The team photoshoot was also a great time. It was unlike the traditional photoshoots of the previous teams I've played on. We got to attend the neon lights boneyard that features old signs from casinos and other businesses and we took a photo that really showed the motto of "we do things differently." with an amazing backdrop, scattered players posing in different ways,..

​And yes, the team llamas Dolly and Dotty. 🦒🦒(<- giraffe emoji... Can someone please contact apple and get a llama one made ASAP. Thanks.)

Other than that, I can't forget the Harley Davidson sponsorship event! I got to introduce Cash the Soccer Rocker with a couple teammates. That was a rockin' experience. Cash is our team mascot. He's a "Hispanic Elvis Presley with a little Johnny Cash" who rides into games on a motorcycle.

I also think this was my first encounter with fans (and future friends) Ricky and his son Xavier, so a big shout out to them! (Photo below!)

I got the honor of being in a Findlay Toyota/John Barr Commercial that ended up airing during Lights FC  halftime breaks as well as on TV during World Cup games (So technically I was a part of the world cup... technically). I was both a stunt double for John's fancy footwork and also make a cameo as the teammate who crosses John the ball to score his epic bicycle kick. John is an awesome dude, and his team at Findlay Toyota is great, so shoutouts to them as well! It was a top 10 Vegas experience for sure, even though I had to cross the ball a bazillion times with a bruised foot a day before my game. #soccerprobz

I haven't seen the commercial posted online anywhere so if you find it, share it in the comment section below! All I have is this snapshot below!

I also have to give a shoutout to Ben Gotz at LVRJ (interview here), Helen Yee of LVSportsNetwork (one short interview here), Steph & Melissa from GirlChatSports (Podcast here) and all other media peeps for the fun talks! It was also cool meeting Ethan/Tazia of NuWu Cannabis Marketplace (the first ever dispensary sponsor for a pro soccer team). Shoutouts on shoutouts to all! 

Okay okay, last shoutouts, I swear!

Big thanks to all the Lights people for the good times! Front Office + everyone else (Ryan, Maddie, Rachel, Andrea, Luis) + Thanks for been such awesome people along the way! 

Thank you to the owner + coaches for everything you've done to support my football journey. The time and effort you put into the club is really admirable. I sincerely appreciate the good experiences I've gained under your management. 

If you ever need something, please don't be afraid to reach out.

It's been a season of firsts, so I wanted to highlight a few from games:

As I mentioned, I played against MLS side Montreal Impact in the first ever (pre-season) match for Las Vegas Lights in front of a sold out Las Vegas stadium. 🏟
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I played my first full 90 minutes in my first professional game in the USL. It was the first win in team history, we won 3-2 (!!) and we scored the fastest goal in league history for an expansion team. (My proud dad likes to let people know that I stole the ball from the opponent and started the play for the first goal. 🤓 Lol)

I played in the first ever home home season match which was also the first Silver State Cup match vs. Reno 1868 FC, we tied 1-1. (My proud mom came down and watched the game with my aunt which was awesome!)

I also started for the teams first ever US Open Cup match vs. FC Tuscan, which resulted in a 4-2 win! This was also the teams first win with us scoring 3 or more goals, which meant the players on the field got a $100 poker chip from Plaza Hotel. (Since I don't gamble, I used it on food. :)

That's a pretty full recap of my positive experiences in Las Vegas. (Did I miss anything?) Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed living it!

Thanks to all,
​
-Z

p.s. Special shoutout to my family, to Robert my first friend in LV, to my social media supporters, to my sponsors, to L.E. the team photographer for the majority of these shots, and to future pro footballer Gio + his family for their support. Love you guys! 

It looks like I practice what I preach because I've been developing this coaching website in a painfully slowly step-by-step fashion. 

Luckily, it's paying off, as the changes are becoming more noticeable, and more professional.

The first change (as you can see by the quote art) is the brand color! I've gone with a nice obsidian blue and mint green color-way. It's deep, dark, and intense with the blue, but open, fun, and kind of boho with the green. Me likey.

​You'll start seeing these color changes reflected on all of my social media platforms: 

Next up, we have a brand new logo!

It's something I'm really proud of. I've been working with the team at from12yards since December to make this and it's turned out so much cooler and better than anything I would have imagined.

​They are the kings of abstract soccer artwork, and I'm so happy to have their support developing this logo.

Check it out:

We have so much more in store, so stay tuned on whichever social media channel you prefer. 

I can't wait to share it all!

​-Z

Let's do this! #vivalights

They say a picture is worth a thousand words...

This season has been a great for myself personally, I've developed and grown as a footballer in many ways. I've become more tactically aware, more technical, and my German is better too. I was chosen to be in the starting 11 throughout the season (playing fullback).

This photo was taken of the only game I didn't start on the pitch. It's not a glorious action shot, but if you look closely, you can see something glorious in itself.

