Sobha’s team is competing for a league title in the Eastern Junior Alliance, one of the UK’s toughest youth leagues, as well as three cup titles. This means a rigorous training schedule with a continuous flow of matches.

What has this got to do with subscribers of asiansoccerstar.com?

The fact is that Sobha is on a rigorous training schedule working on his speed, agility, strength and movement. But no matter how much training he does off the pitch, he will only improve as a football player by playing 11-a side matches.

Last season Sobha’s previous coach made promises and encouraged us to take him out of the Sunday league team he was playing for, to work on technical development and prepare for academy trials that were in the pipeline.

While the trials never materialised, and most of the other boys obviously suffered over the decision not to play matches, Sobha was not overly affected as he was training at Chelsea’s ETC (elite training camp) and playing in small-sided games.

But the decision did affect his play. Had he carried on playing Sunday league football, no matter how weak the level of opposition, he would have had a season of match play under his belt. A season of invaluable experience.

The reason for this post is that asiansoccerstar.com has been getting queries from confused parents asking whether match play in the Sunday youth leagues is worth the effort. Several coaches have been encouraging parents to pull out of the leagues, because the players are not getting to play at the level they want, and work on development.

The fact is, this decision will affect your child’s future and match play is one of the most important aspects of football. So, keep at it and get as much match practise as you can and next season look to play in a tougher league.

He said “be your own messiah” but I didn’t understand what he meant, then he said it in language that I could understand “be your own soccer coach”. I could understand the meaning of the words, but couldn’t fully understand the concept.

Over the year, every time I needed a bit of a kick in the backside to get going he would say little things that would motivate me, and my attitude would change in a second.

This morning I woke up and bang! It hit me, “be your own soccer coach”.

I knew exactly what he meant. If I want to be an Asian soccer star playing professional soccer I had to take responsibility for my attitude, my training, my nutrition and everything else connected with reaching my goal. I had to push myself and learn everything I could even when I didn’t feel like it.

I had made the commitment, now it was time to take responsibility, just like dad had done and just like a coach has to do.