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

Hey,

Got back from Bucharest today and after one day of the three scheduled playing days, we got sent back home. It turns out that there were three cases of swine flu reported from the school and so the Romain government had to shut down the school and our torny. At least we got to take an all-expenses paid one-hour flight back home instead of a 15 hour train ride we did getting there.

If feeling my whole body aching now, after playing 3×60 minute matches on Thursday.
1st game against Istanbul: Won 2-1
2nd game against Warsaw: Lost 2-0
3rd game against Bucharest: Lost 4-0

Going back on the goals I set for myself.
Did I Give 100%? I don’t think I gave absolutely everything, I still had some energy left but other than that I did work pretty hard.
Concentration? I guess so, there weren’t really any moments where I wasn’t concentrating.
Did I Score 7 Goals? No, I scored none our of the two goals ! I’m really pissed at myself about this, I had a couple of great chances but almost all of them were blocked by defenders.
All Tornuament Team? Cancelled tornumanet so don’t know..
MVP? Don’t know yet, have a feeling I have a good chance.

The Good things I did:

• I was really pacey on and off the ball (except in the Warsaw game who had an exceptionally quick sweeper).
• Ball control was good, hardly lost the ball.
• Gave some nice through balls and long passes.
• Determination was high to get back in positions and work to get the ball.
• Leadership, I really wanted to win games so I screamed at players to mark up, gave feedback to what players could do better, etc.

The things I will improve on:

• 50/50 Balls, especially in the air. I think it’s because I’m scared of clashing heads, I’m a high jumper and a good header but it’s this mental thing about hurting my head with another player. Tackles I always seem to lose.
• First touch, this was my biggest downside as my touch dictated how it would lead up to the next shot, pass, etc.
• Urgency, I always relax way too much on the ball which is why my shots are blocked and I missed an open goal and a couple of nice opportunities which looked on target after I shot them.
• Confidence with left foot, I’m scared of taking touches with my left foot and shots. Need to practice more on it.

Will post this weeks training schedule by Monday.

As for then, come on Chelsea!! who play man u this wkend!

For the Bucharest Tournament I have set myself these goals that will pave the way to professional success.

1. Give 100%. After a couple of off-trainings, I need to get myself on track again. Give 100% for all matches and I would have done all I can to improve my ability and prove I am the best.
2. Concentration – Concentration has been low for alot of games,  every touch, movement, everything im involved in CONCENTRATE.

By Doing these things I will:

1. Score 7 Goals, this is an average of 1 goal a game and will make me noticeable
2. Be in the All-Torn Team – Have to prove I am the best in this competition
3. Get an team award for being one of the best player, most improved, etc.

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.