FOOTBALL=PASSION. What is your PASSION?
It sounds great, but all the time you try a easy method that not involves a lot of work and physical and mental commitment. We all see only a beautiful part of things, the moments when you score a beautiful goal, when you are acclaimed by the fans or when the press praises you constantly, but before you get there, there is something to do.
You have to endure years of pain, go through every workout no matter how painful it is, stay strong when you are not in the first 11 to prepare yourself even better, manage to maintain your positive mentality despite all the people who tell you, that you can't, that you should get better; to pursue your purpose to the end, to already visualize the place where you want to reach, to think about what you will feel when you get there and how good it will be.
Football is the most beautiful sport in the world and if you play it, you certainly know the feeling you have when you manage to dribble an opponent or when you score.
One mistake that influences our football career is that we expect and do certain things just to receive praise from coaches, teammates, management or supporters. You do not have to find happiness in other people's words, because if you cannot succeed being alone, then your happiness will depend on someone else and you certainly do not want that. The joy of playing, scoring and dribbling must be natural and should depend only on you. Every day you need to talk to yourself, to motivate yourself and to become better than you were yesterday. You just have to learn something new every day and practice the basics every time, until they become automatic, like brushing your teeth in the morning.
After it becomes an automatic, such as walking or running, then you can think of other things during the game, such as where the opponent's base leg is to make the dribble in that direction, the goalkeeper's position and it how he moves before firing at the goal or demarcation of your teammate to a future position. The only way that can become an automatism is through continuous practice.
To become a professional footballer, you have to master the basics very well, so pass (short, long, strong, chipped), taking over (from the spot, from running), hitting the ball right(from running, from the spot, from the air ), controlling the ball in speed (with the left foot, with the right foot), hitting the ball with the head (from the place, from the jump) and the correct running.
All of the above do not matter, if football is not your passion!
Discovering your passion in life is an extraordinary gift. Knowing what you understand and how you can use it to live your life is a wonderful feeling and not everyone realizes it.
By Ciprian Stoica
