| World Soccer Opens Today! How to Become a Professional Soccer Player Posted: I believe that the way to become a professional footballer ... is to be passionate about what you do. You do not need to have your arm twisted to go to the training field and play in the freezing winter. You do not need to be scolded and cajoled into running the extra mile. But you do need to run the extra mile. ~ Andy Hunt[1] Soccer (or football as it is known in many parts of the world) is a popular sport that is enjoyed across many cultures and countries, with over 240 million registered players, and fans in the billions. [2] The World Cup is the most watched event worldwide, sport or otherwise. [3] A sport with prestige and wide reach, it is often termed "the beautiful sport". If you are keen to become a professional soccer or football player and you've already spent some years training and doing really well playing, or you have a child who is keen to follow this route, this article sets out some key steps to take if you're headed down the professional soccer or football path. It's important to be realistic from the outset, however, as this is a very competitive sport where few players make it to the top, given the limited places available, so a lot of your hope needs to be informed by the challenges of the odds of succeeding, as well as constantly rechecking your resolve. The steps in this article are but a directional starting point--all the hard work is going to be down to you, the hopeful professional soccer or football player. Steps - Love soccer and make it your hobby. As Andy Hunt's quote above makes clear, the initial, most important start is to have a passion for the game. It is this love for the game that will continue to drive you through your entire quest to become a professional soccer player, and beyond if you are successful, pushing you through the negative and doubting moments. It must be something you are keen to do, not something that is expected of you, or that you feel obliged to do because of someone else's dream. If it's your passion, your love for soccer will sustain you through the knock-backs and hard times (of which there will be plenty), to enable you to get back up again and keep trying.
- Know soccer inside out. From the start, learn as much about the game as you can. This means learning from books, watching matches, training, participating in matches, and talking to good soccer players about their tactics and the things that they have found most or least successful as they have climbed the ranks. Have a solid understanding of what famous soccer players have done to succeed, including their signature moves. For a start, here are some relevant wikiHow articles on soccer:
- Commit to playing soccer through graduated levels. Choose a school team, local club, or district team that you can attend regularly and that has a good coach. Each country, state, or region will have its own club or team expectations and progression levels, so it is not possible to be precise about the process itself in this article. However, what you should be aiming to do is:
- Start playing as young as possible. Shift to playing in organized youth teams some time between the ages of 6 and 13.
- Continue with youth teams every year, progressing to more competitive and selective teams every change up, playing with older youth than your age group if possible (playing "up a level" or "up an age group").
- Train regularly and get involved in organized games as early as possible. Try to get into matches and tournaments that represent your school, region, state or country at youth level.
- Attend training camps as early as possible. If your club or association of clubs offers training camps, summer camps, etc., make use of these. You'll feed off the enthusiasm and competitiveness of other players and you'll learn a lot in an intense, short period of time.
- Look for professional developmental programs and see how you can become a part of these. Ask your coach or club mentors for advice on what's available through your club, or generally.
- Eventually, move from youth teams to scholastic and collegiate teams, and then to amateur and semi-professional level teams and clubs. It isn't until you've played against seniors that you know you're ready for the professional circuit, so keep climbing the levels gradually.[4] If you're in the USA, aim to get into a college that has a top soccer program in place.
- Be prepared for hard work and be patient. Being the best comes at the price of dedicated hard work but if your single focus is to be a professional soccer player, this hard work is essential. Aiming for the professional level also requires patience - being able to accept that turning professional is a gradual process during which you continue to learn, to build your technical skills, soccer knowledge, and importantly, making good contacts with other people (networking).
- As a player wanting to become the best, you will need to dedicate time to practicing almost every single day (at least 5-6 days a week). Whatever the weather, you'll need to keep practicing, all the while probably balancing studies or even part-time work. It is the practice, the daily dedication, that will develop your talent, and hone your skills the best.
- Train individually. Even when you're not at the club, practice your skills individually, or with friends and family members, preferably getting good experience with older players as many times as possible. Aim to improve your technical ability at all times. Work with the ball until everything you do with it seems like second nature.[5] Work on your weaker skills too, in order to strengthen your overall skills-set and adaptability.
- As a parent of a child seeking to become a professional player, your own level of dedication will be enormous - from transporting your child to games (including interstate and overseas), buying soccer gear, membrship fees, etc., talking with coaches, helping with informal practice sessions, boosting your child's morale, etc. You might even up coaching youth soccer!
- Be exceptional. After you've had a chance to play for a while, it's time to start seriously looking at your skills. Find out what position your innate skills are best suited to. When working this out, don't just think about yourself but also think about how your skills feed into your teamwork, and how your strengths fit into the game as a whole. Ultimately, it is important that you are really good at what you do because there is a lot of competition and there isn't any room for second best.
- Seek your coach's honest opinion about your strengths and your chances, and learn from your coach's suggestions about possible ways to improve or hone your natural talent.
- Be a top performer in the level that you're playing at now. If you're not, make an honest assessment as to whether you can improve this, or if you need to shift to a different position, or perhaps even remain at amateur level.
