So you want to become a better soccer player?
You are in the right place! 😊
First of all, let me give you a quick answer, and then I will go more deeply into the topic.
How to become a better soccer player? You become a better soccer player by working hard on the training field, staying fit, studying your game, and analyzing professional soccer players. Mental preparation is also one of the things that will make you a better player, that’s why it’s important for you to stay focused and work hard on your mindset.
Here is a full list of things you can do, to become a better soccer player:
It was super easy right! Now you got all the answers. However, if you’d like to dive more deeply into this topic, feel free to!
You can jump straight on one of these topics by clicking on them below.
Yes! You probably heard people “you need to work hard!” or “you need to stay on the field 10 hours every day!”.
Let me make it clear for you, no you don’t have to.
What you gotta do is to work hard, but also work smart!
What’s the point of working super hard and then getting injured for weeks?
You need consistency. And that can be achieved only if you are smart about your training sessions.
Also, working on your fitness can help you immensely to train more. The stronger the body, the more pressure it will be able to take so keep an eye on that as well.
I think I don’t have to explain more about this topic. It’s pretty much straightforward. If you really want to become a better soccer player, you will always find a ways to work on yourself.
Just take a look on this video of Ronaldo working hard. Should be motivating enough:
Many players underestimate having a healthy lifestyle, but it has a direct effect on your performance.
In the past, I used to get injured a lot. Mostly because I just didn’t care about sleep schedule and fitness.
Sleep is where the magic happens. It’s time when your body heals and when muscles grow. Don't underestimate it, please. You can read about this topic here.
So if there’s one thing you can do right now in order to become better, it’s correcting your sleeping schedule.
Many players tend to overcomplicate their training sessions.
However, the truth is that repetition and consistency matter much more.
It’s better to train every single day for 1 hour than train 2 times a week for 3 hours.
Why? Because when you are playing and training, you are building habits that will make you a better player.
Just think of a time when you were learning how to juggle. The first time it was terrible, you could hardly make 20-50 juggles in a row.
But after enough repetition and as you were in contact with the ball more often, you were able to start juggling a ball even 100-200 times without any trouble.
The same goes for passing, shooting, dribbling and etc..
All matters is repetition and consistency, which will help you to make the right habits on the soccer field that will help you to become a better soccer player.
In case you are confused by what is a habit, I highly recommend you to read this article.
If you don’t have any game recorded already, try to get your family member on a few soccer matches and get them to record you.
It’s a super-effective method to improve your decision-making in-game. It will really make you a better soccer player.
All you have to do is to pay attention to the decision you made in each situation and ask yourself, what could’ve been better.
This is the same as the previous point. But, in this case, you will analyze the pros.
How to analyze professional players?
It’s very simple. You can go either on Youtube and write “Ronaldo analysis” and you will get a lot of search results.
The important point though, you better analyze a player that plays on your position. It wouldn’t be really effective to analyze Ronaldo if you are playing as a center back.
Most of these videos already have a lot of information so you will be fine by just watching.
However, you can also analyze players in a tv game. Just try to pay attention to the same player and try to ask yourself these questions:
And etc.. Always try to pay attention to the smallest details, because these are what makes a difference between good and great soccer players.
There’s one very broad study saying, that people with goals are usually 10x more successfull.
This applies not only to your career but also a life.
Ask yourself these questions:
Thee are only a few, but you get the idea.
It’s also important to be smart about setting your goals.
One goal should be short-term and another goal should be long-term. This way you can easily keep on track and don’t burnout.
There’s a specific technique whet it comes to setting goals. It’s called SMART goals.
SMART goals are: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely.
You can read about this topic here.
Your mentality is one of the things that will determine how far you will go in your soccer career.
It’s also one of the things that scouts are looking for in soccer players.
Your attitude and mental resilience in the soccer field can take you really far.
I had a teammate that was really good. His skills were on a pro-level, and he was about to get scouted by agents from Aston Villa.
After a few weeks, he found out that they didn’t take him on trial because they didn’t like his attitude on the soccer field. And there’s something about it.
He used to be very selfish and he’d rather miss a goal than pass a ball and get an assist.
And that’s only one of the things that can sabotage your performance on the field.
There are other things to mindset.
Here are a few tips on the mindset:
and etc etc.
I really don’t want to sound like a salesman now, but trust me, getting good gear will help your game a lot!
Now I don’t mean by good gear, expensive one. No, that’s not the case. Even the most expensive soccer cleats are usually not the best ones.
However, there’s something about guying high-quality soccer cleats and playing with a professional soccer ball every day.
If you really want to improve your game and be a professional one day, you need to practice like one. That means working hard like professionals and having the same gear as professionals.
Soccer is not that expensive sport so you can get away with a couple of hundreds of dollars.
I also create a few really good buying guides such as:
Feel free to check them out!
I hope I helped you to answer a few of your questions.
Remember, that you cannot become a professional soccer player overnight.
It can happen, but it will take a lot of consistent work. If you truly love soccer, training every day and being smart about your choices will be very easy for you.
I wish you all the best!
