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pre-game 90
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The Underdog's Edge
We all love a good, captivating story, don’t we?
Hearing the tale about an underdog, like a doubted young player who was up against all odds, or the likes of any individual who had no right to be standing on the other side of success, based on where they started. Stories of people who ascend the ranks from the most inconceivable places and who find the reservoir to climb themselves out of the darkness and into the spotlight of victory and triumph.
This was one of my favorite parts about playing professional soccer. Getting to share the locker room with players from all over the world, each one with a story unlike any other. Unique, moving, sometimes unimaginable, but always an underlying baseline of an underdogs story.
What happened to them → What they chose to do in response → Who they became → Where it took them.
Sharing our personal narratives in the locker room setting got me thinking about stories in and of themselves, and the potential power of their telling in all of our interpretations and using them as embedded psychological frameworks that help us navigate challenges, tragedies, and all in all, life as we know it.
In one way or another, we are all living out our own stories, aren’t we?
I’d thought about the fact that each of us loves to either watch movies, read books, and/or gather around their own versions of the professional soccer player’s “locker room,” dinner tables, coffee shops, or around campfires, to tell, or lose ourselves in, stories.
The idea of “story” is deeply immersed in our perceptions of the world and how we move through it. All of us can relate to one another because of these narratives we attempt to articulate through our dialogue and conversation because we all are living our own stories out in real time.
Character → Setting → Goal → Conflict → Change → Climax → Resolution
We are the characters (and hopefully the heroes), and every trial, challenge, or disappointment serves as a potential chapter in our theoretical books. The story we live to tell is based on how we show up to, react, and overcome each and every chapter as its own unique place in the story emerges and the page is written, set in stone, and flipped.
That’s the life we lead. That’s what we’re all here doing, whether we know it or not. We see ourselves in the stories of others, too, and that’s why we can connect and resonate deeply with the people who overcame the impossible to get to the other side of the life they’d always dreamed of. Those are the most powerful stories and the ones that grip our attention the most…
Why?
Because we can see ourselves in those characters.
It’s why we’d never be interested in watching a film about a main character who gets everything handed to them on a silver platter and deals with nothing seriously obstructing their movement towards their ultimate goal. That might manifest as a sports team that faces no worthy opponent, or never experiences defeat. The fighter who never gets knocked to the canvas. Or the knight who has no dragons to slay.
No one wants to watch a movie with such a plot (or lack thereof). We all resonate with the characters who live to tell tremendous stories. Who display themselves as valiant, brave, courageous… and that doesn’t always require them to be victorious either.
Because we all come to respect the fighter who made it all the way through the amateur ranks, fighting in the slums in the rundown rings, proving themselves worthy to climb themselves into the cage of the primetime arena, after making it there against all odds, even if they lose, don’t we? And why?
Because it’s a hell of a story.
So whether or not you come out victorious isn’t the end all be all, is it? Is it not more so about who the character becomes as they dedicate themselves to a lofty goal, work tirelessly to sharpen their craft, take their blows, shed the weakest parts of themselves, innovate, improve, completely transform their inner being, and sacrifice greatly to best improve their odds of reaching their desired destination? Is that not what we respect more than the outcome itself?
But that also begs another question, what makes you that kind of character?
In any story, is it not conflict, challenge, utter disappointment, failiure, struggle, and then… the choice thereafter? The opportunity where the character gets the chance to show whether or not he’s up for the challenge. The decision they’re left to make where they can either stay down, or get back up and keep moving forward.
The character is always built in the deep, dark soils of adversity… That’s what makes a great story.
We need the greatest of challenges. We need to put ourselves up against the biggest of dragons (which consequently comes as a result of slaying the littler dragons first), in order to become a character who has a story that’s worth telling and hopefully, captivating enough to grip an audience. Yet, funny enough, most of us shy away from the difficulties that emerge from the darkness in our own lives, don’t we? We hesitate to confront the unknown, to venture out into the desert, to stretch ourselves beyond the boundary of what’s become habitual and comfortable. Because that’s a big risk, isn’t it?
No one wants to fail. No one wants to fall on their face. No one wants to embrace that overwhelming uncertainty or the potentially crippling anxiety that accompanies you when you step outside of your comfort zone to face your greatest fears and the potential danger that lies beyond what you know and risk yourself of being exposed as inadequate, weak, or incapable.
So… is it best to stay put? To not risk yourself? To not stretch and test yourself beyond what you currently are? If you think of any of the stories that have interested you, I’d fancy to believe that you would likely never be fascinated by a narrative of a protagonist who hadn’t dared to do so themselves.
So your invitation and idea for contemplation becomes this:
Why are you staying put? Why aren’t you challenging yourself? Why aren’t you trying new things, seeking new information, putting yourself in uncomfortable situations to see who you really are, and to see who maybe, just maybe, you could become?
Why aren’t you adopting the habits you know you need to implement to become who you claim you wish to be? Why aren’t you doing differently? Why are you doing the same things every day, keeping yourself chained to the version of yourself that you so desperately want to surpass?
What I’d like to propose is that perhaps that’s a story you could live to tell that could give your life real meaning.
Maybe that story could provide you with some significance, reason, and a strong enough why that makes your existence worthwhile. Amidst all of the malevolence, injustice, and tragedy you’re bound to face in your life (because face to face it, you will), you’ll have a deeply embedded reason to push through, to keep going, because you’re being tested.
Tested to reveal what you’re really made of. Who you really are… Who you truly could become. By stepping up to the plate, even after striking out, you’re going to give yourself the gift of having a deeply engaging story to tell.
And I’d also reckon to believe that by putting yourself up against the dragons in your life, you might just find some treasure on the other side.
A kind of treasure that’s reserved only for the man or woman who’s brave enough to put on their armor and venture out with their sword, unsure of the outcome, afraid they might perish, but are courageous enough to push forward and fight their battles regardless.
That goes to say, anything worthwhile does not come easily. The story you long to tell comes on the backside of the challenges, fears, and uncertainty you’re avoiding. The trials are the only part of the story that make it worth telling. Therefore, without the obstacles impeding your progress, you have no story to tell.
The treasure you’re longing and looking for in your life is being protected by a dragon.
The question for you becomes: Are you willing to do what’s required to make the choices that will turn you into a character who’s capable of slaying it?
BTB.
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Your child plays well in practice but struggles in games, and it can be incredibly frustrating to watch because you know what they’re capable of.
You see them at training. They’re confident on the ball, making good decisions, taking players on, communicating, and playing freely. Then the game starts and something changes. They rush simple passes, stop demanding the ball, hesitate in moments they’d normally attack, or make one mistake and spend the next ten minutes trying not to make another one.
