Asian Soccer Star – 2009 June

Make sure you don’t get dehydrated!

June 30, 2009 By sobha Leave a Comment

This hot weather is awesome, but it really affects my training schedule.

I can’t get to sleep because it’s too hot and putting the fan on only pushes warm air around the room. If I can’t get to sleep, I end up waking up late… but dad lets me get away with that as long as I don’t make excuses while i’m training.

Then there is the bigger problem of getting dehydrated because of the hot weather.

What i’ve learnt is that as long as I drink water throughout the day i’m ok. The minute I start to feel thirsty I know i’m in trouble and i’ll start to feel dehydrated during my training session. [Read more...]

Filed Under: hydration, sobha Tagged With: dehydration, hot weather

Decisions! Decisions! Decisions!

June 23, 2009 By sobha Leave a Comment

The soccer season is over, but training is still going on, and we’re into tournament mode now. While everyone is looking forward to school summer holidays I have to make some serious decisions.

I know training will continue through the summer but if I want to become an Asain soccer star playing professional soccer i’ll need to be focused and commited.

The problem is the hot weather will make it hard not to go to the pool with my mates and train instead.

I have a choice and have to make a decision and take responsibility for my decision. [Read more...]

Filed Under: blog, mental attitude, sobha Tagged With: decisions, professional soccer, responsibility, school summer holidays, soccer season

Soccer train me like a kid, not an adult!

June 20, 2009 By himmet Leave a Comment

A while back, one of the kids I was soccer training just blurted it out “soccer train me like a kid, not an adult!”. I was stunned, but it opened my mind to the possibility that I may not have a full understanding of how to coach young soccer players.

Working with children needed specialist knowledge and understanding, which I gained through a mentor working with children and completing children fitness courses.

Coaches need to have a real understanding of how to bring the best out of young soccer players. The problem is that most of the information out there is based on adult training methods. That’s because the adult body, with regard to training, has been studied pretty thoroughly and that is where the expertise has been developed. [Read more...]

Filed Under: himmet, performance, soccer injuries Tagged With: adult body, biomechanics, fitness courses, hip injuries, soccer drills, soccer players

Asian soccer star: whinge and lose!

June 17, 2009 By himmet Leave a Comment

I have a strict “no whinging rule” when coaching youth soccer, especially future Asian soccer stars.

I don’t want to hear all the whinging and moaning from kids who aren’t willing to put in 100% effort into what they’re doing.

It may seem a hard rule, but when anyone, especially kids, get into the habit of whinging everyone is affected. And as we all know habits are hard to break, sometimes lasting into adulthood.

People act and behave like the people they are around at any particular time, and on the training ground and soccer pitch this really shows. You can call it peer pressure or anything else you want to, but the bottom line is when it’s negative, it’s no good for anyone. [Read more...]

Filed Under: himmet, mental attitude Tagged With: bad habit, complaining, whinging, youth soccer

Have I got the discipline to become an Asian soccer star?

June 16, 2009 By sobha Leave a Comment

Do you have the discipline to become an Asian soccer star and play professional soccer?

That’s what my dad asked me this morning, and I had to really think about what he was saying. He wasn’t telling me off or anything, only preparing me for the hard work and sacrifices I will have to make in the future.

After all, i’m only 13 years old and most kids my age are out enjoying themselves (not that i’m not enjoying myself) without having to think about training, eating the right food, making sure their drinking enough, getting enough rest for recovery and everything else that goes along with preparing to play professional soccer.

Dad explained that becoming a soccer star is tough, and becoming an Asian soccer star is going to be really, really tough. [Read more...]

Filed Under: mental attitude, sobha Tagged With: discipline, dreams, professional soccer, sacrifices

I want to be an Asian soccer star now!

June 15, 2009 By himmet Leave a Comment

Kids who dream of becoming Asian soccer stars, like kids from any other community, are in danger of losing their dreams by living a life of ‘instant gratification’ or ‘I want it now’.

Living in a world where everything is available in an instant is a major factor in breeding a culture of laziness and lack of fitness.

Want proof? Go watch a Sunday youth league match.

So what’s happening? [Read more...]

Filed Under: himmet, mental attitude Tagged With: dreams, instant gratification, work ethic

How many millions was that?

June 12, 2009 By himmet Leave a Comment

Woah! Has the soccer world gone mad? At first it may seem that way but when you think about it, it makes sense. After all soccer is big business, especially for the big clubs.

You see Real Madrid are seriously lacking in the silverware department and the structure of the club is such that the members not only demand silverware but more importantly dividends.

So how can they justify paying £80 million for Ronaldo and £56 million for Kaka?

You can’t argue that both these footballers are amongst the best in the world, [Read more...]

Filed Under: blog, himmet Tagged With: celebrity status, Christiano Ronaldo, kaka, real madrid

What’s Asian Soccer Star got to do with basketball?

June 11, 2009 By sobha Leave a Comment

Really what has Asian soccer star got to do with basketball?

I was wondering that myself until it was explained to me.

I love soccer but I also love to play other ball games like basketball, tennis and even cricket; and i’m pretty good at them too. But after soccer, I really, really love basketball and thought that playing basketball might interfere with my soccer training.

I also thought that I might get distracted from achieving my dream of becoming an Asian soccer star and playing professional soccer. But here’s the really cool thing.

Basketball helps with my soccer. I found out that if you keep doing the same training day after day your body gets used to it and after a while you don’t get much benefit. So you have to push your body further and further. [Read more...]

Filed Under: sobha, soccer skiils, speed and agility Tagged With: basketball, soccer training, stamina

Wow! What a difference in speed and agility.

June 7, 2009 By sobha Leave a Comment

I can really feel the difference in my speed and agility over the last couple of months.

Last season I thought I was ok in my speed and agility and I used to train for longer, but then I had a growth spurt. I started to grow really fast and started feeling a bit clumsy. I noticed my running speed started to slow down even though I still had my stamina.

The problem, I was told, was my running technique.

Basically, I used to run long distance at primary school and I was still running like that when playing soccer.

The long strides I was taking were great for endurance running but terrible for soccer. The heel of my foot was landing first instead of the ball of my foot and this was like putting a brake on every time I took a stride. The impact was going straight into my knees and boy did they hurt. [Read more...]

Filed Under: sobha, speed and agility Tagged With: agility, growth spurt, running technique, speed

Soccer speed and agility training

June 4, 2009 By himmet Leave a Comment

Soccer speed and agility is what the clubs are looking for in kids, and anyone out there serious about becoming a future Asian soccer star needs to start to work on these areas of their game.

According to recent workshops i’ve attended, professional soccer clubs are advising coaches that kids need to work on their speed and agility.

If the speed and agility is there, the rest can be worked on and developed. The technical skills, fitness and awareness are areas that can be developed over a period of time. In fact, the intense academy training is geared for such development. [Read more...]

Filed Under: himmet, speed and agility Tagged With: muscle fibre, soccer speed, speed and agility training