Take a look at me sitting there, where my eyes are focused, how engaged my body language is, how focussed I am.
Even though I wasn't on the field, I was using the opportunity to study the game from the bench. I watched the players in my position. I watched their movements, their decisions, how they interacted with the collective group. I watched the opponents and picked out which of them were most dangerous on the ball, which were fastest, which formation they played as a team; Scanning, identifying, preparing. It's not something every player does, but since I'm invested in my career, it's part of the discipline.
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The key take-away: Every moment is a choice, you can choose to sit back and be passive or you can create opportunities for growth. If you really want to achieve something, this is important. Patience is important too, but don't forget to do what you can with what is within your control. When your chance comes, you'll be ready for it.

-z

Here's my best response:

Depending on your budget, something like this could be really beneficial: https://properformance.guru/

A football mentor can share their authentic experiences, encourage personalized athletic development, and build valuable skills into your life!

If you want to work with Pro Performance, I can give you a 10% discount to that!

*do it on a budget at ​https://www.coach.me/ with a habit or goals coach.

My side biz (that I've worked for for 3+ years) has lots of content that could be used for soccer players (it's geared towards anyone looking to improve their lives.. it's really really good stuff. 10,000 members and counting!)

---> www.optimize.me/membership

Start by checking out all the content tagged for sports, mental toughness, and peak performance. Investing in yourself is the best thing you can do.

We also have an app and lots of free content (sample below).

This industry is messed up. get in the faces of people who need to see you, get your story told, get your buzz up, find a way to connect to pro team academies, push for it.

At least reach out to local clubs, coaches, parents with connections. You don't want to miss out on an opportunity you don't know is out there.

Agents on www.fieldoo.com could help with that.. not sure about age related situations. It's free to try anyway.

A. It's vital for resume building. Many places won't look at your without a good resume. So getting national teams, trials with pro club academies etc. are all good to add to your resume. Start early, you don't want to be 25 while trying to build your resume.

B. Growing and learning from smart people/coaches (Like this). TOVO has a summer program and other camps run by Todd Beane. He's a friend (and he's Johan Cruyff's son in law) get good coaches, get on good teams, and play as much as possible. Let me know if you want an intro to Todd.

Start compiling video footage for your games (see Matt at SoccerSpotlight for help). This will help with your resume, but it will also help you do something that very VERY few players (even at the pro level) take advantage of.

A personal tactical analyst will help you LEAP over the competition by working with you on your situational tactical development.

I've worked with Loran at Your Tactical Analyst and have grown a TON from it. ​I highly rec. working with someone on your football intelligence.
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(If you want to work with Loran or Matt, I might be able to get you a discount!)

Maybe it makes no sense but failure = success. It really does. 

Get a thousand doors slammed in your face before you even consider quitting. I like many other people have been told no more times than they can remember, but there's always a yes somewhere. So take your No's as Not yets.

Check out the updates for off season workouts that I'm doing during my time in Bali.

----> https://www.facebook.com/ZakDrakeCoaching/

Every year footballers face uncertainty. Uncertainty in where they will be playing, will they be playing regularly, what income will they be bringing in, where they will be living, career progression… the list goes on. Uncertainty is one of the greatest fears of footballers and we attempt to avoid it at all costs. It drowns us in distress, worry, and anxiety. Many of us will exchange growth for certainty and security in our careers, meaning that we rather stay where we are or even digress in order to avoid the risk of uncertainty when trying to further our career. The irony is that the profession we have chosen is not one of security. There are so many uncertain scenarios that can arise, that there is no way to foresee the future. In a book called ‘The Fighter’s Mind‘, Ben Rosenfeld compares the life of an artist to the life of a fighter. He refers to them as people who want to do something different; a job without security. He says:
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There is not a way to avoid uncertainty in our profession so we must not only learn how to deal with it, but also learn how to manipulate it to drive us forward. So lets get into it…

Psychology has proven that our brain is wired to impulsively look at uncertainty with a negative bias. What happens when uncertainty arises, is we tend to see the loss-side of the equation. The voices in our head start yelling out all the worst-case scenarios that might lie ahead. This outlook is what fills us with these uncomfortable feelings that paralyses our ability to progress and deal with the situation we are in.

For these reasons, uncertainty has this bad stigma attached to it, like it’s a horrible thing that you want to avoid. But this all stems from the way we have been taught to perceive it. If you look at what uncertainty actually is and detach it from yourself as a separate entity, you can see that uncertainty brings directly the opposite of what it is perceived to be.

According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, ‘Safety’ and ‘Security’ are categorised as basic necessities for human life. However, there is a misconception that safety and security is gained through certainty, and that’s why uncertainty has a bad onus.