As a parent, the obvious conclusion is that they need more training.
Sometimes they do. But if a player can consistently perform during the week and can’t access that same ability in matches, I wouldn’t automatically add another technical session.
I’d figure out what changes when the game starts.
That gap between practice and games can tell you a lot about what your player actually needs.
READ POST: Why Soccer Development Feels Slow Before a Breakthrough
1. They’re Afraid to Make a Mistake
This is one of the first things I’d look for when a soccer player performs well in practice but struggles during games.
Practice gives players more freedom. Lose the ball Tuesday night and the session keeps moving. Lose it Saturday and suddenly the coach is watching, teammates react, parents are on the sideline, the score matters, and maybe there are even college coaches around.
For some players, that completely changes how they play.
A winger who normally attacks the fullback starts passing backward. A midfielder who usually wants the ball starts hiding behind an opponent. A striker starts thinking about missing instead of simply finishing the chance.
The player hasn’t suddenly lost his ability. He’s trying not to screw up.
Soccer gets really difficult when avoiding mistakes becomes your main objective.
This matters especially for attacking players because those positions require risk. I don’t want a winger carelessly losing the ball 15 times, but I also don’t want him becoming so afraid of losing possession that he stops attempting the actions that make him dangerous.
One of the best ways to evaluate this isn’t to ask whether your child “looks confident.” Watch what happens after something goes wrong.
Do they still ask for the ball? Do they attempt the next 1v1? Do they continue communicating and making runs? Or do they start checking the bench and choosing the safest possible option?
That’s a much more useful definition of soccer confidence.
Confidence isn’t playing a perfect 90 minutes. It’s being able to make a mistake and still play the next action like yourself.
READ POST: Why a Strong Soccer Mindset Must Be Trained, Not Just Taught
[CHRIS: Add a personal example here about an early mistake in a high-pressure game and how you learned to respond to the next action.]
A Simple Reset Players Can Use Before Games
A lot of game-day anxiety starts before kickoff. Players are thinking about whether they’ll start, who is watching, what the coach expects, whether they’ll make a mistake, or what happened in the previous game.
That’s one reason I believe so much in having a repeatable pre-game routine.
The goal isn’t to magically make yourself confident. It’s to remove unnecessary decisions and get your attention onto what you can actually control before the match begins.
Want a Simple Pre-Game Routine Your Player Can Actually Follow?
I put together the BTB Pre-Game 90, a free 90-minute game-day preparation protocol built around the same principles I’ve used throughout college and professional soccer.
It walks players through what to focus on before kickoff so they aren’t showing up mentally scattered and hoping they feel ready.
2. Their Training Doesn’t Look Enough Like the Game
There’s another possibility parents often miss.
Your child may be really good at practice.
That doesn’t always mean the practice is preparing them for the decisions they’ll face in a match.
A player can look fantastic in a predictable technical exercise because they already know where the ball is going, where the next pass is supposed to go, and what action they’re being asked to perform.
A game doesn’t give you any of that.
A defender is closing you down. Your teammate changed his run. One space disappeared and another opened. Now you have a fraction of a second to scan, decide, and execute.
That’s why I’d stop asking only:
Can my player perform the skill?
I’d also ask:
Can they recognize when and why to use it?
A winger doesn’t just need a great 1v1 move. He needs to understand when the defender’s body position gives him the chance to use it.
A midfielder doesn’t just need a clean first touch. She needs to scan before receiving, understand where pressure is coming from, and have an idea of where the next action is going.
If most of a player’s individual training is predictable, unopposed, and completely controlled, they can become very good at training without becoming equally good at solving the game.
That distinction matters.
READ POST: What Serious Soccer Players Do Differently in the Off-Season
3. The Game Is Moving Faster Than They Can Process It
Sometimes what looks like a confidence problem isn’t a confidence problem at all.
The player is late.
The ball arrives and they haven’t scanned yet. They need three touches when the game only allows two. They recognize the right pass, but the window has already closed. They receive first and then begin deciding what they’re going to do.
Against weaker opposition or in slower training environments, they might get away with that.
As the level rises, they won’t.
Research on youth soccer players has found differences in soccer-specific decision-making across competitive levels, which makes sense when you watch higher-level soccer. Better players aren’t only executing faster. They’re often seeing and deciding earlier. READ THIS STUDY: Evaluation of a decision-making skills diagnostic tool using 360° videos and head-mounted displays in elite youth soccer
This is another reason I don’t love telling every hesitant player to “be more confident.”
If the actual issue is processing the game, confidence isn’t the first thing I’d address.
I’d start asking better soccer questions.
Did you scan before receiving? What did you see? Where was the pressure? What options were available before the ball arrived?
Now we have something the player can work on.
4. They’re Thinking About Everything Except Playing Soccer
Ambitious players can carry an unbelievable amount of noise into a game.
They know who’s watching. They know whether they’re starting. They know another kid their age just committed somewhere. They remember the bad game from last weekend. They know their coach has been getting on them about something.
Then kickoff comes and they’re thinking:
I need to play well today.
I can’t lose the ball.
I need a goal.
I can’t get taken out.
Try playing quickly while carrying that conversation around in your head.
When I’ve performed at my best, one of the things I’ve always tried to come back to is the controllables.
Can I scan? Can I communicate? Can I make the run? Can I press? Can I show for the ball again after losing it?
A player can’t control whether he scores. He can control whether he attacks the right space when it opens.
He can’t control whether his coach substitutes him. He can control his response after losing possession.
He can’t control who’s watching. He can control how prepared he was before kickoff.
Learning to return your attention to the next action is part of becoming a better soccer player.
READ POST: How Soccer Players Stay Focused When the Noise Gets Loud.
5. They’re Carrying Too Much Pressure Into the Game
Parents, this is where I think you have to be willing to look at the environment surrounding the player too.
Not because parents are automatically the problem.
Most parents I meet are trying extremely hard to help their child. They’re spending a ridiculous amount of time driving to training, paying club fees, traveling to tournaments, finding private training, researching recruiting, and trying to give their kid every reasonable opportunity.
But serious youth soccer can become heavy.
Eventually every weekend starts feeling like an evaluation.
Did he start?
How many minutes did she play?
Why didn’t he take that defender on?
Why hasn’t the coach responded?
Why did that other player get moved up?
Is she falling behind?
A player can start feeling like every performance is proof of whether all that investment is “working.”
And then there’s the car ride home.
“Why didn’t you take him on?”
