There are two main components of player health in regards to soccer performance. The first and most visible is physical readiness and the less obvious, but yet possibly even more important, is the mental readiness of the player. For a player to achieve soccer excellence a player's body and mind have to achieve excellence not just during the game, but during every practice. This section of the site deals with achieving and maintaining that physical and mental readiness. It also deals with issues that will challenge players along their path like injuries, negativity, distractions, diet and more.
Physical Readiness
To achieve physical readiness there are two main areas to focus. They are diet and conditioning. Youth players often overlook the diet portion of this requirement and focus heavily on the conditioning. A healthy diet will not only improve your soccer performance, but as a life long habit will greatly improve your health and quality of life for as long as you live. Each player must develop their own conditioning plan because every player faces a unique circumstance. On the Rage teams we generally only practice twice a week with one game a week. Three work outs a week is not enough to reach peak physical readiness. And, additionally, we rarely focus on conditioning during practices for a variety of reasons. This all leads to each player having to come up with their own conditioning plan. You will find more about a healthy diet and physical conditioning on those two pages.
Mental Readiness
Mental readiness for both practice and games is very, very challenging. In many ways, being mentally prepared on a regular consistent basis for practice is the greatest challenge. The path to physical readiness is very predictable. If you eat a specific balance of food, drink a general amount of water and conduct a certain kind and frequency of conditioning you will achieve physical readiness. Mental readiness is much more ambiguous and unique from player to player. To be able to focus on the game, be in the moment, and have the confidence and drive to impose your will on the game is a real challenge that we will address in the mental readiness section.