A Pro's stamina!

Hey guys,
Today I'll dive straight into it and start by saying that playing football can be tiring,  at any level, football never looses it's intensity, so one of the main attributes that professional athletes posses is stamina, the stamina needed to play an intense game of minimum 90 minutes in which, through sprinting, jogging, walking etc players on average can cover around 11km of  distance.

Keep in mind these values are really an average distance for ALL  players, including goalkeepers who as well can cover around 5 km a game, for midfielders the value goes up to 13 km, David Beckham for example covered 16.1 km in the match England VS Greece to eventually take England to the World Cup.

Nike trials, Stockholm Yo-yo test (beep/bleep test)

I think the point is quite clear by now, that the professional players have... like mad stamina. Hence my topic for today is going to be stamina. Personally I don't think you should just do VO2Max training and never touch a football, that's why I always incorporate the football in the training, I feel like it makes the training more football orientated and I sort of kill two birds with one stone - Stamina + Dribbling.

I remember last year on Christmas I went on a holiday in a certain country which ended up being covered with snow, so I was forced to stay indoors most of the time and had little training to keep my condition, so after 3 weeks of holiday food, lazy life and relaxation I found myself, no not fat, but out of shape. I had 3 weeks until my trials and I needed to act quick so I went out and did the most hardcore training I could think of and to my surprise its still quite hard even when I'm in top condition.

Soo prepare for Paint Skills!

Drill to improve stamina

So if the picture is not clear enough, you need to start from the cone on the bottom right hand side and sprint full speed to the next cone (40m away), next pick the ball and dribble it slowly to the bottom right hand side cone and again sprint up and down. And that's one set done. For a start try doing 5 sets and increase with time & experience of course. 

As well as this drill you can try the beep test which is a standard way of measuring your VO2Max for the Nike Academy. What I also like doing is an untimed variation of the beep test with a ball in my feet where the rest time between each sprint is 10 seconds. 

Hopefully you try the drill out, and maybe get one step closer to that pro contract or Nike academy contract. I will soon be back with a new post, till then work hard and play harder!  

''Become indispensable. Be the player who is prepared to do the dirty work and keep your team ticking over in difficult games''

The Chance...

Hey guys, it's been a while since the last post, I hope you've all tried out the drills I wrote about, if you haven't, maybe it's time to start practising, because a lot of trials for the new season have already started.

One of them is Nike The Chance.
Surely most of you have heard about it, Nike The Chance is basically a big trial for the best unsigned players in the world be given a chance to play for the Nike Academy.

The Nike Academy is basically a full time academy, sponsored by the Premier League and is equivalent to a reserve team or u21 team.

Nike Academy training at St Georges National Football Centre.

At the end of the post I will leave links to Nike Academy's facebook page and wikipedia page, where you can read more about the project and team.

Back the point,

since the Academy is a full time elite performance development club, the players they would expect to enter it will have to be at a very good, probably professional level, so sadly if you don't work hard enough for the trials up until the dates, not after. 

Secondly it's a performance academy, meaning if you don't perform on the expected level you will be released, therefore you need to be mentally prepared for the competition you're gonna face. 

Lastly, the academy is a development  club, this means that the aim is to develop players into professionals as soon as possible, so you need to be prepared for intense training sessions and have the mentality to always impress and lead the team. 

Petar Golubovic, the latest big finding by the Academy signed for AS Roma earlier this week.

So there are a few aspects I'd like to look at the next week. 

The main two are mentality and performance. I will speak about what scouts would like to see and how to achieve it, in the process helping me improve, for now it's up to you guys to take the chance and sign up for this year's trials on the facebook page. 

The trials are strictly for unsigned over 16 players, so if you are young or have a professional contract it might be a better idea to wait a while or continue with your contract.As far as I know the academy has been holding trials regularly each year, so for this who might want to improve more before you start, there will probably be future trials.

I will be updating tomorrow on the first points, good luck guys and girls.

Here are the links: 

Nike Academy Facebook 

Nike Academy Wiki

Meanwhile you might want to practice your  5-a-side, at The GAME by Ronaldo. 

“In case you never get a second chance: don't be afraid!" "And what if you do get a second chance?" "You take it!” 

― C. JoyBell C.

Applying your Dribbling+BallCTRL

Aaand the last drill is here !

As I said drill #5 is going to include two players rather then one as the drills up until now.
When you think about it, you see people always complaining that they know how to do skills, dribble closely and faint, but when it comes to performing it at training or matches they just don't play their potential.

I was stuck in the sane position for quite a while and I realized that every summer when the people would go out more and we'd get to play more street football and in general competitive games, I improved a lot, my confidence rising and I was more creative with my dribbles and game in general.

The problem starts when school/college begins, for some people work, winter comes, shorter days and weather. So you end up only with a few dedicated players who train in every season of the year.So to compensate for the lack of players, I decided to play small sided games.