“What happened today?”
“Why weren’t you making those runs?”
I understand why parents ask. You’re watching your child struggle with something you know they’re capable of doing, and you want to help.
But sometimes your player doesn’t need another coach in the car.
They need enough space to process the game themselves.
That doesn’t mean pretending poor performances didn’t happen or lowering the standard. It means putting ownership in the right place.
Let the coach coach. Help your player learn how to reflect on their own performance. And protect the parent-player relationship enough that soccer doesn’t consume every conversation.
READ POST: Ultimate College Soccer Recruiting Checklist:
How to Help a Soccer Player Perform Better in Games
If your child plays well in practice but struggles in games, don’t start by trying to fix everything.
Start by identifying the pattern.
If their performance changes immediately after a mistake, the issue may be their response to mistakes.
If they’re technically good but consistently late with decisions, look at scanning and game understanding.
If they dominate predictable drills but disappear in live play, their training may need more pressure and decision-making.
If they’re thinking constantly about the coach, playing time, scouts, mistakes, or results, they may need better tools for controlling their attention.
And if they seem completely free everywhere except their own team’s matches, take an honest look at the pressure surrounding those games.
Once you identify the actual problem, you can start addressing it.
That’s far more useful than telling a player to “just be confident.”
Start With What Happens Before Kickoff
If game day is where your player struggles most, I’d start there.
The BTB Pre-Game 90 is a free preparation protocol that helps players create structure during the 90 minutes before kickoff instead of hoping they happen to feel ready.
Preparation won’t remove every mistake or guarantee a great performance.
That’s not the point.
The goal is to give the player a repeatable system for controlling what they can before the whistle blows.
When Your Player Needs More Than a Pre-Game Routine
Sometimes the problem isn’t one game.
The player is struggling with confidence, preparation, decision-making, habits, recovery, positional understanding, or knowing what they should actually be working on outside team training.
That’s exactly the gap we built the BTB Locker Room to help fill.
Inside, players get ongoing access to lessons and guidance around mindset, training, recovery, recruiting, positional tactics, confidence, and the professional habits team practice doesn’t always have time to teach.
Learn more about the BTB Locker Room
You don’t need another person promising your kid they’ll become a great player.
They need the tools to understand their own game, take ownership of their development, and become better equipped for the moments when soccer gets difficult.
That’s the work.
This post is about Why Your Child Plays Well in Practice but Struggles in Games.
read the post →
To the Beautiful Game,
Goodbye’s are never easy. Especially when you’re waving farewell to a game you’ve centered the last 20 years of your life around. A game that has been everything to you. A game that’s been everything you think about, everything your family and friends know you for, and everything that gives you the feelings of love and validation you grow accustomed to depending on when you’re in the arena for so long.
With that being said, this has been a decision that hasn’t come without real challenge, a hefty amount of consideration, and serious contemplation. Although ultimately, I’ve come to grips with my choice, I can rest assured knowing it’s one that aligns with my deepest value. A man who wants above all, to do right by my family and by myself.
And that decision is to formally announce my retirement from playing professional soccer.
After spending the last 2 years battling back from 6+ flares of recurrent pericarditis and the ups and downs, the ins and outs, the fears and worries of fighting back for weeks and months at a time, trying to regain my fitness and my confidence to get back to my best, was ultimately continuously drawn back by “another flare.”
It’s a reality I’ve had no control over changing, avoiding, or expecting, which has brought this decision to fruition much sooner than I would have anticipated as a player who turned 30 less than a week ago, and very well could have just been entering some of my prime years.
Yet, I try not to forget it’s one I succeeded in fighting back from after being out for the entirety of 2025, but was able to get back to the point of starting a game of professional soccer this season in March, and playing in a handful of other games. In and of itself, that’s a win I’ll take with me for the long haul.
Sadly though, I haven’t been able to completely shake myself from these flares this year (2026), that have led me to where I am, with the decision I’ve recently decided to make.
And I hope you’re catching that as subtle as it may seem; I’ll never say this was a decision I had to make.
It’s a decision I’ve chosen to make, based on where I am and where I’m going.
One where I carry with me the words of Victor Frankl:
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
I’ll never show myself to be a victim of circumstance, as I know and believe that trials and challenges in life are what produce the steadfastness of faith and perseverance. These are the times that make us. And by definition, I could have never developed strength and courage WITHOUT having gone through something immensely difficult. Without having the presence of fear, I could have never developed bravery. Without uncertainty, I could have never proved myself faithful. This element of challenge is what makes the story. And I know it’s one that I know I’ll use to catapult myself further than I could have without it. Although that was much easier to write about than it has been to accept as true in its practicality.
Nonetheless, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge everything the game has provided me. Because, provided for me, it has.
The memories, the lessons, the relationships, the laughs, cries, and everything in between.
I am who I am because of this game.
But more importantly, I am who I am because for the last 15 years I’ve committed myself wholeheartedly to becoming the best I could be, in it.
I selected a goal I deemed worthwhile as a young man (to become a pro) and was curious enough to ask questions and seek improvement. I was brave enough to bet on myself and make the proper sacrifices with no guarantees of success, and I was determined and persistent enough to do what I had to do on a daily basis to get there (even when I didn’t feel like it).
Those lessons alone are part of the principles I apply to my life as a man, husband, and father today. And what I learned from it all is what I’ll continue to teach to my kids as they grow up, set goals and face obstacles of their own.
Despite the challenges I’ve faced in my career (and there have been plenty), from my days as an Orlando City draft pick, to moving across the world to play for Hibs, and then coming back home to play for my hometown team at the Chicago Fire, to be anything but grateful seems unfair to me.
Why?
Because this journey has been more than I could have ever imagined. And the sheer fact that I’m one of the luckiest people in the world to be able to say and confirm the reality that I got to live out my childhood dream? A one-of-one experience. One that a young Chris would have been astonished to know he’d get the privilege to realize one day. And so, my heart is full. Although I still am grieving and am sure it will be a process that I continue to work through for some time.
What I’ve come to conclude as I turn the page is that the stories we repeat to ourselves about whatever we face, have faced, or will face, are what determines the quality of our life, more than anything else.
Was it “enough?” Could it have been more? Or was it more than I could have ever imagined?
That decision and narrative that I tie to my time as a professional soccer player is purely a decision. One constructed on the backend of the story I chose to tell myself. And I’ll choose the one that’s rooted in gratitude rather than lack, for as long as I live to tell it.
So for now, I wave goodbye and I want to take a second to say THANK YOU. Not only to the life lessons I extracted from the game itself, but to the people who walked the path with me, and who contributed heavily to my career as a youth, collegiate, and professional athlete.