So let’s look at what ‘certainty’ actually is… The search for security is an attachment to ‘the known’. What is ‘the known’? ‘The known’ is our past. The only thing we know for certain is what has already happened to us. So by searching for certainty you will become a prisoner of your past, and there is no evolution in that; it is the death of creativity, thought, and growth. So essentially the search for security is an illusion, and the solution lies in the wisdom of uncertainty.
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Uncertainty means stepping into the unknown, where the possibilities are endless. This generates excitement, adventure and mystery. It opens the gates to pure creativity and freedom that allows us to orchestrate and create the manifestation of our future.

I know that sounds very philosophical and spiritual, which can be difficult to relate to. However, there are many ways to rewire the mental impulse of seeing all the negatives that can come from uncertainty and instead look at the endless possibilities that arise from it.

The first thing you need to do is detach yourself from the scenario and look at it with an analytical approach. Give yourself a clear understanding of what the situation is; get as much information as possible about it. Speak to other people who have been in similar scenarios and seek insight from them. By acquiring as much information as possible it helps you understand the situation you are in, and it will in turn bring you clarity on how to deal with the situation proactively. You then can start to ask yourself questions like: What opportunities lie here? What doors have opened that were once closed? How can I turn this predicament into something amazing? There will be endless possibilities that enter your mind and now the uncertainty, that once drew fear and anxiety, now draws excitement, belief, hope and positive expectation. This will have a direct effect on your preparation for what’s coming, and when the opportunity does arise, you will be the upmost prepared mentally and physically to drive into it with momentum that you generated in the process leading up to it.

I hope to be clear in recognizing the distinction between striving for your long-term goal and being over-consumed by it, as these will naturally overlap by staying on course. It’s important to know the direction that you are heading and where you see yourself in 5 or 10 years from now; but you don’t need to know ‘how you’re going to get there’, in fact, it’s actually irrelevant. Remember that there are many ways to get to your ultimate goal, and when faced with uncertainty this actually means you are on the right path. Because there will be many opportunities that will arise and you never know which one of them can take you to a completely different level, then if you stayed on the secure path that you were on. By keeping your eyes on the bigger picture, it will bring you comfort and wisdom knowing that the journey must go on and continue for you to get to where you are meant to be.
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I personally, like to look back at past experiences where the road was looking unclear, and looking back there has never been a time where I have been completely helpless, where I had nothing and I was doomed. An opportunity always arose and the journey continued and for the most part, it’s always been a better one then I previously had.  You must trust the journey, and believe that it will always look after you. When you experience uncertainty, you know you are on the right path. Because in order to grow and progress you need to take risks which naturally brings uncertainty. The worst thing you can do is worry and get stressed. You don’t need to have a rigid idea of what’s going to happen to you in the coming future, because by attaching yourself to this idea it will prevent you from seeing the endless range of possibilities that can lie ahead. The best thing you can do is stay ready and prepared to give yourself the best chance to make the most of the opportunity that is on the horizon, even though you may not see it yet!

Excuse the delays in posts! Last week has been nuts-busy!

I've made the transfer to Northcote City FC in the NPL Victoria for the rest of the 2016 season.

Write up here:
http://www.cornerflag.com.au/drakes-hotline-blings-answers-northcotes-calls/

Just landed on the team of the week for my first performance too :)
http://www.cornerflag.com.au/npl-victoria-team-of-the-week-round-16-2016/

Let's do this!

​-z

There are a lot of really great players out there... thousands upon thousands. So how are you supposed to stand out from the rest, and really make it in football? 

The answer to this question lies in my journey.

Around age 15, I had an opportunity pop up. I was offered trails at Nacional AC, a professional Brazilian team in Sao Paulo. For reference, it's the club that Deco came from. It was a great experience that in the end didn't pan out in my favor, and for a long time I used to see getting that trial as something that was justified, after all, I was a top player in my city, why wouldn't I get offered something. 

Now that I'm older and a tad bit wiser, I look back on that opportunity and I actually chalk it up to something like "luck" because I wasn't really looking to go pro in Brazil, the opportunity sort of fell into my lap. Clearly I'm grateful for it, yet almost 10 years later, I've learned my response after the Brazil experience holds a huge secret to actually making it in the soccer industry. It's a big one that I don't see many players doing. It's something that I've called Active Future Achievement, or more simply "putting yourself out there."

Ok, so hear me out. I knew some players who were invited to a trial at a young age. Though they were really skilled they didn't pick up an offer/contract from the opportunity. After that, they played soccer for a few more years, then sort of grew out of it and ended up getting "real" jobs, partying a lot, or just resigned to playing recreationally. They thought, well if that didn't work out, then I guess I'm not good enough!

The problem is that they didn't even give themselves a real chance at their soccer career. In my perspective, hoping to be invited to a trial after a good performance in a tournament is basically like rolling the dice on your career. Going to a showcase is definitely a step up from wishing on a star, and yet it's still about 1000 steps down from what I'm going to share with you.

