​The USWNT and Emma Hayes just won the Gold Medal in Paris and IF there is something that our youth players and our college players take away from this tournament is TRUST.  

Emma Hayes only used about 14 of the available players consistently throughout the tournament.  She used the players she knew the most, and trusted the most.  

​If you are joining a brand new team, or a new coach takes over your existing team, expect it to take some time to win the new coach over.  Coaches build their relationships with players on trust.  Its why some players never get subbed out, or back-line players are stuck in the back line full time, its because of trust.

High school soccer players!

At least in WNY, you have less than three weeks before High School tryouts.  What should these weeks be spent on?

The answer isn't running yourself into the ground.  It's PLAYING SOCCER!

We have several college soccer players that we've worked with over the years and they all remember how stressed out they were heading into their freshman year.  They weren't stressed out about going to college, or even playing soccer, they were more focused on their fitness tests.  This is the wrong mentality on so many levels.

1)  You think that you are where you already need to be as a soccer player that you need to focus more on fitness than your game?  While in reality every single player on the planet, is constantly improving, even Messi strives to improve every single day and he's in the sunset of his career.
2)  Going into school spending the last month running yourself into the ground and neglecting your playing form will not only get yourself hurt, but your form will suffer.
3)  You must realize, that fitness tests, are an excuse used by coaches to either cut you or not play you.  I have rarely seen an elite player get cut for not passing the fitness tests.  I have seen average players pass ALL the fitness tests, but get cut because they were an average soccer player.  GET THAT IN YOUR HEAD.  Coaches have fitness tests to provide a measurable to use as the reason of cutting you.
4)  If you're playing soccer as much as you possibly can, you'll be fit.  One of the most fit college soccer players in WNY and actually an employee of PlayMaker Training, is Max Kwitchoff.  The most fit seasons he's had are after summers where he would train 3-5 times in a team setting, and play in 2+ games per week.  That makes it so he has to spend less time on the track, and less time in the gym.

Those same college players that were stressed going into their freshman year about their fitness levels and fitness tests, nearly abandoned training for their fitness tests entirely and focused solely on how much they were playing.  Many of them played for multiple teams throughout the summer.  Most would come into PlayMaker for our college sessions and our pick-up games.  Sure they'd test out their fitness tests and see where they were at, but the ones that were constantly playing, were fit and passed the fitness tests with flying colors!

So high school players, I beg you, focus on your soccer, not on passing a test the coach will forget about when you lose in sectionals, regionals, or states.