The new year is just weeks away and you should be thinking about preparation for next fall’s official soccer season. Indoor leagues exist during the winter months and are a great way to keep soccer fresh in your mind and the competition drive alive; but the new year also brings a time to look back and evaluate your performance from last season.
As you start preparing for your off-season winter training take time to evaluate the following:
- Did you have the killer instinct and always pull the trigger in competitions?
- Did you give good opponents too much respect?
- Did you play too cautious or hesitant?
- Were you afraid to lose or make mistakes?
- Did you play better in practice?
- Did you choke in big games?
If you answered YES to any of those Red Flags you need to formulate a plan on how to overcome those issues. Develop a plan to incorporate footskills, strength and conditioning, explosiveness training and mental training.
Each aspect of your training needs to support the others; if you are not committed 100% to developing each aspect your overall performance will suffer. Take time to develop a daily and weekly plan to build the best you.