Thanks above all, to God. Who’s granted me the strength, direction, guidance, and support to be where I am today. And thanks to God my condition isn’t going to be something that’ll affect the longevity of my life. God willing, I’ll still be able to walk my girls down the aisle at their weddings. That alone beats out any sadness I may experience in the short-term from missing out on a few more potential years of my soccer career.
Thank you to my parents, my brothers, and my family. My mom, my dad, stepdad, brothers, grandparents, and mother-in-law. Nothing I can say here will ever be enough for the support, love, and encouragement all of you have provided me since my days as a young player with nothing but a ton of ambition and a very, very short temper.
Thank you the University of Wisconsin. The place where I made my most cherished memories, met my best friends, and learned the most important lesson I’ve ever taken away from the game: You are responsible for your outcomes and you get out what you put in. Point. Blank. Period. On Wisconsin…
Thank you to my Orlando City Lions. The club that took me in and made this all possible. Playing in front of the wall and in that stadium, for that club, as a young player full of energy and enthusiasm were some of my best moments in the game. Thank you to the fans for supporting me and to the club for giving me a chance to fulfill my dream.
Thank you to my Hibees. Although short-lived, another stint of my career that I’d dreamt about as a kid. Living in Edinburgh and playing in some of the most hostile stadiums and derbies was storybook stuff. “While I’m worth my room on this earth, I will be with you.” Thank you for giving me that opportunity.
Thank you to the Chicago Fire. Firstly, for bringing me home and allowing me to play for my childhood club. To be able to play week in and week out in front of your family and friends, to the opportunities off the field I was given and the memories made that the club provided me with, I couldn’t be more grateful for. And secondly, but more importantly, for their support throughout me battling through this diagnosis. Truly, it was unbelievable and I never felt alone in it. A top organization that deserves all the success in the world. I’ve seen the downside of the business in professional sports, where players are often seen more as an asset than a person. But not in Chicago. For that, I couldn’t speak highly enough. And I’m beyond excited to see where the club continues to head and the victories that are still coming. Thank you Chicago. A supporter I will always be.
Thank you to every coach I had along the way. From my days at the Sockers to UW and all through the pros, thank you for pushing me to my best. Demanding more of me, stretching my limits and instilling belief in me when maybe I didn’t see it myself. More important than any strides I made on the field, you all helped me become the man I am off of it.
Thank you to each and every one of my teammates. The ones I’ve gone to battle with, suffered with, and the ones who’ve made the locker room banter, bar none the best part about playing professional football. The different personalities, characters, cultures, and jokes have brought me close with so many different kinds of people. You all are what makes it come together. You guys have made this ride as fun as it could possibly be, amidst the treacherous preseasons, long flight delays, or the losses that hurt a little more than the rest.
Thank you to my kids. Who, although you don’t know it yet, have given me reason, meaning, and significance beyond the game everyone longs for in life. To watch you grow up will be my life’s greatest adventure, and you don’t even know it yet, but you are the reason why I’ve always done what I’ve done. I love you beyond words.
And last but certainly not least, to my wife. Never judge a man by his success alone without looking to the woman by his side. Without you, Alyssa, who knows where I’d be. You’ve seen me at my worst, at my best, and you were the only girl who didn’t laugh in my face when I said “I was going to be a pro” back when we were 16. From then to where we are today, you continue to amaze me, and your support, sacrifice, and commitment throughout my career has been unmatched. You’re the rock and none of this would have been possible without you. You deserve just as much of the success, and more. Thank you.
As I bring this to a close, I want every one of you who’ve read up until this point to consider this before you depart. One of the most profound lessons I’ve taken away from my near decade in the game that has become fundamental to how I approach life.
Life is all about the adventure: The story you tell, the chapters you write, and the memories you make.
You are the character and the story is yours to write. No matter what happens that feels beyond your control, the way you respond and the attitude you chose to carry with you will always be yours to decide. Just as I have faced this condition with as much optimism as I could manage, your life too, will have tremendous challenges. But how you respond and choose to move forward despite their emergence will determine everything that’s coming for you. Because no one is going to come and dig you out of whatever holes you find yourself in. That determination resides on you alone. And it’s your heaviest responsibility. Because the quality of your life and the story you one day tell to your kids and grandkids falls on your shoulders.
It’s out there to get, and it’s your utmost obligation is to bring your best to the table no matter what. To be the hero. To face your villains and slay your dragons. They’re there for all of us.
So if nothing else, let this provide you a bit of inspiration, as I’ve made it a point to use this unfavorable hand of cards to showcase how one can positively and productively respond to somewhat “tragic” circumstances. Because these are the grounds that prove who we really are. And for that, we should be grateful for our adversity. Because this is what makes us.
To the game itself, I’ll say it once and for all, in genuine sincerity and acknowledgement for everything it’s provided me, everything it’s given to me, and everything it’s made me to be.
I tip my hat to what’s next and work to pass along everything I’ve learned to the generations of young adults and players to follow, as goes the cycle.
With nothing but love and appreciation in my heart, to the game of football, always and forever…
Forever Grateful,
Know someone who followed my journey? Share this with them.
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When I was younger, I never really struggled to believe in myself. I was doubted plenty, but that usually just made me want to prove people wrong even more. I had a pretty strong belief that I could get where I wanted to go, even when other people didn’t necessarily see it yet.
Looking back, I’m grateful for that. You need a lot of belief to keep going in this game, especially when the path isn’t obvious and the opportunities don’t come exactly when you want them to.
But belief only gets you so far…
There are things I learned later, through college soccer, MLS, playing overseas, being around different coaches and teammates, dealing with good stretches and bad ones, that I honestly wish I understood much earlier. Not because they would’ve made the path easy, but because I think they would’ve helped me become a more complete player sooner and probably saved me from wasting energy on things that didn’t matter as much as I thought.
So when young players ask me for soccer advice now, these are the things I keep coming back to…
1. Use Doubt as Fuel, But Don’t Live for It
I was doubted a lot when I was younger, and honestly, part of me liked it. If somebody didn’t think I was good enough, my reaction usually wasn’t to question myself. It was more like, “Alright, I’ll show you.”
That chip on my shoulder helped me. It made me competitive and gave me another reason to work. I wouldn’t want to erase that from my younger self.
What I would tell him now is that there’s a point where proving people wrong stops being useful.
When you’re young, it can feel like every coach, every roster decision and every opportunity is a judgment on who you are as a player. You want people to see what you see in yourself. And when they don’t, it can become personal really quickly.
