What You Really Need to Fly down the Soccer Field

The sport of quickness

What do you think about when you think of soccer? What does it take to leave it all on the soccer field? Well, it takes speed, strength, endurance, and sometimes, spiritual help. In soccer, goals are hard to come by. Sometimes, you need any extra help you can get. Goals can be hard to achieve.

First, let's talk about speed

Soccer athletes go to the field every day, and run laps around it. They do sprints as fast as they can around the pitch. In soccer, you’ll need speed. If you have speed, you can beat your opponent to the ball, and that could be the difference between a win or a loss. So, when you're told speed is important, you better believe it. If you don't have speed on the field, then you might as well go back to the minors, or look for a new career choice.

Second is strength

Strength can be obtained through working out daily in the gym, which is what a lot of soccer athletes do. You would think that they don't really do many arm exercises, because in soccer, you don't use your arms unless you’re a goalie. However, there are the occasional throw-ins when the ball goes out of bounds. Soccer athletes focus on their lower bodies and their midsections, in order to become better athletes on the pitch. Having stronger leg muscles can be the difference between steaming a ball through the goal, or kicking it right into the goalie's hands. So, if you don’t have enough strength, you probably won’t score many goals.

Third is endurance

In soccer, coaches and managers take endurance seriously. You have to be able to last a full 90 minutes, and sometimes upwards of 120 minutes, on the field. If you can't last that long, then nine times out of 10, you're not going to get offered a contract with the pros. To work on your endurance, you can do a lot of cardio. A lot of soccer athletes run around the field 20 to 30 times in a single session. This is how they keep their endurance up, on top of going to the gym and doing some cardio there as well. Endurance can be the difference between a win and a loss, simply because if you're too winded to play in the match, then you're probably going to lose. So, if you really want to play soccer, then you really have to work on your endurance.

Finally, it’s all in the head

In soccer, they use some spiritual help, whether this be charms, traditions, or any other form of religion that they choose to use. In soccer, players choose to pray when they score a goal, and before they get on the field. This is very ritualistic of the sport, and can be seen with various athletes throughout the soccer world. A lot of pro players get tattoos. Some of them are spiritual, and some of them are not. However, a lot of athletes like to get a feather tattoo. This is very common on the field, as it pertains to Native American culture, and they feel that it gives them the ability to fly down the soccer field. There are many other tattoos that they can get, but this one in particular is one that a lot of athletes have. Some athletes use charms from their culture to bring them luck, and this could be in any form, whether it be a cross or any other religious charm that they could bring to the game.

We have learned what it takes to become a soccer athlete. It is not for the faint of heart, and you need a lot of training. You need to work on your speed, strength, and endurance. And, sometimes scoring a goal could be as easy as praying for it. Good luck out there!