Football training is good, but football over-training is not good; that’s something I learnt through experience.

I want to be the best I can, a professional football player; an Asian soccer star. So I thought the harder I train, the better I would play; and up to a point I was right.

But, I soon realised that there is such a thing as over-training. I only realised after it started to affect my game.

I have a pretty intense training schedule which takes into account ball work, match days and recovery days. The training schedule is flexible and relies on me listening to my body and providing regular feedback on how I feel.

For a six week period after Christmas my training was ramped up to a point where I had one rest day a week. I was feeling stronger, faster and more agile while training. I would follow my schedule and go home and do some extra ball work on my own. I thought I was doing great until my club coach told me he thought I was looking ‘heavy legged’ around the pitch and I found myself questioning whether I was good enough to play at the level I was playing.

As usual my dad could see what was happening during matches and spoke to my speed, strength and conditioning coach, Mike Antoniades; who spoke to me about the importance of listening to my body and providing feedback as well as the importance of recovery. He adapted my programme and the results were unbelievable.

With the season nearing to an end, my team, Wingate and Finchley (London) U15 are in contention for a quadruple; two county cups – we already played and won the London FA county cup – the league cup and the Easter Junior Alliance league title.

With four competitions we still had a number of league games in hand to play before the end of the season.

With my new training schedule, which includes more recovery and listening to my body, I feel faster, stronger and more confident; my movement is more fluid and I have started gaining compliments and praise from my team coach and team-mates… and to top it I have achieved ‘man of the match’ award.

With two cup finals and the league title to play for, I’ve been told I’ve come into form at just the right time.

The message here for Asian Soccer Star readers is to listen to their bodies and remember that no matter how hard you train, it’s the quality of the recovery where you gain maximum benefit.