Weather is not an excuse for USA and Costa Rica's football teams.

1V1 

The one vs one game is probably my favourite, although I'm a team player I do enjoy individual games as well for example chess.

The set up is really simple, so I don't think I need to open paint for today, haha.
You need 8 or more cones to be able to do the drill, as I said you can use any markers you've got on your hands, obviously a second players is needed to play it, and preferably on your or above your level (it's best if both are the same level, because you both improve).

You need to make a small square pitch or arena and 2 small goals on each end around 1 or 2 feet wide, the pitch must be not too big and not too small to start with, if you feel it's too hard increase the size and the opposite applies if it's too easy.

Remember, you won't improve if you don't try out new things and try to beat the competition!

Ronaldinho and van Gils, one of the best street footballers, together one of the two most skilled footballers.

2V2

Similar to the 1v1 the 2 v 2 and also the 3 v 3 games should be played in a small area, and you can adjust the area according on how hard you find it, but don't make it too easy.

Here we're looking at the same size goals as the 1v1 game (1 or 2 ft wide, no goals above knee height).
The game is probably a bit more fun because you've got more people to play with and the aim is simple - score goals, it's a good game to practice control, dribbling and communication.

The game is perfect for a drill to set up with a few team mates to play against each other in your free time, it will improve your performance and help you understand each other better at match days.

You can add additional rules to the game such as : one touch finish or 5 passes before a shot  or hey, why not both? 

I used to play this game a lot with my friends, but one thing that would spoil it is over-competitiveness, so don't rage about loosing.
Remember and always say to yourself, you don't need to win to feel good about yourself, champions want improvement not constant victory!

Have fun, see ya later, I leave you with this video.

Links to previous drills:

Drill #1 
Drill #2
Drill #3
Drill #3

''Apply yourself. Get all the education you can, but then, by God, do something. Don't just stand there, make it happen.''

-Lee Iacocca

Get your 5-a-side team ready!

Hey guys!
I was supposed to write about drill #5 today, but there was something exciting that happened recently I would like to speak about, that is The GAME by Ronaldo .

The GAME poster

If you haven heard of it, its a tournament, supposedly organized by Ronaldo. The tournament is like a platform for 5 a side matches to be organised locally and its completely free. In the tournament teams will face each other and play 5 a side games at different locations by their choice. Home or away, like an actual league.

The exciting bit is that the tournament has now begun in every town in the world and Round 1 has started.
I currently have a team entering the tournament. Since the tournament officially started today it is finishing May 1st 2014, at exactly 23:59 GMT. And the price of the Round 1 is going to be tickets to see Ronaldo play a match anywhere in the world for you and your team. 

The matches can be played indoors too

I think this tournament is going to be even more exciting if more teams enter it, so don't wait, just get your 5 a side team and register on here.  

There is a FAQ section on the website if you'd like to know more or you can just message me to ask personally on my email. 

Obviously since there is Round 1 there will be more rounds to compete in and a final round which will be held in Dubai. And to be honest the more ambitious teams will look forward to that final. 

I hope more people register, because a tournament like this is something new and exciting, it's an attempt to globalize football, the football everyone loves to play, from pros to fans, the football with your friends and it's not an easy task for the organisers and developers to keep it running, so I'm guessing it will need as many teams as possible to make the experience amazing.

Good luck, looking forward to seeing you in Dubai!

Leaving the defence behind!

Drill #4 is here, the last one of the individual dribbling drills.So make sure you like it.

I made up this drill a bit after I attended the London ''Win a pro-contract'' trials by Samsung. At the trials we were asked to do a similar drill and I was not satisfied by the result I got on it, so after the trials I made this progression of the drill to practice on.

Neymar dribbling past multiple defenders

The drill concentrates on beating a defender after a defender, again and again, the distances are varying, so you don't only practice at 1m or 2m or 1.5m etc. I think this drill has helped me a lot and in the beginning for me it was hard to perform it, but now its one of my favourites.

As always it's made on paint, respect my efforts haha

Drill #4

The drill is nothing out of this world, but as you can guess you need to cover it on full speed.
The cones are as many as you can decide, with a minimum of 10.
As you can see the space between the cones decreases as you move on to the middle and then increases again at the end.
I recommend beginning distance to be around 2 m and to decrease it by 20cm by each cone.


The rules are that you need to do a skill to beat the defender (cone)  and go around it, after that you move on to the next one, I'm not gonna lie, it can get frustrating especially when you do it at full speed, but in a game it would be useful for any position.

A good progression of the drill, like the one I said last time is trying to juggle past the cones and do an air skill after each one, for example Around the world or Elastico.


Difficulty Level: 9.5/10


Links to last drills:
Drill #1
Drill #2
Drill #3

''Confidence comes from discipline and training.''
-Robert Kiyosaki

 

Agility+BallCTRL

Hey guys!
Firstly I've got an extension/challenge for Drill #2, which I posted on Tuesday, if you haven't seen it, link will be at the end of the post.