Fast forward 8 years and I'm sitting here, having played for a nationally ranked school, playing in Germany, and now found myself being really successful in Australia (more awesome updates on that to come!).

It turns out that all the people who didn't give themselves a real chance, they didn't end up putting themselves out there, they didn't (actively) chase the dream. 

Three quotes to ponder on:

What I think of when I read these, it boils down to this: If you really want it, you have to give in to it, surrender to that need, and do every single thing you can in order to achieve it. Actively seek out success in the future, and you're much more likely to achieve it.

It's easier said than done, but I'll tell you, I didn't end up with a full scholarship by chance. I reached out to every single coach of every Division 1, Division 2, and NAIA school that I could before getting it. When I was in Germany, I also reached out to so many clubs (potentially 100+?) just to hear back from a small percentage and later be able to trial with about a half a dozen teams. I gave my best performances at some trials and clubs STILL said no (learn more about rejection here soon!). It was only on my last day in Germany, that I was invited to a second trial at Vikt. Kelsterbach. I even had to change my travel plans a day later so I could attend the trial. It was there that I was offered a playing deal.

After my change of focus, moving to Australia was another challenge. Again, I honestly reached out to HUNDREDS of coaches, club representatives, and anyone I could in order to get myself noticed and to see what opportunities were available - it's just like any other competitive job in the market, you're battling with hundreds of fantastic candidates with potentially better resumes than you, so you a) can't sit on your hands and wait for them to come to you, and b) have to make yourself stand out.

If you want to stand out and make this beautiful game into something of a career, you're going to have to grind for it. It takes deliberate, active effort, to even get a shot at increasing the probability of success. You can do it. You just have to work that extra bit. Trust me, the rewards at the end of it are worth it.

If you need a hand, I'm happy to chat and help you out!

​-Z

We have all heard the saying, “football is 10% physical and 90% mental”. Yet we do not spend nearly as much time training our minds as we do our bodies. I have always been an advocate for training the mental side of the game. It started early in my youth career when my under 14 coach called me ‘mentally weak’ for making a mistake. As much as that comment enraged me, I took it on board and bought my first book on sports psychology and started practicing the techniques to become ‘mentally tough’. Since then I’ve read every book I can find on the subject, and a lot of the techniques and methods I have learned have become second nature, and I apply them before, during, and after matches and training sessions.

However, I began noticing that when things would go wrong in a match, I had a hard time forgetting about it and moving on to the next moment. I found it hard to let go of the events that I didn’t foresee in my preparation, and it would affect the rest of my performance. I feel like this is a common occurrence for many players. You can always notice when a player makes a mistake, the following contributions are usually bellow their normal standards. I associate this problem with the mental preparation we’ve been taught through sports psychology. Every book I’ve read talks about visualization and imagery. While these mental exercises are very powerful and beneficial, they have an equivalent down side to them. Matches are full of unexpected events, and it is impossible to prepare mentally for every situation we will experience in a match. So it is very likely to experience an event that you did not visualize before hand. The best way to prepare and deal with these unexpected events is to maintain a present mind-set throughout the match; being completely tuned in and focused on the ‘here and now’. When you are fully present, your mind switches off and your body takes over. This allows you to deal with whatever situation you will encounter, as your actions are based on the intuition you have developed through your experience in the game. This is what happens when you’re at your best and ‘in the zone’ as some like to call it.

Presence is the key to optimal performance, but none of the books have really taught me how to build and develop a present mindset. How do you train presence??

I found the answer I was looking for through practicing yoga where I have been introduced to this brilliant concept called Mindfulness.

Mindfulness is the practice of focusing your awareness on the present moment; while acknowledging and accepting your thoughts, feelings, and sensations during that present moment. The mind is only capable of experiencing one thought at a time, but due to our hectic metaphysical world, the mind only holds the one thought for a short amount of time before moving onto the next. So our thoughts race through a fast moving mind stream called our ‘stream of consciousness’. By neglecting awareness to these thoughts, like most of us do through our fast paced lifestyles, the range of thoughts we experience becomes very broad and forms a cluttered mind. Just like an office worker, if your desk is very cluttered it is extremely difficult to accomplish anything, and the same goes for our minds. If our mind is cluttered we will fail to do anything at our best and will be functioning below our full potential. Through practice we can bring awareness to our stream of consciousness, and can begin to narrow the range of thoughts that flow through our stream creating space and clarity in the mind, to allow us to function at our fullest capability and produce our best work.

Mindfulness is the link that connects mind, body, and spirit. This harmonious connection is needed to enter your ‘flow state’, which leads to optimal performance. (Click here to read Jon's post on Flow)

When I look back on my best performances, I acknowledge that I was in a flow state, but I achieved it subconsciously. I didn’t consciously enter it, it just happened. So just as I discussed in my post on Consistency in Approach, if we can consciously manage our mind stream when performing we will give ourselves the best chance to achieve flow and perform optimally.

