Many amateur footballers have dreams of one day gracing the fields of the biggest stadiums in the world. They look up to soccer icons like Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, Mo Salah, and more, with a strong desire to imitate their accomplishments. The sad reality is that a lot do not realize their dreams of going pro.
Playing at the top level of professional soccer is very difficult. Asides from talent, passion, dedication, mental agility and so much more are required. This post explores some of the major things that prevent aspiring players from going pro.
- Not Making The Sacrifice
The first step towards going professional is to decide to choose soccer. In Gary Keller's book “The One Thing”, he explained how people with careers in competitive sports committed their lives to only one course. For this reason, a person that wants to be a professional soccer player must be willing to leave every other thing behind.
However, many are hampered by indecision. Along with their football aspirations, they're also taking dancing classes, learning new languages, or partaking in other activities. All of the time spent on other activities must be committed to soccer to stand a chance of going pro.
- Lack of Dedication
Playing at the highest level of soccer requires an insane amount of dedication. You cannot expect to do the same thing that everyone is doing and expect to stand out. That's why going the extra mile is crucial. Even till today, Cristiano Ronaldo still arrives at training before his teammates and is usually the last to leave.
However, many just practice for a few hours a day and that's it. There's no way they can stand out with that level of dedication and that's why they don't get to play at a professional level.
Lack of Mental Agility – Most athletes prepare themselves physically, technically, and tactically, but those that go pro also develop their mental strength. A strong mental mindset is needed to go through the hardest moments, which are inevitable. Unfortunately, many people lack it and fail to develop it.
- Negative Character Traits
If you find yourself hard to get along with people, making it up the ranks may prove to be a difficult task. Developing relationships is a basic starting point to getting to the top level as a soccer player. Furthermore, most clubs require players to undergo screening checks like drug tests and criminal history screening. The requirement to pass a crime check is common in countries like Australia not only for soccer players, but other athletes too. Keep your record clean. Keep off performance enhancing drugs or illicit criminal activity that may prove to be a hindrance when you get considered to play at the top.
- Starting Late
In today's world, talents are being nurtured right from very young ages. To even have a shot at going professional, it is advised to start like about 6 to 8 years. A person seeking to pursue a professional career in soccer at 17 and is just starting is unlikely to realize their goals.
- The Odds are Against You
While there are about 250 million amateur and casual footballers in the world, only 113,000 are registered FIFA professional football players.
Taking Premier League football as an example, just 180 children of the 1.5 million who played organized youth football at one time eventually end up with a professional football career. That's 0.012 percent! So, it's inevitable that even many people with great talents might not make it to professional levels. That's why luck also plays a role.
Conclusion
Being a professional footballer is extremely difficult. Asides from talent, you also need to be dedicated, have a strong mental mindset, develop healthy habits, make the right connections, never give up, and get lucky.
But if you're convinced that that's your path, then you have to be willing to make all the sacrifices and incur the risks.