But your career can’t be built around convincing everybody.
Some people are going to believe in you. Some won’t. Some will be right about things you need to improve. Some will be completely wrong about you. You’re going to drive yourself crazy if you give every opinion equal weight.
The better question is whether you’re still doing the work to become the player you believe you can be. Competing with the guy in the mirror is going to take you much further than competing with the guy who doubted you ever will.
That’s what I wish I understood earlier. Keep the chip. Keep the belief. Just don’t waste all your energy on the people who don’t see it yet.
2. Confidence Is Great, but Self-Awareness Is Better.
This one took me longer to understand.
I’ve always been confident, and I still think confidence is one of the most valuable things a player can have. You need to believe you can make the play. You need to want the ball. You need to be willing to take risks and back yourself.
But confidence without self-awareness can get you stuck…
There were times in my career when the easiest explanation would’ve been to blame the coach, the situation, the opportunity, or something outside of me. Sometimes those things really do matter. Soccer isn’t perfectly fair.
But sometimes I just needed to get better…
That’s not always fun to admit when you believe in yourself, but I actually think the best players get good at holding both ideas at the same time.
You can believe you’re capable of reaching a very high level and still be brutally honest about where your game isn’t good enough yet.
Those things aren’t opposites, and that’s where real development starts.
If your coach keeps saying the same thing, listen. If the same mistake keeps showing up on film, pay attention. If you keep struggling with the same situation in games, don’t explain it away. Study it. Confidence should make you brave enough to face your weaknesses, not hide from them.
3. At Some Point, You Have to Own Your Own Development
When you’re young, soccer is pretty organized for you. Your parents get you there. Your club sets the schedule. Your coach plans the session. You show up, train and play.
That structure matters, but it can also make you think that showing up is the same thing as developing. Let me tell you… it isn’t.
The higher I went, the more responsibility shifted onto me. I had to understand my body better, understand what I needed technically and tactically, know when extra work would help and when I needed to recover, watch film, ask better questions and have conversations with coaches instead of just waiting for everything to come to me.
That was a big change.
Your coach can help you a lot. A good trainer can help you. Your parents can support you and give you opportunities. But eventually, you have to become an active participant in your own career.
You have to know what you’re working on and why.
That doesn’t mean doing five extra workouts because you saw somebody online training at 6 a.m. It means understanding your actual game and taking responsibility for improving it.
That is very different…
READ THE POST: What I Wish I Knew Earlier About Youth Soccer Player Development
Not Sure What You Should Actually Be Working On?
A lot of young players are willing to work. The harder part is knowing where to put that work.
We created the BTB Player Development Checklist to help players look honestly at their training, recovery, preparation, habits and overall development instead of just adding more random work.
DOWNLOAD THE FREE PLAYER DEVELOPMENT CHECKLIST
4. Coaches Value Trust More Than Young Players Realize
When you’re younger, you naturally think about impressing the coach. You want to score. You want to beat somebody. You want to make the play everybody notices.
That stuff matters. You still have to impact games.
But as I moved into higher levels, I started to understand how much coaches value trust.
Can the coach trust you to do your job? Can he trust you tactically? Can he trust your work rate when you’re frustrated? Can he give you information and know you’re going to apply it? Can he put you into a difficult game and have a pretty good idea of what version of you is going to show up?
Those things matter a lot…
Professional soccer is full of talented players. Everybody can play. The margins get smaller, so the boring stuff starts carrying more weight.
Your positioning. Your work without the ball. Your reaction when you lose it. Making the simple play when that’s what the game needs. Communicating. Being prepared.
None of those things are going into a highlight reel, but coaches notice them.
I think young players spend a lot of time asking, “How do I stand out?” I think a better question might be, “How do I become a player my coach trusts?”
5. More Training Isn’t Always Better Training
This is one I probably wouldn’t have wanted to hear when I was 15…
My instinct was always to do more. If I had a bad game, I wanted to train. If I wasn’t happy with how I was playing, I wanted to train. If somebody else was getting better, I wanted to make sure I was doing more than them.
That mentality helped me in a lot of ways, and I still believe extra work matters.
But professional soccer taught me that there’s a big difference between being committed and just constantly beating up your body.
Sometimes the best thing I could do for my performance was train. Sometimes it was recovery. Sometimes it was sleep. Sometimes it was leaving my body alone because we had another game coming.
That was hard for me because doing more feels productive, and rest doesn’t…
But your body doesn’t care which one makes you feel tougher.
Young players don’t need every recovery tool a professional has access to. Start with the things that actually matter. Sleep well. Eat enough. Hydrate. Pay attention to how your body feels. Understand what your week looks like before adding extra work.
You don’t win anything for being the most exhausted player.
You’re trying to become better and stay available to perform.
READ THE POST: The Ultimate Guide to Soccer Recovery]
6. Learn the Game, Not Just the Drills
There is more soccer training content available now than there ever was when I was young, and a lot of that is a good thing. You can find technical work, position-specific exercises and ideas almost instantly.
The downside is that it’s really easy to confuse doing soccer drills with learning how to play soccer. Those aren’t the same thing.
The higher you go, the faster everything happens. You get less time on the ball, not more. Defenders read things quicker. Teammates move earlier. Spaces disappear faster.
A perfect first touch helps, obviously, but what matters just as much is whether you knew what you were going to do before the ball got there. That’s why I think young players should spend more time actually studying the game.
Watch players in your position. Watch what they do when they don’t have the ball. Watch when they stay wide and when they come inside. Watch when they play simple and when they take a risk.
Then watch yourself. Film can be uncomfortable because sometimes the game you remember playing isn’t the game you actually played.
That’s useful. You don’t need to beat yourself up over every mistake. Just get curious. What did you see? What did you miss? What could you have done earlier?
That kind of learning stays with you a lot longer than another random drill saved on Instagram.
7. One Mistake Shouldn’t Cost You the Next Ten Minutes
One of the clearest signs of confidence is what a player does after something goes wrong. You lose the ball, miss a chance, play a bad pass or get beat. What happens next matters.
A lot of young players think confidence means feeling good all the time. I don’t see it that way. Confidence is asking for the ball again after you just gave it away. It’s taking the next 1v1 instead of suddenly playing everything backward. It’s pressing after your mistake instead of looking at the bench or disappearing from the game.
Especially for attacking players, you can’t play scared and still expect to be dangerous. Your position requires risk. You are going to lose the ball sometimes. You are going to make decisions that don’t work. The mistake itself is not always the biggest problem. Sometimes the next five or ten minutes are.