In America, we have a fascination (obsession) with celebrity figures. There is a reason why they have so many social media followers; people want to see what they are doing on a daily basis and see how it compares to their own life. For a lot of young boys and girls, the celebrities they care about the most are their sports idols, especially if they play the same sport. They want to follow in their footsteps and take the same path that they took to stardom.


The superstar athletes who have this power are given a tremendous opportunity to impact millions of young, impressionable athletes simply by sharing a video, or making a statement about how they train. Sometimes, players give brilliant little insights into things that they do which got them to where they are, but many times, (more often than you think) top athletes share how they train and, if followed verbatim, can hinder a younger player’s development or worse, injure them.

Many training programs market themselves with the simple “Train like ______!! (Insert superstar athlete name here).” Using an athlete’s name is a common marketing tool to validate something quickly to a consumer base. It provokes thoughts like “Well if _____ does it, then it must work!”

This type of thinking is particularly dangerous, because subconsciously, we have approved of a product or a training method that we do not know the finer details of. In fact, you might be shocked that there are many pro athletes who train in a way that is actually  contradictory to their goals.

A friend of mine shared with me an article for Women’s Running magazine, which talked about a USWNT player and her training program. The article detailed the type of running that she does and her reason for following it.

“For sprint endurance during periods: 100 yards in 15 seconds, and then rest 15 seconds. Repeat 12 to 16 times, completing two sets. For longer endurance over an entire match: Half-mile repeats. Run hard for a half of a mile—which (she) aims to do in under 3 minutes—and then rest for 2 minutes. Repeat as many times as you feel appropriate for your body.”

Whenever I see a workout or a new training method, the first question I always ask is “why?”. I always try and look beyond the fireworks and get down to what fitness principles are being applied, what the specific goal is, and how/if this method is effective at helping to achieve that goal. In this professional player’s case, the goal is to be more fit, or to maintain fitness. “The more fit you are, the better you can perform on the field”, she writes in the article, which is not wrong.

But the big problem with this goal, and with a lot of coaching feedback to so many players, is it is not specific! Being “fit” is not a specific goal!!! Marathon runners can be “fit”. Sprinters can be “fit”. Basketball players can be “fit”. Does the word “fit” mean the same for each athlete? Of course not! We must examine the demands of the sport and how our training method applies.

Let's break it down a bit by the numbers that represent the positions, shall we? I'd suggest checking out what your top 2-3 positions would be, and then read the roles of the immediate players around you. That way, you can get a feel for their responsibilities and how they're likely to act on and off the ball.
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​Okay so you might have a preference of where you like to play, and you might not be given the opportunity in that position. If your coach isn't giving you that chance, you need to understand that playing different positions is one of the best things for your growth. If you want to be a striker, there might only be 1 in the formation (like the one above!). You may get put in a fullback or center back, it's not the end of the world, it's a positive thing if you really think about it! It's an opportunity to grow in a different way, its an opportunity for you to get your chance, because these positions are all really important. So maybe you can't make it as the best striker on your team, you can still strive to be the best fullback of the league. It's great for your development. #ownit

If you're stuck asking yourself which position should you play, the best way to answer is by first looking at your skills, and then asking which position you *want* to play. Then, look at what skills are required of that position and start developing those skills. Communicate with your coach and let them know you're working on _____ (insert important skill) and if there's ever an opportunity, you'd love it.
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Ways to improve:

• Learn from the Pros! Watching professional soccer is a great way to see where to be, when to move, and how to execute the type of runs that you would be making in a game. (Hint: don’t watch the ball during the game, watch the player who is in your position on the pitch)
• Talk with your coach! Asking your coach doubles as a way to both improve your performance and it shows your coachability, which goes a long way. (Hint: Most players don’t approach the coach for a 1-v-1 chat, lead the way, and your teammates might follow the example you set. When everyone is on the same page, that’s when you start to win championships)
• Get out there and train!​ #crushit

There's a difference between seeing something, and looking at something. When you see things, there is an air of passivity in the action, however when you're looking at something, it's more deliberate, your eyes get into focus, and your brain is activated on the conscious level. This is the difference I'm talking about when I differentiate between Sight and Vision. Sight involves a reaction to the surroundings, while Vision involves awareness, perception, and knowledge. Vision involves anticipation.

In football, it's really important to constantly be looking around the field, scanning for information that you can use to your advantage in the current or next play. This ability to read the game is called anticipation. Anticipation is a mix of prediction and expectation. Developing this handy tool will help you in all areas of your game. You'll be able to make smarter choices while attacking or defending, you'll be a step ahead of opponents (or with a hyper-developed level of anticipation, you'll be 5-steps ahead of your opponents *cough* Messi *cough). Whoever you are, and whichever position you're in, you've got to start building your anticipation muscle and understand that the game of football is a thinking game, and though it's great to get wrapped up in the joy of the game, or play in the moment, to be truly great, you've got to start playing ahead of the game.

