Chasing the Dream of Football Pro – The Diary of a Teen trying to make it

I thought I’d write a personal reflection on how I thought my tornameny this weekend in Zurich went. Here are the facts first of all. There were 2×4 teams in the competition which included:

1. Us
2. Zurich B team
3. Munich
4. Vienna

1st game against Zurich we won 3-0. (1 Goal from me)
2nd game against Munich we lost 1-0

The third game was a must win since it was the last game and we were only on 3 points, whereas Vienna were on 4. If we won this we would make it to the top 4 playoffs.  In this match I had the feeling of desire and passion, like when your teams 2-1 down and there’s 10 minutes to go to equalize which is what happened. In those 10 minutes you feel the desire of scoring but what’s frustrating is when you don’t feel that desire with your teammates, I was so pissed when I saw our right back walking to his position when the ball was in our half, he was only on the halfway line! And when your teammates give a shitty pass and lose possession. I could of equalized with a one on one which I shot outside of the box, the keeper parried it out but to be fair I had about four guys on me, still I was pissed that I didn’t finish the golden opportunity and also which I had practiced in training beforehand. We lost the game 2-1 and I was honestly gutted, we had a good chance of beating those teams we lost to and it just didn’t happen, like we had beaten Vienna 2-0 the week before. This now meant were either going to finish 5th, 6th, 7th or 8th. We ended up finishing 6th in the tournament.

From 5 Games
I Scored: 2
Assisted: 1
I felt that I could have done much better. I think I didn’t put in 100% effort in all my games, I was sometimes lazy and I just didn’t give it my all.

Anyway these games were a good chance to analyse my performance and now focus on the things I could have done better:

• 50/50 Balls
• Long shots, under pressure
• First touch
• Ball Control. under high speed

There’s another upcoming international schools tournament in around 2-3 weeks or so, so I have to start preparing for that. Here’s my plan for this week.

Monday Schedule:
1.Running with ball (45 mins)
2. 3 – 4 juggles and First touch towards goal, sprint and shot outside box (2x 8 reps)
3.Dribble 6 cones, touch and shoot (2 x 8 reps)
4. 60 pushups and situps aswell as 30 back-ups during rests
5. End training with Free Kicks from various positions

Tuesday Schedule
Attend regular club training.

Wednesday Schedule
Morning: 40 minutes running with ball
Attend regular club training

Thursday Schedule
Attend regular club training.

Friday Schedule
Same as Monday.

Saturday Schedule
Attend regular club training

Sunday Schedule
Rest

I will commit to this schedule: Signed Nick Humphries 19/10/09 unless something bad happens.

Hey there, it’s been a couple of weeks since the last post.. I don’t know why i’ve put off putting posts.. probably because nothing new has really happened.

Anyway, this weekend we played an annual friendly game against an Austrian schools team all about 16,17 and 18 years old. We played a game of two legs. Our team lost the first leg 1 – 0.. but it’s the second leg where I shined. I assisted the first goal by a cross converted into a header and the second goal I scored from a lobbed through ball and one-on-one finish with the keeper. It was the first time our team won against this team for five years and i’m proud to say that I played a big part in getting the win. I guess working hard in training pays off… Anyway this Thursday i’ll be heading off to Zurich, Switzerland to play in a schools tornuament with teams around europe.. i’ll tell you how it goes!

In another development I am now getting up a hour early in the mornings, three times a week to train. I thought.. if proffessional players train two times a day then why don’t I? That means I have..
Monday: new solo training (1 hour) in the mornings and afternoons (1 1/2 hours)
Tuesday: 1x Academy training (2 hours)
Wednesday: new solo training (1 hour) in morning and afternoon Academy traning (1 1/2 hours
Thursday: Academy training (2 hours)
Friday: schools training (1 1/2 hours)
Saturday: Academy training (1 1/12 hours)
Sunday: REST

looks more like a pro schedule.