- Prove that you're good in games. This means consistent proof - show that you can deliver every week, not just once in a while. If you're the outstanding player of the week every week, you're on the right track.
- Be in great shape. Your fitness levels matter in soccer. Work on your fitness by exercising regularly, eating healthily, and avoiding substances that can impair your performance, such as alcohol. Get enough sleep every night. It is also important to learn how to try and stay injury-free - this includes learning how to play well from the start (i.e., knowing how to kick properly, etc.), and how to keep in good physical shape generally through stretching, exercising, etc., so that you don't suffer from avoidable injuries.
- Be a good communicator. Soccer is a team sport and good communications are vital. Being able to get along well with your fellow team members is a crucial part of successful, effective play. A player who is too much of an individual player, or refuses to communicate properly, is a liability on a team and is not likely to go far. Demonstrate at all times that you are good at communicating by using your manners, expressing yourself clearly, avoiding unruly or angry behavior on the field, and by being team-spirited, etc.
- Be strong mentally. While soccer itself is a beautiful game, the life of a professional soccer player is one of uncertainty and instability. It is a world of short-term contracts, with plenty of other hopefuls waiting in the wings to replace anyone who fails to maintain consistent performance; there are also the risks of injury and the fact of aging. These realities can all give rise to feelings of insecurity and burn out.[6] Developing the ability to cope with uncertainty, constant competitive pressures, and insecurity is vital for your own success. Also, public exposure can be very trying if you do make it to the top - celebrity status and constant press scrutiny can be wearying and can even lead to depression and other mental health challenges if you're not well prepared.[7] It might be helpful to see a sports health professional or sports psychologist to work on developing coping strategies if you don't already have these skills soundly in place. And learn early that it's okay to talk things out with someone you trust rather than keeping worries bottled up inside.
- Find out about what your club does to help your chances. Clubs might hold trials or talent days or, as is becoming more commonplace nowadays, clubs also tend to rely on the network they have in place to spot the best players and refer outstanding players onwards.[8]
- Find out what your club has in place by way of networks and community schemes to help you get noticed.
- Involve yourself in all important tryouts. Don't expect to always succeed but make the most of these meets to get known and to meet people, exchange details, and to follow up leads.
- Ask about how or whether your club encourages talent scouts to visit your club.
- Be aware of what a soccer scout is looking for. Even though you should already be showing top dedication, excellent performance, and good behavior during games, it's helpful to know what scouts look out for when they're scouting for top talent in soccer. After all, they might appear at any time to check out your team. Basically, a scout will watch your entire attitude, not just your ball play, meaning that you will be watched for character as much as talent.[9] As such, concentrate on:
- Showing your team spirit. A good soccer player will be a team player, helping team mates.
- Showing your ambition. Be competitive without being arrogant or mean-spirited.
- Showing how you can remain calm and focused under pressure.
- Playing to your best at all times. You never know when it matters.
- Be prepared to relocate. If the support and clubs needed aren't in your area, this may be the impetus for a big change in your living arrangements. Clubs and agents will expect you to move quickly to satisfy their wants, without caring much about your personal life or the long-term prospects for your career.[10] It's a good time to look deep inside and decide if this is really the path you're dedicated to and if it bothers you that this could require a lot of upheaval for little return. PFA recommends that before you make a move, you consider such things as whether you'll be playing regularly, whether you can speak the language of where you're to be relocated, whether the remuneration is adequate, whether the club has a good reputation, and what is in place should you suffer from an injury.[11]
- Be realistic. Soccer is a very competitive sport, with a lot of people wanting to achieve the same professional outcome, yet very few players actually reach the top. Professional Footballers Australia researched the career trajectories of those seeking to be professional soccer players and found that it's career path that "remains short-term, precarious and one of constant transition".[12] Face this reality early on, to enable you to make sensible choices and to ensure that while you remain focused on the ultimate goal, you are also keeping an eye on how to further your livelihood and future fulfillment by ensuring a career beyond soccer. Do this by continuing to balance your academic studies with your soccer training, so that you are ahead in at least one respect should things not turn out as you'd hoped.[13]
Video Tips - It is important to share your hopes and dedication with your family and friends so that they can both support you and facilitate your training. Talent scouts will often want to meet the family if you're still young in order to get an idea of your background and your family's level of support.
- There are 300,000 soccer clubs worldwide. They have 240 million players, 30 million of whom are women.[14]
- There are online databases for registering yourself as a player where scouts and others can look for you. Using a search engine, do a search for "online football recruiting".
- Practice your weaknesses in the game, like shooting or passing with your left if you're a righty and the other way around if you're a lefty.
Warnings - Until you are a professional soccer player, don't give up the day job. The pay rates tend to be low, and even non-existent. You might have to work out how to juggle training with a part-time job to help you survive unless you receive family or grant/scholarship support. Even when you do become professional, most contracts will have a short tenure, so it pays to learn to invest well from the outset.
- Injury is an ever-present reality with professional sports. Do your best to avoid injury but expect it too and seek appropriate insurance and health advice.
Things You'll Need - Club membership, membership fees, etc.