That is something I wish more young players understood. Your response is part of your game too, and coaches notice it.
8. Professional Habits Come Before a Professional Contract
When you’re young, becoming a professional can feel like the finish line. You imagine that once somebody gives you a contract, you’ve made it. Then you get there and realize everybody around you has made it too. Now you have to stay.
That was one of the biggest things professional soccer taught me. A contract does not suddenly make you disciplined or teach you how to prepare, recover, handle being benched, deal with pressure or respond when things are not going your way. Those habits have to exist before the opportunity comes.
I think that is probably one of the biggest things I would want a young player to understand. You do not have to pretend you are a professional at 15. You should still enjoy being a kid and enjoy playing. But you can start taking certain things seriously: how you prepare, how you recover, how you treat people, how you respond to coaching, how you handle setbacks and whether your habits actually match what you say you want.
That is what professionalism ended up looking like to me. A lot less glamorous than I imagined when I was younger, and a lot more important.
What I’d Tell a Young Player Now
If you’re serious about soccer, keep dreaming big. I still think there is something really special about a kid believing he can do something before everybody else sees it.
But belief is only the beginning. You still have to learn yourself, learn the game, take ownership of your development and build habits that hold up when things stop going perfectly.
That is a big reason we built BTB. There are so many parts of becoming a serious player that rarely get taught in one place. Training matters, but so do recovery, confidence, film, preparation, communication, recruiting and understanding how to actually take ownership of your career.
If you want more structure around those things, start with the free BTB Player Development Checklist. If you want to go deeper, that is exactly what we teach inside the BTB Locker Room.
read the post →
Soccer recovery was something I completely underestimated when I was a young player.
I thought the answer was always more.
More touches.
More running.
Another workout.
Another training session.
If I wasn’t improving fast enough, my instinct was pretty simple: work harder and get more time on the field.
I understand why young players think this way. Soccer rewards work. The players willing to stay after training, get extra touches and take their development seriously usually give themselves a better chance.
But there is another side of development that I did not understand nearly well enough when I was younger and I’m seeing the same pattern in young players today.
Your body has to be able to recover from the work you’re asking it to do.
I didn’t really understand that until I started spending more time in high-level soccer environments, particularly once I got to college and beyond.
Professional players absolutely work hard.
But eventually you realize something that your goals shift from having to to destroy yourself every day and work as hard as you possibly can to having the capacity to be able to perform again tomorrow and the next day, and the next day, and the next day…
And again on Saturday when the result actually counts.
That’s where soccer recovery starts becoming a competitive advantage.
And the only reason for that is because most young players are surprisingly bad at it and don’t think it matters. Which makes focus this dialed impossible to compete with. Because you’re automatically putting yourself into that top 1% threshold. And that’s where I had it terribly wrong.
I Thought Getting Better Meant Always Doing More
This is one of the biggest things I wish somebody had explained to me earlier.
Training creates stress.
That stress can be productive, obviously. Your body responds to it, rebuilds and adapts so that you can tolerate more difficult training conditions.
But you still have to give it the resources to do that.
If you’re practicing with your club four times this week, lifting twice, doing individual work three times, playing a game Saturday and sleeping six hours a night, adding another workout isn’t automatically discipline.
Sometimes it’s just bad planning.
That distinction matters.
I see ambitious players fall into this trap all the time because doing something feels productive.
Rest doesn’t.
Going to bed early isn’t going to make a good Instagram reel.
Eating a real meal after practice isn’t impressive.
Taking an easier day when your schedule has been brutal doesn’t feel like you’re getting ahead.
But some of the habits that matter most are boring.
Professional soccer taught me to respect boring.
How Players Can Stay Consistent When Motivation Drops
Motivation might convince you to work hard tonight. But a good development system tells you what your body actually needs tonight. Those are not always the same thing.
Recovery Is Training
Young players tend to separate the two.
Training is the serious part.
Recovery is the extra stuff.
But me myself… I would flip that.
If training is the stimulus, recovery is what allows your body to adapt to it.
That means your soccer recovery routine influences whether tomorrow’s session is productive, whether your legs feel heavy on game day and whether you can sustain a demanding week without constantly feeling beaten up.
And this becomes more important as the level rises.
Youth schedules can already be ridiculous.
Club training.
High-school soccer.
Individual sessions.
Strength work.
Showcases.
Tournaments.
Travel.
School.
Homework.
Then a player decides he needs another five-mile run because somebody on TikTok said professionals train twice a day. This is exactly where ambition without a system starts working against you. Because like I said, more isn’t automatically better.
The right work, properly recovered from, is.
The 6 Foundations of Soccer Recovery
There are endless recovery methods players can experiment with.
Most of them matter less than getting the fundamentals right.
If I were helping a younger player build his first real soccer recovery plan, I would start here.
1. Sleep Is Still the Best Recovery Tool You Have
If you want the least exciting recovery advice in this entire article, here it is:
Go to bed.
Seriously.
Young players will spend money on massage guns, supplements, recovery boots and every new product somebody promotes online while consistently sleeping five or six hours.
That makes very little sense.
Sleep plays an enormous role in adolescent health and performance, and chronic insufficient sleep is common in teenagers. The American Academy of Pediatrics has repeatedly highlighted the consequences of inadequate adolescent sleep… And soccer gives you plenty of reasons to sabotage it.
Late practices.
Dinner afterward.
Homework.
Shower.
Phone.
You look up and it’s midnight.
Then your alarm goes off at 6:15.
Do that once and you’ll survive.
Build your entire week around it and eventually something usually gives.
Your energy.
Your mood.
Your training quality.
Your ability to concentrate.
Your body.
The exact sleep needs of an individual athlete can vary, but the larger point is simple:
Stop treating sleep like whatever time is left after you’ve finished everything else.
Build backward from when you need to wake up.
That sounds basic because it is.
Basic doesn’t mean unimportant.
BTB NOTE: Inside the Locker Room and Path 2 Pro, we go much deeper into how players can structure their week around training, recovery and performance instead of trying to cram everything into every day.
What Serious Players Do Differently in the Offseason
2. Replace What Training Took Out of You
A hard soccer session doesn’t just make your legs tired.
You’ve burned energy.
You’ve sweated.
You’ve stressed muscle tissue.
Now your body needs resources.
This is where soccer nutrition and recovery connect.
Carbohydrates are an important fuel source for young athletes, while adequate protein supports growth and recovery. The American College of Sports Medicine’s youth-athlete nutrition guidance also emphasizes adequate total energy intake and appropriate timing of food around exercise.
