Managing your time as soccer players

  • An essential part of a soccer players development is — how to best use/manage/develop one’s time: academically, athletically, socially, spiritually and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

You are fortunate in that in soccer you have learned not to waste your time in practice and make every moment count towards improving a skill or understanding how to improve and enjoy playing the game. The desire to develop, be dedicated, motivated and excited to learn goes a long way to helping you in the process of managing your time.

  •                      Welcome to the new balancing act.

As a soccer coach I also learn from my players. One thing I have heard many times is when they are first a student athlete, they share with me their concerns about how to balance soccer, schoolwork, a social life, helping with the home upkeep and sleep. Successful student soccer players, however, avoid this problem by using their time management to balance all their responsibilities and necessities.

The challenge:

       “Time is a non-renewable resource. Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever”

Time management is the process of planning and controlling how much time to spend on specific activities. Good time management enables an individual to complete more in a shorter period, lowers stress, and leads to a happy life off and on the field and in school.

Better Manage your Time prepares you to better manage your School and Soccer Life. The ability to manage our time efficiently is of great importance for happiness in our lives. Success in this critical area will allow us to enjoy the pleasures that life offers, will help us to manage stress and is a big step for our mental relaxation and calm. Good time management enables you to work smarter – not harder – so that you get more done in less time and be more productive for others and yourself. Work out who you want to be, your priorities in life and what you want to achieve in your education, personal lives and soccer life.

One my coaches taught me another way to look at the challenge;

“the focus of time management is actually changing your behaviors,  not changing time”

So, let’s begin the journey by asking yourself what are time-wasters in my life? Like spending too much time on my phone, looking at Utube videos or playing video games or responding to non-essential text messages. Write them down and plan how to eliminate them

Next steps?

Now let’s begin by doing a “mind sweep’ of activities that are essential to success as a scholar athlete -when playing soccer in school.

Your school life demands first academic activities to raise your grades and ability to learn. How to find time for work to earn extra credits out of the classroom.  Read a book or do research to understand more what is currently being taught. Ask for help from your teacher. 

Your soccer life demands time to best make use practices/game time with your school team and on your own. And out of school maybe with your local soccer club.

Your home life demands to keep your room and home clean. (parents asked me to mention this) To do your homework and extra assignments.  To make sure you allow 8 hours to sleep which is essential for a healthy lifestyle. Keep your clothes and uniforms clean and ready for the next day. Basically, pitch in to keep the home a functioning home for the family.

Your social, work and spiritual life. How to enjoy both your teammates and other school friends from other sports and school activities. Find time to reflect on who I am and what god given talents do I possess. Remember Who I AM defines WHO I WILL BE. If you have car one must make sure my car has gas and necessary care to keep it running safely. If a job – get there on time and let your employer know of your time availability due to changes created by school demands and activities

Take Positive Action based upon your mind-sweep done above–by recording and writing down everything you should be doing, want to do or dream of doing. Set aside the time they need for each tasks, projects and assignments, and make better use of that time. Plan your week. Ideally, they say spend a half-hour each week thinking through your values, identifying goals and blocking out time to pursue them.                                                                                                       Work a plan for each day organize and create new files, action lists, calendar items or reminders based on next steps. Your daily calendar is reserved for the most urgent items. It’s your balancing act among responsibilities and necessities.  Everything else is displayed on a “workflow map.” Take the time to write up what you want and need to do: Create the Plan and Work the Plan/. Some players keep it simple as possible by dividing it all into three 8 hour-blocks : one for sleep, one for academics and rest for soccer, home and social life.

                   Choosing Quality over Quantity helps remove stress                           

What are my top priorities/obligations? Do phone calls first organize based upon deadlines. Batch your to do list. Tackle each issue when it is needed. Put into practice self-control. Can you devote 25-30 – minutes or an hour to each task – assignment- then take a 5-10-minute break? Be realistic, Personal need and exercise when? Take a walk or run? Put time aside to Improve a sports skill/technique, to create workout for a healthy body. Play a video game.  It helps you to relax and gets back to work with energy again later.  Be realistic, about what you can accomplish each day. 

Action list and The 4 D’s:, Do, Decide, Delegate, Delete: DO………….. Do it now>>>>> Decide ………Schedule time to do in a plan>>>>> Delegate…… Who else can do it for you>>>>> Delete……….. Eliminate not urgent tasks                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

   You must stay focused -concentrate on one item at a time-what is urgent and others less important?  You must be willing to ADJUST. What can I do and where do I need to reach out for help? Do online research. Ask a colleague, teammate, teacher, coach, and parents for help.                                           

Learn to say NO to distractions This means that you must learn to say no to the things that aren’t aligned with your priorities. Turn off your phone, your email alerts. Critical is to Give yourself a tech curfew and the blue light to get real sleep and rest to stay fresh and go forward. Strive to be Productive. Increasing productivity not only means more effectively getting things done, it means having more time for the things that matter most to you — and having less stress and more happiness to boot!

Reward yourself. Accomplish each task –When you accomplish something, Celebrate it.  Enable yourself to improve each day and find the good in others and yourself.

Coach Ed Weil United Soccer Coaches