Is hard work really worth it?

 
blog.jpg

My freshman year of high school I noticed that I wasn’t the most talented or skillful player on our football team. A lot of the older guys and even players my age were a lot better then I was. They had a lot of talent and a lot of skill. I had, well, not so much. I wanted to be better and wanted to get playing time because I loved the game of football. But I knew that just loving the game wasn’t enough to get me playing matches on the field. I knew that I needed to work hard to improve many aspects of my game. My father used to tell me, “You cannot always control if you’re the most talented or skilled player on the field, but what you can control is if you are the hardest working player on the field”. And that is what I decided to do. I didn’t care if we were practicing drills, doing fitness, or playing a match. My goal was to be the hardest worker on the field.

As I worked harder, I began to get in better shape, I became stronger and faster, and more skills began to develop. By the end of my first season, my playing time went from a few minutes every other game to getting at least 20 minutes every game. In the offseason, I continued to work hard. Even though the season was done, I still wanted to improve because my goal was to become a starter the next season.

When preseason finally started, and we began training, I decided to be the first one to the field and the last to leave. That meant getting to the field early, before anyone else, to do extra fitness and work on skills on which I may have been struggling. It also meant being at the field after training to continue to push myself and improve. Two games into the season the coaches started me for the first time. I was so happy and excited. I knew that when I stepped on the field with the rest of the starters that I was the least experienced. I knew that even if I was inexperienced and not the best on the field, I could still be the hardest working one. After that game, the coaches made me a regular starter. At the end of my sophomore year, my goal of being a starter was accomplished. But even though I was a starter I knew that there was still more improvements to be made.

My junior year I decided that I wanted to prove myself as an important player in our team. I realized that I was now part of the older players on our team. There were players younger than me that weren’t as talented and not as skilled, just like I was as a freshman. But just because I was one of the older and better players now didn’t mean that I needed to stop working hard. I knew that I needed to work harder than ever. There were teams out there that were better than us, and I wanted to get better not just for me but also to help our team beat the other teams. The reason to work hard had changed. I used to work hard so I can get onto the team. Now that I made it onto the team, I needed to work hard to help everyone improve. I was working hard for the whole team.

My senior year I knew that this was the time to work the hardest. The other seniors and I were now the leaders of the team. When I first started my freshman year I was one of the worst players my age. Now, my senior year, I was voted captain and MVP by the same players that were more talented and more skilled then I was my freshman year.

What changed? Why weren’t the players that were more talented than me get those honors? The one answer I could give you is hard work. I decided that I was going to work hard to accomplish my goal. Hard work isn’t easy. Hard work takes a long time. Hard work hurts. Hard work takes discipline and dedication. But I can promise you that putting in the hard work is worth it. No matter what your dream or goal in life, the only way to accomplish it is to work hard. Play hard on the field, study hard in school, and work hard in your job.

Your dreams are worth fighting for, so fight hard for them! You can do it!

 

DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW TO KICK A BALL?

 
Im a girl and I know how to kick.jpg

For to many years, I was told that there were girls sports and boys sports and that there were certain things that were okay for girls to do and some things that only boys should do.

Living in the Indian society shows us that there is so much of tradition and cultural heritage that flows with great principle and ethics. It teaches us how to respect and treat each other, and how to be individuals who are strong.  We will not let anyone hold us down, but we strive always to be united and empower each other. Our most significant example is how the country united together during Independence and fought back from being oppressed and mistreated. Another example would be how the whole nation comes together to celebrate a sport like cricket. 

This brings me to what I want to discuss! Do sports have a gender? Is it possible that football has fallen prey to the gender- stereotyped box? Yes! Football has been put into that box. Time and again I have heard these phrase’s “Hahahaha……Girls and football?” or “You play Football? Do you even know how to kick a ball?”