I’m intentionally not going to give every player one magical post-training meal because there isn’t one. And youth athletes should not be building restrictive diets off something they read on a soccer blog.
But here is the principle:
After demanding training or a game, your body needs food.
Not three hours later because you forgot.
Not an energy drink.
Actual food.
Your recovery meal will usually include some combination of:
- carbohydrates to help replace the energy you’ve used
- protein as part of muscle repair and growth
- fluids to replace what you’ve lost
- enough overall calories to support training and normal growth
For younger players especially, this matters.
You aren’t just fueling soccer.
You’re fueling a growing human being who also happens to play soccer.
That’s why I hate seeing players become afraid of food because they think being serious means eating as little as possible or trying some professional athlete’s extremely specific diet.
Fueling well isn’t about eating perfectly.
It is about giving your body what it needs to perform and recover.
Inside the BTB Locker Room, we have an entire Fuel Like a Pro section because this subject deserves far more than a paragraph.
3. Hydration Starts Before Practice Ends
You shouldn’t finish training completely dehydrated and then expect one bottle of water on the ride home to fix everything.
Hydration is another basic that players make unnecessarily complicated.
The AAP recommends water as the primary hydration choice for most youth exercise, while longer or particularly demanding sessions can create situations where carbohydrate/electrolyte-containing drinks may be useful.
Conditions matter too. A ninety-minute session in moderate weather is different from two tournament games in August.
Players also sweat differently and lose different levels of sodium throughout their sessions. Believe me I’ve worn enough sweat patches in games and in pre-season to be able to say to this….
So stop looking for one universal number you saw on Instagram.
The best habit here is awareness.
Start practice hydrated. Drink throughout the session when appropriate. Rehydrate afterward.
Pay more attention during heat, tournaments and high-volume training periods.
And if you’re regularly finishing sessions with headaches, dizziness, extreme fatigue or other concerning symptoms, that is not something to simply “push through.” Tell a parent, athletic trainer or medical professional.
Serious players learn to distinguish discomfort from warning signs.
4. Learn the Difference Between Recovery and Doing Nothing
A recovery day doesn’t necessarily mean lying on the couch for twelve hours.
Sometimes complete rest is appropriate.
Other times, easy movement feels better.
A walk.
Light mobility.
An easy spin.
Gentle technical touches.
Something that gets you moving without adding another meaningful training load.
This concept became much clearer to me as I got older.
There is a huge difference between:
“I’m being lazy today.”
and
“Today has a different purpose.”
That second one is harder for ambitious athletes.
Because players love measurable effort.
Five miles feels measurable.
One hundred shots feels measurable.
Forty-five minutes of extra training feels measurable.
Recovery requires enough maturity to understand that the absence of exhaustion doesn’t mean the absence of progress. Know the difference.
5. Stop Treating Every Day Like a Maximum-Effort Day
This might be the biggest mistake in youth player development right now.
A player has:
Monday: team training
Tuesday: team training
Wednesday: private trainer
Thursday: team training
Friday: individual workout
Saturday: game
Sunday: tournament game or training
And somewhere in there he wants to lift three times.
When exactly is his body supposed to catch up?
This is why we teach systems so much at BTB.
Looking at one workout in isolation tells you almost nothing.
The question is:
Where does this workout fit inside the entire week?
A hard technical session can be great.
Strength training can be great.
Speed work can be great.
Extra finishing can be great.
The mistake is assuming that because five things are individually useful, doing all five at maximum intensity every week must be five times better.
It isn’t.
This is one reason we built age-specific training plans and recovery education into the BTB ecosystem. Players need to understand how the pieces fit together instead of collecting random workouts.
How Soccer Players Stay Focused When the Noise Gets Loud
6. Pay Attention to What Your Body Is Telling You
Young athletes are sometimes taught that toughness means ignoring everything.
Pain?
Keep going.
Heavy legs?
Work harder.
Exhausted?
Must not want it badly enough.
I don’t agree with that (more often than not).
Competing requires toughness.
There are days professional players train sore. There are games where you’re tired, and there are moments where you have to push through discomfort.
But toughness without judgment becomes stupidity pretty quickly.
Persistent or worsening pain deserves attention.
Overuse injuries in young athletes can develop gradually, and the American Academy of Pediatrics specifically recommends adequate recovery, healthy sleep and breaks within training schedules as part of reducing overuse risk.
You should learn your normal.
What does normal soreness feel like after a game?
How do your legs usually feel two days later?
What does genuine fatigue feel like?
What feels different?
You don’t need to become paranoid about every ache.
You do need to stop believing that ignoring your body proves how badly you want your goal.
Sometimes the professional decision is to speak up.
What About Ice Baths, Foam Rolling and Recovery Boots?
Now we can talk about the fun stuff.
Ice baths.
Foam rollers.
Massage guns.
Compression boots.
Saunas.
Cold showers.
Mobility tools.
Professional locker rooms have plenty of them.
And I’m not saying they’re useless.
Some players like certain recovery tools. Certain modalities may have a place depending on the athlete, timing, goals and medical guidance.
But young players often get the hierarchy backward.
If you are:
sleeping six hours, barely eating after training, chronically dehydrated, training hard seven days a week, and then sitting in recovery boots for thirty minutes…
the boots aren’t your biggest problem.
You cannot gadget your way out of bad fundamentals.
I wish young players understood this earlier because the soccer industry loves selling visible solutions.
A new recovery product feels like you’re doing something.
Going to bed at 9:45 isn’t nearly as exciting.
The boring thing still wins a lot.
Inside our Recovery Library in the BTB Locker Room, we can get much more specific about exercises, mobility, recovery routines and when different approaches make sense.
But earn the right to worry about the details.
Get the fundamentals right first.
How to Recover After a Soccer Game
A lot of players finish the final whistle and mentally move on.
Your next performance has already started.
You do not need a forty-step post soccer recovery routine.
Start simple.
Right after the game
Begin replacing fluids.
Eat when you reasonably can.
If you’re stiff after sitting in the car, some light movement later may feel better than staying completely sedentary.
That evening
Eat a legitimate meal.
Rehydrate.
Do whatever light recovery work is normal for you.
And prioritize sleep.
Not a midnight FIFA session because tomorrow is technically Sunday.
The next morning
Assess yourself.
How did you sleep?
What feels sore?
What is your next training demand?
That determines what today should look like.
This is where blindly following the same routine every Sunday doesn’t make much sense.
If you played fifteen minutes, your needs may differ from the teammate who played ninety.
If you have another game twenty-four hours later, the equation changes again.
Recovery has context.
