lessons perfectly, do they have soccer stories to tell me from practicing with others, and so on. We can NOT expect the miracle to happen on the training pitch....it needs to happen on the practice pitch when nobody else is looking. I can remember training alone for 4 and 5 hours at a time in the rain, driving a wet soccer ball against the wall from 10 yards away trying to spell my name on the wall with the wet circular impressions the ball would make. The lonely practice pitch is where champions are built!! What say you?
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