A simple example of this (out of soccer context) is the world of chess. You'd never see a chess master just move pieces around a board for fun, without thinking or strategizing. Every move is deliberate, thought out, meticulous. 

Trusting your skill and instinct is huge, yet you don't want to solely rely on that. You've got to be involved mentally, stay sharp, and make the right moves on the pitch.

You can do this by figuring out where you want the ball to go (where you want to pass it) before you've even received it. This means getting your head up, on a swivel, and periscoping your available outlets prior to getting the ball.

Another way to flex this muscle, in a defensive situation, is to read your opponent with the ball. Practice looking at their body language and playing style. If you're the first defender approaching a player, and you learn the person is right foot dominant, you can close him down more effectively, or force him to his weaker foot. 

If you're not directly closing the player down (let's say you're a defender) you can read if his hips are opening up to strike the ball over the top, so you could gain an extra second in tracking back, or getting a tackle in, or getting your foot in the way, etc. There's a lot you can do with that split second.

​Vision takes you to the next level of football. It's what all the pros are doing at nearly every moment of the game. Watch for this as you study your favorite players, and once you pick it up, and start practicing, you'll start to feel like the game slows down for you, and you'll be ready to take on more challenges.

Do you really want to put yourself in the spotlight as a player? Do you want to show that you're a great player?

Then, listen up. A SUPER secret to taking your game to the next level is advancing your proficiency in your ability to make optimal decisions.

Woah, what's that really mean?

Simply put --->  Get *really* good at making the best choice. 

It's easier said than done, but I'll break down some ideas you can obtain this soccer holy grail.

For growth in this area, here are some of the best tips:

Study professional football

    I've said it before and I'll say it again, learn from the pro's! Study the players who are top class. Learn how they tick. When you're watching a game, ask yourself (and try to answer) why do the players make certain passes and other actions on the ball? Why did they make that decision? In answering this, you'll be putting yourself into the role of the player, and in a sort of empathetic way, you're developing your brain to understand the critical thinking it takes to make the best choices.

Mistake your way to success 

    Trial and error is a great way to learn, since you're training more than you play in games, that would be a awesome time to work on your decision making. If you make a poor decision, like playing a high risk pass, try to figure out which alternatives could have been better. Did you have support behind you to retain possession? Did you forget to scan the other side of the field where a player was open/making a run? Learn from your mistakes, and and you'll quickly become more successful in choosing the best option.

Add restrictions ---> +/-

    If you reduce the number of touches you're allowed to have on the ball, it forces you to make decisions quicker (if you don't, you're screwed! hehe). Start thinking about what to do before you have the ball. Being able to anticipate the play (see Sight vs. Vision again!) will help you destroy your opponents. As a bonus, playing quicker will improve your touch too! As a visual cue, you can write +/- on your wrist during training, and if you see it, you'll know to "add less" touches. 

If you want to develop your soccer career, and need help getting to the next level, go to ZakDrakeCoaching.com

Football ​Quickness/Agility is the ability to move freely and quickly in different planes of movement. You might be going in one direction, and suddenly move into a different one without losing speed, strength or balance. This requires a lot of coordination and multi-plane movement training.

In a game, Agility helps you move and react to the flow of the game. Training this also improves your footwork speed.

As I mentioned in the intro, throughout a game, the ideal performance from a(n aspiring) professional footballer is to be able to do these 4 things:

1. Have High Quality Actions (Big X’s)
2. Maintain High Quality Actions (Keeping big X’s throughout the whole game, 90 minutes)
3. Having More Actions (per minute)
4. Maintaining More Actions (per minute)

So the goal is —>  X - X - X - X - X - X - X

Agility training will be more directly related to having High Quality Actions. You're sharper, and more able to perform your soccer actions like dribbling at pace, making runs in between players, and tackling an opponent for the ball.

Non-soccer specific drills that isolate this area of fitness include: Ladders, Hurdles, and Cone drills, including a ball when possible makes it more similar to a game and therefore more accepted as a football fitness exercise.

Check out this 9 year old stud go through some amazingly effective Speed, agility, and quickness (SAQ) drills for inspiration in your own training.

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Fitness is a huge part of the professional game. If you want to play at a higher level, you’ll need to work on becoming the most “fit” player on your team, and perhaps the fittest your league.

Throughout time and modern technology, we’ve gotten better and better at breaking down fitness into different categories to focus on with laser like focus. We have highly specialized trainers coming in and creating programs for players, and coaches are leaning towards the education of such trainers to decide what will help their team perform at a high level. This has it’s pros and cons because although it’s great for making improvements in different aspects of your physical self, i’d argue that it actually takes you away from what is truly important in the realm of football, which is playing the game.