If we come from a society that has been so rich with respect, ethics, and unity to stand with each other then can we also unite for women’s football? Some of you are probably already are supporters of the idea and are encouraging your daughters, nieces, and other girls to move forward breaking these stereotypes, but there are a few who need a little nudge to see how it’s  not a man’s game. Football has so much to offer -- men and women, girls and boys.  The physical health benefits are tremendous, and it also helps on an emotional and mental level.   According to studies, football has been shown to strengthen women to make them less susceptible to cardiovascular diseases, and the activity helps them deal with depression and other such factors that women face.

There are quite a few voices rising to speak for women’s sports and women like Mary Kom, Sania Nehwal, and others are showing Indian girls and women that it is not just for men and boys, that they too have a chance to play.  So stand with us as we EMPOWER WOMEN AND GIRLS.  Join our women’s program and let your daughters, sisters, nieces, and friends achieve the dream they may have had to become a footballer and maybe even to create history just like Mia Hamm, and Alex Morgan and other women are. 

Joanna Cunningham, Assistant Coach, Women's Program, BCFC

 

It's All About Your First Touch

In my previous blog I talked about the importance of updating our attitude towards football, to a more professional mind set or thinking pattern.

It's not enough to just think in a professional manner but, in terms of our game we need to upgrade it to a more professional level as well. One of the preliminary steps to doing that is to master our First Touch. This is so basic that as players and coaches we often overlook this phenomenon. We often think we will learn it along the way, but I have been proven wrong time and again. We don't learn it unless we practice it. Even the best of players still continue their practice on first touch.

What is first touch all about?

How a player controls the ball when they receive a pass is what refers to First Touch. When one receives the ball there are three possible things they are bound to do: pass it, shoot it or dribble it.

In my coaching sessions with kids 13 and below, first touch has been my prime focus. Children between 3-6 years of age enjoy kicking and running around with a ball. But with kids from 7-10 years I am keen on teaching them all about first touch in football. This is the age where they begin to feel the ball more with their feet. They watch a lot of soccer which influences them to imitate professionals like Ronaldo, Neymar, Messi, Muller and other prominent players who become their heroes, that is why it is important to start teaching this technique or skill set as you may call it, which emphasises on the ability of the child to control the ball on receiving it and directing it on just the first touch.

The game of football usually gets faster as children grow older. The famous tiki-taka style practiced by the Spanish giants Barcelona, developed by the legendary coach Johan Cryuff is simply based on movement with quick passes. A lot of focus here is on quick first touches.

In a 90 minute game the best of the best players get to touch the ball for a maximum of 80-90 seconds if they are lucky. Therefore, more of the game is played without the ball than with it, because the time with the ball is so limited. It is very important to touch the ball at the right moment and also think ahead to what needs to be done when one is in possession of the ball. In order to improve our game we must get faster and for us to get faster the first touch needs to be perfected.

In a nation like ours where perfect football fields are very rare, awkward bounces often catch our players off guard. During my college football days I had a player from Yemen who could just dribble with the ball in the air. He could control and run with the ball almost across the field with the ball mostly in air. It's only later on I got to know that since Yemen is full of sand, players are forced to play a lot with the ball in the air.

Indian fields are not levelled and awkward bounces make it difficult for players to play. When it rains the fields get clogged by water, but the game doesn't end. The ball needs to be controlled and played in the air. Therefore we get no excuse. Players need to perfect their touch with any part of the ball, whether in the air or on the ground. Coaches need to make it their priority to work on a player’s first touch.

So what can take our game to the next level? It's perfecting our first touch. It makes us faster and more creative. It's time we up our game!

It's not important if you have the ball, what is most important is what do you do when you have the ball?

Vijay David, Assistant Coach, BCFC .

ELITE EARLY RISE PROGRAM. Hurry!

Are you struggling to play or practice football due to work or college timings? The Bangalore City Football Club is proud the announce a new program called EERP. It's for those working professional, college students or players who cannot play and practice in the afternoons or nights. This program will give you the opportunity to get world class coaching and training early in the morning before you go to work, college or elsewhere. Practices will be held at The Bangalore Football Turf, which is a top notch turf facility right of ring road. Please contact us for more details.

Seats are very limited. So Hurry!

Call : +91 7848008800

Be part of Total ( early morning ) Football in Bangalore!