- Soccer clothing and equipment as advised by club
- Practice space at home
- Schedule to combine practice and study
Related wikiHows Sources and Citations |
| How to Help a Choking Victim (Including Yourself) Posted: Would you know what to do if someone started choking? What about if it's a baby, or yourself? Choking is caused by a foreign object that gets stuck in the throat and restricts airflow. Most often, choking is the result of someone getting food stuck in the windpipe, or commonly in children, it occurs when toys, coins, or other small objects become stuck in the throat or windpipe. Choking can also occur as a result of injury trauma, drinking alcohol, disease, or from swelling after a severe allergic reaction. Choking means that a person is unable to breathe or speak because the throat or windpipe is completely obstructed.[1] Without first aid, the lack of airflow can cause serious brain damage or even death by asphyxiation. If you think someone is choking, here's what to do. Note: This article covers adults and children over 1 year of age. For children under one year, see How to Administer First Aid to a Choking Child. Steps - Make sure the person is choking. It is important to be able to distinguish between partial and total airway obstruction. If a person is not truly choking, and has partial airway obstruction, you are better off letting him cough to remove the obstruction himself. Someone who is truly choking (total airway obstruction) will display one or more of the following signs:
- The "choking sign" -- both hands clutched to the throat
- Being unable to talk
- The person cannot breathe effectively without difficulty, there will be no air movement
- Cannot cough effectively
- Noisy breathing
- Changes in skin color: blue lips and fingernails
- Eventual unconsciousness.
- Signs that the obstruction is partial rather than total include:[2]
- Able to speak, cry, respond to you
- Breathing is noisy, labored, or gasping, some air will come from the mouth
- Coughing, or making "crowing" noises
- Very agitated or anxious
- Skin goes paler, blue color.
- Ask the person, "Are you choking?". If the person can respond to you verbally, wait. Someone who is truly choking will not be able to speak. If they can speak, cough, breathe, or cry, the obstruction is partial. It is important that you do not use back blows on a person who has partial airway obstruction because there is a risk of lodging the previously semi-loose object even more deeply, potentially causing a total obstruction. If the person responds:
- Reassure the person.
- Encourage the person to cough. Do not use back blows.
- Keep monitoring the situation.
- Call an ambulance if the obstruction is not relieved, or you can hear wheezing or noisy breathing.
- If the person cannot respond, shout for help.[3] If there is someone nearby, tell him to call for emergency services.
- If the person is conscious, communicate your intent to perform first aid. It's best to make sure that someone who is conscious know what you plan to do; this will also give him an opportunity let you know if your assistance is welcomed.
- Administer first aid as described in the following steps immediately. Do not waste time calling emergency services if you are the only person who can help the choking victim.[4] Note that the following instructions apply to a person sitting or standing.
- Administer up to 5 back blows using the heel of your hand.[5]
- Take the bottom part (heel) of your hand and deliver 5 separate forceful strikes between the person's shoulder blades.
- Keep the back blows separate. Try to dislodge the object with each one.
- Look for improvement after each one.
- If the back blows fail, perform 5 abdominal thrusts (aka, the Heimlich maneuver).[5]
- Get behind the victim.
- Wrap your arms around his waist.
- Take the underside of one fist and place it near the middle of the person's abdomen, with the thumb-side against the abdomen, just above the navel and below the breastbone.
- Grasp that fist in your other hand.
- Give up to 5 separate, inward and upward thrusts. Continue until the obstruction is dislodged - check after each thrust. Stop if the victim becomes unconscious.
-
- If the obstruction has not been relieved, alternate between 5 back blows and 5 abdominal thrusts until the object becomes unstuck.
- Make sure the object is completely gone.
- If the person is able, look for him to spit it out and breathe without difficulty.
- Perform a finger sweep on an unconscious or incapacitated person to remove the object from his mouth. Grasp the person's tongue and and lower jaw and lift to open his mouth. Sweep the object out.
- Check to see if normal breathing has returned. Once the object is gone, most people will return to breathing normally. If normal breathing has not returned or if the person is unconscious, check the mouth and remove any visible solid obstruction and begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).[6] There may be some resistance to inflations until the object is dislodged. Alternate between abdominal thrusts, checking the airway, and performing rescue breathing until help arrives.
Self-administration If you are choking, you can perform the Heimlich maneuver on yourself. You may not be able to do this as forcefully as someone else, however. - Make a fist. Place it on your abdomen just above your navel.
- Hold that fist with your other hand.
- Bend over a chair, table, counter or other solid object.
- Drive your fist in and up as described above.
- Repeat until the object is removed.
Video Tips - If treating a pregnant woman or an obese person, you should modify your Heimlich maneuver technique as follows:[4]
- Place your hands higher than described above. The correct position is with the hands on the breast bone just above where the lowest ribs join.
- Press hard into the chest with quick thrusts as described above. However, you will not be able to make the same upward thrusts.
- Choking will likely occur quickly if it is as the result of a swallowed object or item of food; choking caused by internal swelling is usually more gradual.
Related wikiHows Sources and Citations |
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