Extension:
The extension I thought of is simple, its doing the whole drill, but instead of dribbling you need to kick the ball up in the air and do kick ups throughout the whole course.
If you can throw in a trick or a skill.But that's about it, feel free to message me and we can compare our best times or comment on how you found it.

Eusebio juggling a football (1971) 

Secondly, I've prepared Drill #3!

Lavezzi, Lucas, Messi, Giovinco and Inui are one of the most agile players according to FIFA 14, I personally am not a massive fan of the game and I don't blindly believe in the players ratings, but one thing is indisputable, that agility is important in football.

So the drill I picked for today is to an extend similar to the Arrowhead test with football, which Ronaldo performs here. It is similar, in a way, because it has the same turns and high speed involved as in the arrowhead  agility drill.

Drill#3

This drill is really simple and needs to be performed 3 to 5 sets if you want to improve your agility while on the ball.

You can use any markers as cones as I said in the last post I blogged, so you don't need to worry about that. You would need 5 cones, but you are welcome to add more if you don't feel like its good enough, but I ensure you the drill is hard enough with only 5 cones.Set up the 4 peripheral cones 3m apart from each other.

Stage 1: You start from any cone at stage one and you need to be with the ball throughout the whole time.The first thing you do is dribble to the central cone and turn as quick as possible back to the cone you started off from.

Stage 2: After you have finished with the first cone you need to dribble to the next cone, try and throw in a trick, while keeping a full speed on, this replicates more of the real game.

You need to repeat stage 1 and 2 until you end up at the cone you started from, that's one set complete.
Good luck with the drill and don't put anything less then 100% !

Marco Reus is know to be a skilful and agile player at the same time.

Difficulty level: 8/10


I will post again tomorrow, oh and here are the links to the previous drills:

Drill#1
Drill#2

''I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'' 

-Muhammad Ali 

Tuesday Drill

Continuing from where I left off yesterday today I've researched and prepared Drill #2.

This drill is my personal drill (well it's not the most original) and it concentrates on turning, dribbling past obstacles and change of direction, after a few sets of it, you really begin to feel the ball and be comfortable with it.

A proper execution of the drill will definitely help any player improve on their speed with the ball, its particularly useful for wide players, because they have more space to attack and to accelerate.

Messi, changing direction in a game situation.

The drill is simulating the way Messi dribbles, in particularly the change of direction in rather then to a skill to beat a player.


Now, I'm warning you, you'll have to put up with my bad Paint skills, because that was the most convenient way for me to present the drill, since there is not a video to show it.

Drill #2

I tried to make it as clear as possible -
The red circles represent a cone
The white circle is the ball
The black lines represent the movement 
The gray lines and rectangles represent each stage of the drill.

Now back to the drill, for a start its not necessary to actually use cones, you can use shoes (if you've got enough pairs), bottles, rocks, anything really that can be used as a marker.

Stage 1: For this stage you either need to kick the ball against a wall and receive it or pass to a partner and receive it. After receiving the ball you turn and proceed to stage 2, it's crucial to learn to turn properly, I advise you to spend some time learning how to turn, if you are not on a reasonable level already. Try not to only turn with your legs but your body too, later when you're comfortable with a standard turn you can get creative and try to turn with a chop or maybe faint before a turn.


Stage 2: After you've covered stage one, you need to go in and out of the cones, the number of cones is by your choice, but for me 5 is the minimum you should cover, but not too many, try to put them on a distance of around 1 feet between each other, similar to any drill, before you try to do it as quick as possible, you first would want to be confident with doing it. So try it slowly and when you are confident you can start progressing. Also try out different dribbles, for example only inside, only outside, inside and outside, roll, one foot and so on.


Stage 3: While stage 2 was concentrating on close ball control, stage 3 is more about body faints and change of direction, this part you should try to cover quickly, the ball and you must go around the cone, concentrate on the way you change the direction, imagine the cone is a defender and do your best to beat him.The distance between each cone should be around 5 feet, throw in a skill if you want to make it harder.You can use between 5 and 8 cones.

Stage 4: Together with stage 5 at this point you need to start hitting full speed with the ball and turn as quick as you can and accelerate towards the next cone. For the setup, place the cone 7 or 8 feet away from the last cone from stage 3.

Stage 5&6: It 's by far the simplest part of the drill, you need to make a full circle around the cone and accelerate to the finish line which is where you started from.The cone should be around 7 feet away from the previous one.


This drill is quite simple and you can easily vary it by putting a goal to shoot at at the finish like to practice finishing as well or try with a different size ball. Time it to try and beat your previous score, which is guaranteed to help you take the most out of training. Remember put thought into how you do everything you do, imagine how it applies to a real game and think how a defender would act.

Good luck and see you tomorrow!

Difficulty : 7/10

''Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.''

-Aristotle 


> Drill #1