Weekly Review 29th – 4th September 2011

Had the week off as I was sick with what started off with a head cold, to I think a case of bronchitis, had sore muscles earlier and I couldn’t walk properly, then I went to the physio because I wanted to get the problem with the upper hamstring sorted again, and physio said I’m training too much and I should rest until Monday.. My eyes are really sore from looking at the screen typing this as there all bloodshot from a combo of watching a lot of games and my cold this week. I’m also back in croatia as one of my Bro’s are down with his gf and we’ve all come as a family to the islands to chill again.

And Amsterdam.. well I’m certainly not going on Monday, Jahan takes his time on stuff like this.. I don’t know if I’ll end up going or not.  As for Chris, no trials, but he said:

Have advised Nick that Sydney FC will look at him, but that is obviously not our preferred option at this stage.

Waiting on answers from Scotland, Cyprus, Belgium, Portugal, Croatia and England.

Little bit of a hold up as clubs are clamouring to sign professionals before transfer windows close.

Should have news soon.

I’ve noticed lately that my game analysis/intelligence has been taken to another level. I feel as though I know what I’m doing on the pitch now, why I’m doing it and how I’m doing it. Yeah, I’m a smarter player and that stupid football brain back in 2010 is long gone. My technical skills are great, my play intelligence is at a good level. I have to get into a club now, I feeI am ready and even more now then I did at Vasas 2 months ago. I could do with some slight improvement on my stamina in  maybe and mental training.

Mental training is probably the most underrated/underused practice in football. You never hear any coach taking their players through visualisation, or breathing exercises to win games. I remember seeing seeing a study on the internet somewhere when athletes had 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of their training schedule used as mental training. I think it was the 75% mental training that performed the best. So it’s huge, and it’s what separates the best players from the good players according to Michael Jordan. I think I’m going to buy this audio set from athletesaudio, as I’ve listened to a few free exercises already and they sound pretty good. After listening to these and improving even more on my game, It will really be a case of “How can I not make it as a professional footballer now?”

Next Week

I’ve also taken a look at my training schedule. Based on Chris’ emails, it looks like I should be in a club by October, the original plan that I would be in a club by July/August I guess backfired on me, but I guess all plans do at one point or another.
So I don’t get injured and I keep some focus and intensity in each training, I’ll reduce the number of hours from 20 to 15. Always warming up, cooling down, resting enough,  etc. I guess the lost 5 hours will be replaced by mental practice routines. But I’ve calculated roughly 1200 hours of focused training has been completed since April. Now I don’t think it’s time to grow so much, but to prepare for the next thing ahead.. hopefully that will be Amsterdam if Jahan ever comes back to me.

I probably won’t get this 15 hour plan started next week, because I’m sick. When I have the opportunity to go for a run or bike or swim I will go do it, but right now I’m not feeling well. Completed 12 hours this week, basically all game analysis. See ya!