Football, like everything else in life, will always give you back what you put into it. If you invest in football, you will definitely reap the rewards. Unfortunately, a lot of people opt to go the shortcut route and therefore never really get to experience what could have been, had they fully dedicated themselves to their craft. They are hallway in and halfway out.
The sooner some of our players realise the importance of investing in their game, in themselves, the better. Not everything has to come from the coach or even the club, there has to be a concerted effort to improve oneself individually before anything happens in the group. Before you are a team, you are individuals who contribute differently to the success of the team. It is therefore imperative that, individually, you're at your best at all times so that the collective effort can shine through for everyone to see. When one player is not pulling their weight, the whole team suffers and that has an adverse impact on the collective.
This is not a knock on the current players, but a wake-up call to heighten their awareness. This is a helping hand to ensure that they go on and fulfil their potential because, truth be told, a number of our players have only achieved half or even less of their true potential over the years. That is simply because they were easily pleased by their good performances. They never pushed themselves hard enough to see what more they could achieve and how it felt to be out of their comfort zone. They never really fulfilled their true potential and left the football fraternity wondering what could have been of their talents had they been serious about it. Isn't it sad that we continue to have similar cases, generation after generation? Surely something has to give and we have to encourage our players to understand that their football career is sometimes all they have to make a living from, even beyond their playing days.
For this to happen, players don't have to rely solely on what they are taught by the coaches. Being a full-time professional footballer means one has all the time in the world to fine-tune their craft and become the best they can possibly be. The club will always be there to help and so will the technical team, but it has to come from within. Every individual has to want to become better for this dream to be realised. Footballers have far too much time on their hands and can even work towards empowering themselves for when their careers are over rather than going out every chance they get.
To get to maximise their talent, players need to do the basics right before focusing on making major changes. For instance, when you compare the DStv Premiership teams' warm-up with that of their English Premier League counterparts, it is chalk and cheese! The level of intensity from the English is the same as you'd expect during the game. It is like they are already in their game mode and the level of concentration and intensity is just on another level. What do our players do? They just go through the motions and simply ticking the box, just another warm-up routine done and dusted.
Next time you go the stadium, please make sure to arrive early and watch your team's warm-up and you will be surprised by some of the things you will see. When players are going through set-plays or shooting drills, the number of balls that go way off target is insane! Almost everything is done in a lackadaisical approach as if they're saving the best for last, if you know what we mean. When game-time arrives, these players are seemingly only starting to warm up into the game and before you know it, almost half the game is gone without the player finding his feet because he didn't cover his bases.
These are simple things on the eye, but they make a huge difference between you achieving your goals or underperforming on the day. When the warm-up drills are not done with the care and intensity they deserve, come match time, a similar scenario appears and the player takes a shot, hoping to convert, and instead balloons the ball off target. That's because you reap what you sow. What you do during the warm-up or even at training, determines how you are going to play. So, everything and every move is important, which is why it is important to stay switched on and have mental pictures of what is likely to happen.
Sometimes you watch the dress sense of the players and some of them have their shorts below their bums, which says a lot about self-respect and discipline. Once the team is kitted and takes to the field, individualism ceases to exist because you are going to war and when you do that, the last thing you want to see is a colleague dropping the ball.
Excellence is achieved through getting the small things correct and that's what they mean when they say the devil is in the detail. Before thinking of drastic changes, get the basics right and everything else will then fall into place. When our players push and challenge themselves, they don't only elevate themselves but our football at large because their elevation will have a snowball effect on everyone around and ultimately improve our game. As the season starts, one hopes and expects every footballer to have a target they are working towards achieving by the end of this season.
By so doing, there is a standard set to judge oneself and a plan of action to achieve those goals and targets, rather than just hoping to have a good season. The same targets are going to determine the decisions and choices you make, off the field, along the way because there are things you will not be able to do if you want to achieve because they just don't align with your vision. As long as our players are content with being in the DStv Premiership, they are unlikely to push themselves and change their mindset because they enjoy the popularity that comes with playing professional football or they get to be on television when playing against so-called big teams.
But players who push themselves will always look at our league as a stepping stone towards greater leagues and continue working on improving their game so that they can attract overseas interest. Then, as a country, we start exporting more players to the top leagues and they become regulars. Before Lyle Foster's promotion with Burnley, when was the last time we had a player featuring regularly in one of the top five leagues in the world? Back in the day, our players were regulars in these leagues and even captained their respective teams, and the impact that had on our football was immense.
Gone are those days, it would seem, because some players look content and see no reason to push themselves to the limit. This level of thinking has to change so that our players understand that they have a duty to serve their teams in their best possible way. They have a duty to put the team first before their personal glory and that they have an obligation to pave the way for the next generation. To do that, there's a need for mindset change in our football!
Last but not least, great news, for our readers, as we launch a new platform to quench your football thirst and give you a chance to win big. The Soccer Laduma and KickOff Fantasy Sports League, powered by FantasyGo, is South Africa's first weekly fantasy sports platform where players can win HUGE cash prizes, and we are LIVE! FantasyGo, together with Soccer Laduma and KickOff, provides a new and engaging way for South African football fans to put their football knowledge to the test and win big cash prizes each week. If you missed Gameweek 1, don't despair because you can take part in Gameweek 2 by signing up on the following link, for free: www.snl24.com/soccerladuma/fantasyleague
Cheers,
VeeJay
