There are so many ways soccer prepares you for life. You learn that hard work pays off. Although, that doesn’t mean you always win or do well. It’s hard, not everything is fair. Not to mention, dealing with people. Through sports, we learn how to be better equipped in life.
Disciplined to work harder
Did you know as a child (age 6-13) Kobe lived in Italy? He spoke fluent Italian and his favorite team was AC Milan.
Of course basketball is what he loved the most and spent hours playing and studying the game.
The mindset is the same in any sport.
If you want to be great, you have to consistently work hard.
“To be the best player you can be… You want to train as much as you can, as often as you can.”
Mamba mentality ⇓
“If I do this consistently over time, the gaps are just going to widen and widen…”
When things are hard
Whether it be soccer or life in general, there will be ups and downs…
Personally, I think we need at least a few people to talk too for council, making decisions.
Mindset really is important when it comes to dealing with failure.
Everyone is going to mess up – all through life. It’s how we respond when things are hard.
What happens when you fall down?
You get back up!
R7 mindset ⇓
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/60THTGm-pL8
The next generations
With the growth of technology players are able to watch the worlds best players… What an advantage it is to learn from others!
Time is nothing but a vapor that comes and goes…
Focus on your work, enjoy the ups and get back up when you fall.
Be thankful for those who’ve helped you have opportunity and help those who come after you.
The Legend – Marta ⇓
Soccer prepares you for life by learning about people
You learn about people and yourself. How to deal with others and control your emotions in the game of soccer.
Learning about the influence of passion unchecked versus appropriately channeled.
When you work hard at practice and in games it shows. Although, you also learn that sometimes it doesn’t pay off. Some days we play bad and nothing seems to work.
Then there are the days where we score goals, complete all our passes or make saves… This success feels good and you know that your hard work in training matters.
3 ways in which we learn how soccer prepares you for life:
- What’s important… Doing what you’re passionate about and helping others.
- How to respond to people who may not treat you well. Be patient, kind. Not always easy to do:)
- Hard work pays off.
Working hard for those who don’t work for you
Not only are you learning about yourself in how hard work pays off, but you learn about other people [like your teammates].
It feels good when your teammates fight for every ball. When they cover for one of your mistakes or encourage you vocally or with body language.
Unfortunately, everyone has had teammates who don’t work for you or the team.
When we have people on our side who don’t pull their weight because of choice, or actions its hard.
You have to be careful of how you respond. Most of the time you want to go off on them [which is okay to feel that way].
We all have to learn to deal with it or how to motivate them and show leadership.
Don’t be lazy
Laziness is different than having a teammate who just isn’t fast or good at a certain skill.
Not doing your best brings the team performance down because your teammates have to make up for it.
If you look at the best teams and players in the world you don’t see any who are exactly the same.
The better/stronger teams usually have a team full of very different players.
Having diverse talents on your team makes you hard to play against.
When you have one teammate who is good at passing, another at shooting from distance as well as one who’s a great defender.
An example: If you had players like Neymar playing defensive mid your team might score lots of goals, but you will also get scored on just as much.
We used to joke about if there was a team full of Romario’s they would have to score off the kick off because he can’t defend 🙂
Kids are learning about adults
Kids will see the good and bad in adult behavior during sports from the negative, proud, loudmouth parents. They might not be on your team, but you will see them on the other team.
As a sports parent myself it concerns me that my kids will get a coach who curses at the kids.
I’m not about sheltering my kids, but I don’t want them in that environment if I can help it.
What would you do if this happened?
If it does happen – it’s just another example of how soccer prepares you for life.
Kids who are taught at home about people are better prepared when trials come.
Parent to kid communication – how soccer prepares you for life
Maybe think about talking to your kids before the situation could happen. Talk to them about different ways to respond and how to control the situation.
If it’s my kid, I want them to defend themselves and not let people talk to them this way.
On the contrary, it might have to be a time where the child lets the coach say these things. See their true colors and after talk to me or my wife.
Either way, I think parents and kids have to be on the same page in communicating. Together decide what’s best in the situation.
Remind your kids that soccer prepares you for life situations.
Score doesn’t always reflect the play
Soccer is a crazy game and the score doesn’t always reflect the way the game was played.
In college I remember out-shooting a few teams 20+ goals to 1 goal and we lose 1-0. Everyone knew that we were the better team but the best team doesn’t always win.
Soccer is sometimes unforgiving and you can’t explain it.
Another thing that you learn about yourself is when you are injured and you can’t play for a few weeks or months. You realize what your purpose in playing is and what level of commitment you’re willing to make.
Being injured is when you really learn how much you love soccer and just want to be out there playing with your mates.
Learn to control your emotions
Some people are way more relaxed than others, not getting emotional when they lose.
For those people I recommend that you play with emotion and fight even if you’re not verbalizing it. Even when you are not that extra high energy player your passion can be what brings energy to the team.
Again, soccer prepares you for life in many ways. Let it be a teaching tool.
For those players who are high energy and emotional you have to be careful. Don’t show too much of your emotion.
When the game or practice doesn’t go your way, you can say or do something that could embarrass yourself or team.
In other words, you must learn to control your emotions, don’t let them control you.
It’s okay to get made and say something acceptable and show your emotion, but don’t let it be consistent or be a cry baby.
Learn to have a ‘mask’ when your upset, because it will protect you from other problems.
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