Intensity… the not so secret ingredient

Jozy Altidore, is critiqued by his manager for not being as intense in practice as he is in games, thereby missing critical experiences to push his game to the next level. How can players, parents and coaches make sure that they are always challenging the players to improve?

Parents

1. Prepare for practice like a game: make sure they eat/snack an hour and a half before practice starts, they sip water on the ride to practice and they have all of their gear.
2. Encourage your players to give 100% in every practice.
3. Look for a team where your child is challenged by their coach to always improve.

Players

1. Approach your teammates as opponents during practice.
2. Your best friend is the teammate that challenges you the most.
3. Listen to your coach and give 100% effort in everything you do during the 90 minutes of practice.
4. Be positive and take every critique as a challenge to improve.
5. Be respectful to your fellow players and coaches to be a great teammate.

Coaches

1. Create sessions that bring out the intensity of your players  by making sure movement from one drill/game to the next doesn’t take more time than a 30-60 second water break
2. Challenge your players by having older players practice with your team.
3. Challenge your players by playing up an age bracket or, if they are girls, by scrimmaging a boys team.
4. When you see a player giving a 100% effort, make sure that you let the team know by publicly acknowledging that player.

Players need to approach every practice and every game with the same intensity. It is not enough to come to practice and go through the motions. A player’s goal in practice should be to play as hard as they would in a game. There is no better way to improve yourself or your teammates than to play at game speed as much as possible.

Playing at game speed, with good players is the reason parent’s should seek out the most talented team their child can play on. Even if they aren’t the best player, being challenges is how they will get better. Often, especially at younger ages, the players that develop the most and go on to do well are those that had to work harder when they were younger. You see this with siblings. Many, many times, the youngest brother/sister is the better player because they’ve had to play and compete with their more mature (physically and mentally) sibling. So, encourage your children to get the most out of practice, to give 100% and to make sure they aren’t in an environment that makes them become complacent.

Jozy Altidore as an example:

Hull City manager Iain Dowie says U.S. striker Jozy Altidore, on loan this season from Villarreal, must focus on training harder and work on his “football intelligence”  if he is to achieve his potential.

He finished with one goal in 28 EPL games. According to Dowie, “for the level of investment it’s probably not enough.”

“I’ve spoken to Jozy a number of times since I’ve been here and, if Jozy can train the way he plays, I think he’s got a great opportunity but he needs to understand that it’s that day in, day out,” said Dowie. “He’s a lovely, laid-back boy and there’s no side to him but he needs to focus on training at a better level. Kevin Kilbane keeps turning it out because he trains at that level, Nicky Barmby can keep playing because he trains at that level. It’s a different level than Jozy’s used to training at and he’s got to get used to it. He found the physicality of the Premier League very hard when he came in. He’s got used to that now but he must not get comfortable.”