How to Prepare for a Soccer Game the Right Way
Methods for preparing for a soccer game vary from team to team. Some teams are very structured, organized, and serious and as a result so are their warm-up. For a number of teams, this method works and they win their games. But, for others it doesn’t and they cannot last the whole game due to the unnecessary waste of effort during warm-up. With this in mind, my trainer raised our team the opposite. My team is incredibly laid back for a team at its skill level. However, the good aspect of our team is that we play at a high level and manage to have more enjoyable, easier warm-ups while still being able to win games. Most of our warm-up is mental and not physical.
The method of our trainer suits our personality and his too. It requires us to be independent and work on what we need rather than being dependant on and directed through the warm-up process. This ability of the team to be self-regulating was established when our trainer got very sick and unable to tell us every little thing that we had to do. From then on, we got on the path of independently winning games because of our heart and team spirit rather than as a result of our sprints before and efforts throughout the game. Only a team like this can succeed with mental warm-ups and no rigorous physical warm-ups.
The procedure all starts the night before with trust. My teammates and I are able to enjoy ourselves without the coach calling us up and making sure that they we getting rest for the forthcoming game, like many coaches do. Instead, he trusts us and knows that regardless of whatever we are doing, we will be ready to give 100% when the whistle blows at the start of the game. If our coach was strict, then we would have poorer results because people wouldn’t be eager about going to the game the next day and playing for the jerk who didn’t let us hang out with our friends. Instead we would be angered at the coach, for creating bad team chemistry which goes hand in hand with losing. With our situation, my teammates and I are able to relax and clear our mind the night before.
Everyone has their own individual procedures while at home in order to prepare. Mine begins with being woken up that next morning, about ninety minutes before game time, to the constant ring and vibration of my cell phone alarm. This manages to do a good job in waking me up physically, not mentally, and getting me into the shower. While in the shower, I let the mostly warm, and at times cold water, hit my face in order to start up my brain. I slowly become functional as I put food into my body.
While eating breakfast I watch Sportscenter to begin my mental preparation for the game. Watching great sports plays from the night before, like Sportscenter’s Top Ten Plays, allows for the production of adrenaline by your adrenal gland to commence. In addition, the acidic taste of the orange juice, followed by the basic milk of my cereal (which only makes it more effective), aides in waking myself up and making me more alert so that I am not like a zombie on the field.
After gathering all needed equipment, it is time to get to the field so that you are there 45 minutes ahead of game time. Listening to music of your choice in the car is crucial to your mental preparation. This ensures yourself that you will be pumped up for the game.
I walk onto our home field which is about five minutes from my house only to notice the other team is already there and had started their vigorous warm-up. In the meantime, my team is lucky if everyone has arrived on time. My team slowly shows up, laces up its cleats, and converses, usually about the night before. The ball gets knocked around for a little bit with very little intensity as the conversations continue. On the other half of the field, the other team is intensely doing sprints while being yelled at by their coach.
Finally, at about ten, maybe fifteen, minutes to game time my whole team is present and ready to go. We run a minimal distance, usually a lap around half the field, sometimes two laps. This is followed by a team stretch led by the captains in which they are encircled by the rest of the team. And no, we don’t put decoy captains, or our weaker players, in the middle of the circle so that the other team doesn’t know who our star players are. While stretching, the coach and trainer give pep talks, pointers for the game, and the starting lineup. At this point, you may even begin to envision yourself on the field as the coaches talk on and on. After this, we are left with a little over five minutes to pass the ball around with more intensity than before. Our thought process is to pick up the intensity to please the coach, which in turn ends up benefiting us. The whistle is blown and the starting lineups make their way to the field. The energetic loudmouth on the team yells "Let’s Go Port!", the whistle is blown again, and the game begins.
We have successful games and therefore successful seasons despite our laid back style. Many teams are unable to be so successful with our approach. This shows the significance of heart and team spirit and how a physical warm-up is not always needed. You don’t necessarily need to do a hundred sprints before a game with a team that has heart and the desire to win. All you may need to do to prepare for the game is make sure that you are ready to play when the whistle blows. In our case, the mental warm-up is more crucial than the physical.
The method of our trainer suits our personality and his too. It requires us to be independent and work on what we need rather than being dependant on and directed through the warm-up process. This ability of the team to be self-regulating was established when our trainer got very sick and unable to tell us every little thing that we had to do. From then on, we got on the path of independently winning games because of our heart and team spirit rather than as a result of our sprints before and efforts throughout the game. Only a team like this can succeed with mental warm-ups and no rigorous physical warm-ups.
The procedure all starts the night before with trust. My teammates and I are able to enjoy ourselves without the coach calling us up and making sure that they we getting rest for the forthcoming game, like many coaches do. Instead, he trusts us and knows that regardless of whatever we are doing, we will be ready to give 100% when the whistle blows at the start of the game. If our coach was strict, then we would have poorer results because people wouldn’t be eager about going to the game the next day and playing for the jerk who didn’t let us hang out with our friends. Instead we would be angered at the coach, for creating bad team chemistry which goes hand in hand with losing. With our situation, my teammates and I are able to relax and clear our mind the night before.
Everyone has their own individual procedures while at home in order to prepare. Mine begins with being woken up that next morning, about ninety minutes before game time, to the constant ring and vibration of my cell phone alarm. This manages to do a good job in waking me up physically, not mentally, and getting me into the shower. While in the shower, I let the mostly warm, and at times cold water, hit my face in order to start up my brain. I slowly become functional as I put food into my body.
While eating breakfast I watch Sportscenter to begin my mental preparation for the game. Watching great sports plays from the night before, like Sportscenter’s Top Ten Plays, allows for the production of adrenaline by your adrenal gland to commence. In addition, the acidic taste of the orange juice, followed by the basic milk of my cereal (which only makes it more effective), aides in waking myself up and making me more alert so that I am not like a zombie on the field.
After gathering all needed equipment, it is time to get to the field so that you are there 45 minutes ahead of game time. Listening to music of your choice in the car is crucial to your mental preparation. This ensures yourself that you will be pumped up for the game.
I walk onto our home field which is about five minutes from my house only to notice the other team is already there and had started their vigorous warm-up. In the meantime, my team is lucky if everyone has arrived on time. My team slowly shows up, laces up its cleats, and converses, usually about the night before. The ball gets knocked around for a little bit with very little intensity as the conversations continue. On the other half of the field, the other team is intensely doing sprints while being yelled at by their coach.
Finally, at about ten, maybe fifteen, minutes to game time my whole team is present and ready to go. We run a minimal distance, usually a lap around half the field, sometimes two laps. This is followed by a team stretch led by the captains in which they are encircled by the rest of the team. And no, we don’t put decoy captains, or our weaker players, in the middle of the circle so that the other team doesn’t know who our star players are. While stretching, the coach and trainer give pep talks, pointers for the game, and the starting lineup. At this point, you may even begin to envision yourself on the field as the coaches talk on and on. After this, we are left with a little over five minutes to pass the ball around with more intensity than before. Our thought process is to pick up the intensity to please the coach, which in turn ends up benefiting us. The whistle is blown and the starting lineups make their way to the field. The energetic loudmouth on the team yells "Let’s Go Port!", the whistle is blown again, and the game begins.
We have successful games and therefore successful seasons despite our laid back style. Many teams are unable to be so successful with our approach. This shows the significance of heart and team spirit and how a physical warm-up is not always needed. You don’t necessarily need to do a hundred sprints before a game with a team that has heart and the desire to win. All you may need to do to prepare for the game is make sure that you are ready to play when the whistle blows. In our case, the mental warm-up is more crucial than the physical.