The more time you spend outside of the pitch working on these aspects, means the less time you’ll have to train them on the pitch, focussing on developing everything that comes along with game-like situations. 

I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve to get you focussing on football first (<—super important) and secondly improve in the most important areas of your physical fitness. This will give you plenty of time to train effectively and efficiently on the field, and spend your time off the field making marginal gains towards your success.

We’re going to have to set the stage so you’ve got 100% clarity on how we’re going to achieve this.

Football Fitness

“People often define fitness in non-football language. If you use non-football words when you talk about fitness, automatically you get non-football exercises to train fitness” - Raymond Verheijen

Raymond Verheijen is a Dutch conditioning expert who specializes in keeping fitness in the realm of football. That means that he doesn’t use fitness jargon (words like: aerobic, plyometric, VO2 max et cetera). Instead, he uses football specific actions to define football fitness. It’s a really practical way of looking at things, and though it might take a little while to get used to, it’s really beneficial for any dedicated player to understand.

To simplify, most people consider fitness as something outside of soccer, and when this happens, the training for fitness ends up being exercises outside of the sport. If a coach separates soccer training from fitness, they easily risk overloading the players and injury or burnout could occur (and if that doesn’t happen, the players risk wasting valuable time!)

Verheijen likes to combine football + fitness training so that they are one in the same.

My biggest take away from Verheijens theories of football fitness and periodization is this:


X - X - X - X - X - X - X 

vs.

X -- X --- x ---- x ------- x


There are 4 qualities to this diagram.

The X’s represent the highest-quality actions — Playing at 100% making proper runs, passes, shots, tackles et cetera — and the smaller x’s are less high-quality actions (playing at 80%, 70% …).

The -’s represent time between actions: each dash could represent a 5 or 10 second moment) so the more dashes, the more time between actions.

Throughout a game, the ideal performance from a(n aspiring) professional footballer is to be able to do these 4 things:

1. Have High Quality Actions (Big X’s)
2. Maintain High Quality Actions (Keeping big X’s throughout the whole game, 90 minutes)
3. Having More Actions (per minute)
4. Maintaining More Actions (per minute)

So the goal is —>  X - X - X - X - X - X - X

These fundamentals govern everything you do in football fitness. If you’re not working to approach this ideal state of being, you’re not dialing in your training in the areas that you need to.

Over the few weeks, I'll be rolling out the top tips I have on training Football Fitness.

There are 5 areas worth talking about and I’ll relate each of them back to the Football Fitness terminology and back to the 4 qualities that an ideal performance (X-X-X-X-X) requires.

1. Quickness (Agility)
2. Acceleration (Speed)
3. Stamina (Endurance)
4. Power (Strength)
5. Mobility (Flexibility)
6. *Bonus* Heart Rate Control + Fatigue

No more running wasteful laps around a field, or doing biceps curls, we'll get into what will really be effective training for your football career.

Let's get this party started!

-z

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY is in charge of how good of a player you become, besides you. You are the be all end all of your improvement. You determine your future. You’re the one who chooses each and every decision that you make. Not your parents, not your friends, teammates, or coaches. You do. If you want to improve, the person to start with is in the mirror looking back at you. You are responsible for yourself. As you stand in front of a door that is locked, you have to realize that you are the key. You have to shape yourself accordingly in order to fit the lock and access your dreams. 

At the end of the day, if you can commit to being in control of what you want, how much you want it, and how you’re going to get there. You'll be in control, and your development will soar.

Be ruthless. You're not just supposed to go through the motions. You've got to make yourself known in this game, and that involves being the hardest worker on the pitch. Whether it's on in training or in games.

Playing in games is the #1 best way to improve your football actions. Yet there is a lot more to developing than being thrown into an 11v11 game and expected to improve. Work your ass off to train your decision making and execution.You have to train as efficiently (and as close to game situation) as possibly. 
In this e-book, you’ll be given a run down of exactly which areas you’ll need to be developing individually.

If you can commit to spending time on the pitch in an efficient, effective way, your improvements will translate directly to your gameplay ability and help you to reach your potential. This is where you’ll start seeing changes. 

As long as you're putting in more effort than others, you know you're going to be growing at a quicker rate than the rest. Consistency is vital to long term success. Setting schedules and planning your development throughout the months, seasons, or year is a great way to stay on track.

Lots of low-level achievers in life, tend to miss out on this. They think that it gets boring when you stick to a schedule, or work on the same thing over and over. I promise you that there is bliss in repetition. When you commit to start having a sense of invariability in your training schedule, then you almost switch on to autopilot, and it doesn't take any willpower to roll out of bed and train. You'll grow MUCH faster than other players if you do this.

