What’s the best way to get better at soccer?

Is there a short cut to success? Yeah, everyone says there are NO short cuts in life. However, there is actually one short cut to getting better at soccer: play with older and, more importantly, play with players who are better than you are. Here is a step by step guide as to why!

Knowledge
If you play with players who are better than you are you can suck up all the knowledge they’ve gained over the years, from feints, to runs, to the way they cut or the way they shield the ball. By playing with players who are better than you it’s like compound interest, your money, meaning your skills, will start to compound and grow. Your skills will improve at a faster rate. It’s like money in the bank, gaining more interest over time and earning more money off of that interest.

Speed of Play
And one thing you’ll find is the speed of play picks up when you play with players who are better and more experienced than you are. They play faster and simpler which will force you to do the same.

Interestingly though, the game slows down in a way, it becomes more chess like. Where the ball moves at a faster clip but players around you aren’t running around wildly. Instead, runs are timed and gauged at just the right moment as players check back to receive the ball, lay it off, and then make another run. The game becomes one and two touch, with all the dribbling taking place at those rare moments where a player is one versus one and there’s space behind the defender to attack. Think Barcelona. Think Arsenal.

Communication
Next, and perhaps one of the things you’ll find the most different from when you’re playing with younger players, is the way top-level players communicate. Players demand the ball at a higher level, and players always want the ball – calling for it because that went to contribute and make something happen. Players shout turn, man on, hold it, take them on, you’ve got time. Overall, there’s just much more vocal direction going on with experienced players. But don’t let this intimidate you, jut take it in stride as players around you trying to help you and learn to give direction when you make a pass yourself.

The Mentor
But again, the key is to play with players who are better than you are and to find a mentor. Someone whose style of play and skills you admire. At Barcelona, when Guardiola was playing, he was a mentor to Xavi. When Ronaldinho played at Barcelona, he was a mentor to the Lionel Messi. Sure, we all can’t have mentors like Ronaldinho or Guardiola, but we can play with players who are better than us and went to pass along their knowledge.

Extras
While many players might not think they can learn anything from a soccer coaching DVD, there is one training DVD that’s received a lot of positive feedback, and that’s the Coerver Coaching series, and specifically, the Make Your Move DVDs.

They are part of the Ferrari Future Cat Remix series. My preferred choice is the White/Rosso Corsa
version. The upper is a leather, while the design includes a PUMA Cat Logo on the back and Ducati logo on side.

The entire range can be found on Puma’s Website.

Earlier this week, Wayne Rooney was spotted poolside smoking a cigarette in a Las Vegas hotel while honeymooning with wife Coleen. To be honest, this could have been a once off, or Rooney could just enjoy the occasional cigarette, but either way we say “Not Cool, Wayne!”

Why is smoking cigarettes bad for athletes?

• One of the main impacts of smoking on athletic performance is a decrease in lung function, leading to a decrease in stamina and performance, as muscles that get inadequate oxygen become fatigued more quickly.
• Smoking causes the blood vessels to constrict and become blocked with plaque, and it can also increase blood pressure. Constricted blood vessels reduce blood flow to the muscles, further limiting the amount of oxygen the muscles receive.
• It can lead to greater chance of injury. When the muscles, heart and brain do not receive enough oxygen, mental and physical acuity can drop. This can cause athletes to make poor decisions.

(Find more information on the effects of smoking on athletes here)

However, Rooney is not the first professional footballer to be caught smoking, as this top ten from the Mirror reveals.

Socrates
The legendary Brazilian captain and World Cup winner got through two packets a day during his playing career and continued to smoke after he retired. He’s now a medical doctor.

Gazza and Teddy Sheringham
In the run up to Euro ’96 both Gazza and Teddy Sheringham were spotted with tabs on the go. We suspect the reason why they weren’t collared by the FA, or indeed the press, for this misdemeanour was because it occurred on the same night as the infamous ‘dentist’s chair’ incident.

Robert Prosinečki
Ex-Crotaian international Robert Prosinečki was famous in his homeland for being a heavy smoker. He was as well known for his ability to chug away on more than 40 ciggies a day as he was for his midfield prowess. When he was joined Portsmouth in 2001 word is that he cut down… to 20 a day. He lasted one season.

David Ginola
The French love a smoke – if it was an Olympic sport they’d take gold in Beijing – which is probably why ex-Spurs head-turner and shampoo hawker David Ginola enjoyed the odd Gitanes during his playing career. Who says smoking isn’t sexy?

Zinedine Zidane
Another Frenchie caught with a salmon between his lips was Zinedine Zidane who was snapped puffing away ahead of France’s 2006 World Cup semi-final against Portugal. The thing is Zizou fronted an anti-smoking campaign in 2002. D’oh!

Maradona
Maradona, one of the most prolific footballers in history, began to smoke after he retired from the game. He spent 10 days in intensive care in 2004 with breathing problems, which may or may not have been down to smoking. But probably was. Maradona recognised in 2005 that Wayne Rooney was a closely cut copy of himself, which may not have been a bad observation.

Johann Cruyff
Johann Cruyff was smoking 20 cigarettes a day, prior to heart surgery in 1991, at a time when he was coaching Barcelona. He was also often seen lighting up in the RFK locker room as he talked to reporters. Nowadays, the legendary Dutchman fronts a campaign by the Health Department of the Catalan autonomous government against smoking. And to think, it only took him a double heart bypass to see the error of his ways.

