Profiling a Player
How do experts and coaches evaluate athletes while keeping the process efficient? This article will discuss how experts consider players more efficiently, some of the most common challenges that coaches face, and what they do to streamline and improve the evaluation process. Evaluating soccer players is not always as simple as it appears. Making sure that evaluations are fair and accurate is an integral part of player development.
Let’s look at a quick example. Consider a soccer star who joined the major league in the US; anyone will suffice. Now rate them – positively, negatively, or neutrally. Consider how you rated them; question the shortcut you used to go from name association to emotional response. Everyone will approach it differently. We all have our own recipes and weigh our cognitive biases differently. Most of the time, we do so without even realizing it. But what do the experts look for? Here is what an expert panel of coaches told us they look for in a professional footballer and ultimately use to rate a player’s overall ability.
Commitment
Your dedication to the game will set you apart from the crowd. To become a professional footballer, you must immerse yourself in the game. The road will be bumpy, but your passion will help you push through the rough patches. In today’s market, being a professional athlete requires complete dedication. To succeed, you must be determined with every fiber of your being; otherwise, you will fall behind other competing players.
Fitness
If you work on your fitness daily, you will notice a significant improvement in your performance on the field. This is what distinguishes professional players from those who are simply having fun. Skilled players take fitness seriously and understand how it allows them to perform at their peak for more extended periods in the game. You should be working on your agility and fitness when you’re not playing football. Football requires a lot of strength, skill, and fitness, so you should work on improving all of these through specific exercises. You should practice sprinting from the starting line. Great players should be able to accelerate to top speed to gain an advantage when competing for the ball.
Confidence
You must have complete faith and conviction in yourself. Professional sports can be challenging, pressured, and stressful at times, and you must constantly strive to learn from your mistakes and improve. You are both a human being and a player, and no one is perfect. Therefore, learning is an ongoing process.
Work Rate
Five-time Winner of the Ballon d’Or Cristiano Ronaldo, widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, believes that while talent is essential, “it is not the most important factor” in achieving success, and he is correct. Aspiring footballers must be willing to put in the effort, which includes applying themselves diligently to their craft, showing up to training on time, and sometimes staying longer to hone the weaker aspects of their game. When Lionel Messi sends a free kick into the top corner, it may appear as if he just showed up and performed magic, but make no mistake: it is the result of countless hours of practice.
Consistency
By becoming more consistent and addicted to your game, you can improve your existing skill. Consistency is vital in developing your game and can propel you above your peers. Due to the large number of young people already attempting to achieve the same goal as you, the football business is not without challenges. The only thing that will give you a competitive advantage over others is your ability to perform better, which can be realized through consistency.
Intelligence
Football is played not only on the field but also in your head. A player who understands their role in various formations can be a valuable asset to the club. Football intelligence and game knowledge are important for progression and can be improved on a player’s own time by watching videos, replaying games, or studying different playing and coaching styles. Knowing how to connect with other players and being an expert in a specific role or system can help with football intelligence. The most complete players are both students of the game and prodigiously talented, but they all share one trait: a desire to constantly learn and improve.