A fixed mindset is where you think your talents, intelligence, or abilities are fixed traits, whereas a growth mindset is when you believe that you can adapt and improve yourself through diligent effort. Growth minded people embrace challenges, and don't let failure stop them from trying again next time. Set the bar, and if you fail, pick yourself up, time and time again, and learn new ways to master yourself, until you achieve it. The key is in learning here.

By committing to having this mindset, you are letting go of any beliefs about "I can't" by adding the word "...yet" and you'll be free from the dreaded fear of not being good enough and be able to develop in new, creative ways.

When you're developing as a player, you're going to want to be able to improve as soon as you can, but you can't really rush the process too much. Like cramming for a test, it might help out temporarily, but not in the long run. 

You're better off putting little efforts in each and every day. It adds up (check out the post on the 1% Compound Effect for more)

If you can commit to being 1% better every time you wake up, whether that means choosing to eat a little better, run an extra sprint, take an extra few shots on goal, it ALL adds up.

Do you really want to put yourself in the spotlight as a player? Do you want to show that you're a great player?

Then, listen up. A SUPER secret to taking your game to the next level is advancing your proficiency in your ability to make optimal decisions.

Woah, what's that really mean?

Simply put --->  Get *really* good at making the best choice. 

It's easier said than done, but I'll break down some ideas you can obtain this soccer holy grail.

For growth in this area, here are some of the best tips:

Study professional football

    I've said it before and I'll say it again, learn from the pro's! Study the players who are top class. Learn how they tick. When you're watching a game, ask yourself (and try to answer) why do the players make certain passes and other actions on the ball? Why did they make that decision? In answering this, you'll be putting yourself into the role of the player, and in a sort of empathetic way, you're developing your brain to understand the critical thinking it takes to make the best choices.

Mistake your way to success 

    Trial and error is a great way to learn, since you're training more than you play in games, that would be a awesome time to work on your decision making. If you make a poor decision, like playing a high risk pass, try to figure out which alternatives could have been better. Did you have support behind you to retain possession? Did you forget to scan the other side of the field where a player was open/making a run? Learn from your mistakes, and and you'll quickly become more successful in choosing the best option.

Add restrictions ---> +/-

    If you reduce the number of touches you're allowed to have on the ball, it forces you to make decisions quicker (if you don't, you're screwed! hehe). Start thinking about what to do before you have the ball. Being able to anticipate the play (see Sight vs. Vision) will help you destroy your opponents. As a bonus, playing quicker will improve your touch too! As a visual cue, you can write +/- on your wrist during training, and if you see it, you'll know to "add less" touches. 

There's a difference between seeing something, and looking at something. When you see things, there is an air of passivity in the action, however when you're looking at something, it's more deliberate, your eyes get into focus, and your brain is activated on the conscious level. This is the difference I'm talking about when I differentiate between Sight and Vision. Sight involves a reaction to the surroundings, while Vision involves awareness, perception, and knowledge. Vision involves anticipation.

In football, it's really important to constantly be looking around the field, scanning for information that you can use to your advantage in the current or next play. This ability to read the game is called anticipation. Anticipation is a mix of prediction and expectation. Developing this handy tool will help you in all areas of your game. You'll be able to make smarter choices while attacking or defending, you'll be a step ahead of opponents (or with a hyper-developed level of anticipation, you'll be 5-steps ahead of your opponents *cough* Messi *cough). Whoever you are, and whichever position you're in, you've got to start building your anticipation muscle and understand that the game of football is a thinking game, and though it's great to get wrapped up in the joy of the game, or play in the moment, to be truly great, you've got to start playing ahead of the game.

A simple example of this (out of soccer context) is the world of chess. You'd never see a chess master just move pieces around a board for fun, without thinking or strategizing. Every move is deliberate, thought out, meticulous. 

Trusting your skill and instinct is huge, yet you don't want to solely rely on that. You've got to be involved mentally, stay sharp, and make the right moves on the pitch.

You can do this by figuring out where you want the ball to go (where you want to pass it) before you've even received it. This means getting your head up, on a swivel, and periscoping your available outlets prior to getting the ball.

Another way to flex this muscle, in a defensive situation, is to read your opponent with the ball. Practice looking at their body language and playing style. If you're the first defender approaching a player, and you learn the person is right foot dominant, you can close him down more effectively, or force him to his weaker foot. 

If you're not directly closing the player down (let's say you're a defender) you can read if his hips are opening up to strike the ball over the top, so you could gain an extra second in tracking back, or getting a tackle in, or getting your foot in the way, etc. There's a lot you can do with that split second.

​Vision takes you to the next level of football. It's what all the pros are doing at nearly every moment of the game. Watch for this as you study your favorite players, and once you pick it up, and start practicing, you'll start to feel like the game slows down for you, and you'll be ready to take on more challenges.

"See" you soon,

-z
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