Stanley Matthews
Stanley Matthews was not a smoker himself, but in 1954 he nonetheless backed an advertisement for Craven A cigarettes, who put his “smooth ball control” down to the “smoothness of Craven A”.

Fabien Barthez
Fabien Barthez was a high-profile smoker during his time in the Prem. After a game for Man United against Southampton in 2003, defeated manager Gordon Strachan was furious when he returned to his non-smoking office and found cigarettes stubbed out in an ashtray. It seemed that the injured Barthez had been in the room after being stretchered off in the second half. The Scottish manager later said that he “must have been taken off for smoker’s cough”.

David James
England’s number one confessed to a 15 year 20-a-day smoking habit earlier this year in his newspaper column. “I spent most of my career puffing away on fags: after training, before matches and even on the team coach,” he wrote. We’re surprised his afro never caught fire.

So here’s exactly what I did:

I used to use one pair of boots (cleats) for up to 7 or 8 months, which meant I trained in them 3 nights a week, played a match every Sunday meaning I wore them over 100 times before I got new boots…and that had to stop. Why? Well it was a major reason I was getting Shin Splints, because the more I wore the boots (cleats) the less shock absorption I was getting from them, which was causing the pain.

What I started to do was change my boots (cleats) every three to four months, to stop the impact that Shin Splints was causing, but that was only one thing I had to do. I also tried in-soles (arch-supports) but I found them to be very uncomfortable and sometimes they would move in the boot (cleats) which was ten times worse, so I had to scrap that idea. I tried lots of other things but they didn’t work for me, but here’s what did work.

So my other option which helped brilliantly was to build up more muscle around the shin bone to reduce the pain.

Here’s the three things I done to get rid of my recurring injury:

1. I started cycling with pedal clips. This got me pulling up the pedals with the muscles in front of my shin every time I pedaled. It was also a great aerobic exercise.
2. If I couldn’t cycle I walked around on my heels which does the same thing, you tighten and pull up with the muscles around the shin each time you take a step, building up muscle around the shinbone.
3. I also used this method which is more strenuous but gets results faster. I sat on the edge of a table, high enough to keep my feet from touching the ground. I then placed a sock filled with coins over my foot, the coins weighed about 2 kilos. Then I flexed my foot upwards from the ankle, then relaxed it, and repeated this as many times as I could. Make sure to do both feet with this exercise.

After doing all the things I’ve told you, hey presto, I haven’t had any problems with Shin Splints ever since. I did however suffer knee injuries including a cruciate ligament tear, nothing to do with shin splints though. It’s just one of those unfortunate injuries sports people seem to injure more, but that’s for another day (along with a broken collar-bone while playing the beautiful game, and also a groin injury which lead to me having to get my appendix out, as I say that’s all for another day!!)

If you do suffer from Shin Splints and my methods don’t work, (remember everyone is different) I have other information which may work for you, but didn’t work for me. Just Email me and I will send you on additional information.

Firstly, skimmed milk is emerging as an effective re-hydration drink after sports. This is likely due to the composition of the drink, for example, the electrolyte content naturally found in milk!. Secondly, chocolate milk has been identified as a valuable recovery aid after endurance activity. Research studies evaluating ‘time to exhaustion’ during an exercise trial subsequent to a recovery period from glycogen-depleting exercise, during which test drinks were consumed, reported that chocolate milk performed at least as well (or even better) than commercially available sports drinks. And thirdly, milk contains good quality protein and consumption after resistance training may be effective in inducing muscle protein synthesis. Consumption after certain exercises may also assist in reducing exercise-induced muscle damage. In addition, milk and dairy foods are a source of many essential nutrients e.g. protein, calcium and a number of the B vitamins. Achieving adequate intakes of essential nutrients is fundamental to health.

PROTEIN
Lean red meat (such as beef, lamb and pork) is an excellent source of protein which is an essential ingredient for building muscle and strenght. Protein also has an important role to play in recovery after a sporting event. Post training snacks rich in carbohydrate and protein can help to enhance the recovery of energy reserves and should be planned after all training sessions.

IRON
The mineral iron is involved in the transport of oxygen around the body. An adequate iron intake is essential for athletes, as intense training can lead to increased iron losses. Females, vegetarians and people on weight reducing diets are especially vulnerable to iron deficiency. Signs of iron deficiency anaemia can be fatigue, shortness of breath and weakness. Red meat is an exellent source of iron and in addition, the actual meat protein helps to improve the absorption of iron from cereals and vegetables eaten at the same time as meat. Therefore to boost your iron intake, try to include lean red meat in your diet at least 3 or 4 times per week.

OTHER BENEFITS OF MEAT
Lean red meat is also low in fat but a great source of many vitamins and minerals which are essential in maintaining a healthy active body. These include: selenium, zinc, vitamin D, vitamin A as well as the B group vitamins B1,B2,niacin, B6 AND B12. It also contains several other less well known substances that have an essential role to play in the body’s day to day function. In conclusion, lean red meat has an important role to play in a healthy diet. It provides a wide range of nutrients and because of leaness, does so without contributing excess fat to the diet.  For further information on sports diet go to www.indi.ie