How to Recover Between Soccer Tournament Games
Tournament weekends are where youth soccer recovery gets exposed.
Two games.
Sometimes three.
Hot weather.
Hotel sleep.
Restaurant food.
Long drives.
Players wandering around a complex for six hours between matches.
Then everyone wonders why the second game looks terrible.
You don’t need to live like a monk between games.
But you should think ahead.
Have food available that you know sits well.
Have fluids.
Get out of the sun when you can.
Don’t spend the entire break running around with teammates.
Pay attention to how much time you actually have before the next warm-up.
And don’t experiment with a completely new meal because somebody’s dad found a barbecue restaurant next to the tournament complex.
I have learned that lesson in various forms throughout my career.
Game day is a bad time for surprises.
This is also why preparation happens before the weekend.
If you wait until you’re exhausted and starving to make good decisions, you’ve already made the process harder than it needed to be.
The Recovery Mistakes I See Young Players Make
There are a few patterns I would correct immediately.
They add workouts without subtracting anything.
More training volume gets added onto an already full schedule because nobody looks at the week as a whole.
They stay up late and think sleeping in once will fix it.
One long Sunday morning doesn’t erase an entire week of bad sleep habits.
They treat soreness like proof of a good workout.
Being destroyed isn’t the goal.
Improvement is.
They copy professional recovery routines without professional context.
You saw a Champions League player get into a cold tub.
You didn’t see the sports scientist monitoring his training load, the chef preparing his food, the physio treating him or the fact that his entire day is structured around football.
Your life is different.
They wait until something hurts to care about recovery.
Recovery shouldn’t suddenly matter once you’re injured.
The whole point is building habits before something forces you to.
They confuse “serious” with “always doing more.”
This one is probably the most dangerous because it gets praised.
Everyone loves the kid who works constantly.
Almost nobody asks whether the work makes sense.
A Simple Soccer Recovery Checklist
If you’re a young player and your recovery currently has zero structure, don’t build some insane twelve-step protocol tonight.
Start here.
After a demanding training session or game:
1. Rehydrate.
2. Eat. Get carbohydrates, protein and enough overall food into your day.
3. Move if appropriate. Light mobility or easy activity can be part of your routine.
4. Look at tomorrow. Do you have another game? Training? A rest day?
5. Get to bed.
Then repeat it consistently.
That’s a better starting point than owning $2,000 worth of recovery equipment and having no routine.
You Need a Recovery System, Not More Random Tips
This is ultimately what changed my thinking.
Training.
Fueling.
Sleep.
Recovery.
Strength.
Preparation.
Mindset.
None of them exist independently.
They affect each other.
And young players are usually expected to figure all of that out on their own while also going to school and playing for a club.
That never made much sense to me.
Team training teaches the team.
It cannot possibly teach every player everything he needs to know about managing his development away from practice.
That gap is a huge reason we built BTB.
Inside the BTB Locker Room, we go deeper into things like:
- Recovery Library
- Prevention & Activation Library
- Fuel Like a Pro
- age-specific training plans
- how to structure the days you’re not playing
- habit formation
- performance and mindset
- tactical education
- recruiting
- the off-field systems that serious players are rarely formally taught
And if you want a more structured path instead of consuming lessons individually, Path 2 Pro organizes those pieces into a step-by-step development system.
I don’t want players leaving this article thinking they need twenty new recovery tricks.
Start with one.
Tonight, look at what time you have to wake up tomorrow.
Then decide what time you need to put the phone down.
That is recovery too.
Soccer Recovery FAQ
How long should a soccer player recover after a game?
There isn’t one recovery period that applies to every player. Match minutes, age, training history, soreness, travel, upcoming sessions and individual circumstances all matter. A player who played twenty minutes and has no game for a week is in a different situation than someone who played ninety minutes and competes again forty-eight hours later.
Rather than chasing one exact number, manage the workload around the athlete.
Prepare for your games like a pro with the BTB Pre-Game 90 Protocol
What is the best recovery for soccer players?
Start with the fundamentals: adequate sleep, nutrition, hydration, sensible training load and appropriate rest or low-intensity recovery.
Recovery tools can be additions.
They should not replace the fundamentals.
What should soccer players eat after a game?
A post-game meal should generally help replace energy and support recovery with carbohydrates, protein, fluids and adequate overall nutrition. Youth athletes also have growth and development needs, so highly restrictive diets should not be treated as a performance strategy. ACSM and AAP resources are useful starting points for families wanting evidence-based youth sports nutrition guidance.
Players with specific dietary, medical or performance needs should work with an appropriate qualified health professional, such as a sports dietitian.
Should soccer players take a day off?
Rest and lower-load periods can be an important part of a sustainable training schedule, especially for young athletes accumulating substantial soccer and additional training volume. AAP youth-sport guidance includes taking breaks as one strategy for reducing overuse problems.
The right schedule depends on the player and their total workload.
Is stretching good for soccer recovery?
Mobility or stretching may be included in a player’s recovery routine, but stretching alone does not compensate for poor sleep, inadequate food or excessive training load.
This is another place where players tend to obsess over the smallest piece of the puzzle.
How do professional soccer players recover?
Professional environments may use combinations of nutrition, hydration, sleep, load management, mobility, treatment, active recovery and different recovery modalities depending on the athlete and schedule.
The bigger lesson isn’t to copy every tool professionals use.
It’s to copy the intentionality.
Professionals don’t accidentally recover.
It’s built into the week.
read the post →
Some days, training feels easy.
You watched a great game the night before. You had a good practice. You’re thinking about playing college soccer or reaching the next level, and you’re ready to get outside and work. You’re inspired.
Then there are the other days…
You’re tired. Training didn’t go well yesterday. You’ve been working on something for weeks and don’t feel like you’re getting any better.
Maybe you got benched. Maybe another player got an opportunity you wanted. Maybe you just don’t feel like touching a soccer ball today.
That’s where most advice about soccer motivation gets it wrong.
You don’t need to figure out how to feel motivated every single day. You need to learn how to keep moving, even when you don’t.
I’ve played soccer at the youth, college, and professional levels, and one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that motivation fades. It always does.
The players who keep developing are usually the ones who build habits strong enough to survive it.
Why Soccer Motivation Comes and Goes
Motivation feels powerful because when you have it, everything seems easier.
You want to train, you want to eat well, you want to recover, you want to watch film.
You start picturing where soccer could take you.
There’s nothing wrong with that. Use those days.
The mistake is assuming you’ll always feel that way. You won’t.
Your soccer career is going to include bad games, great games, coaches who believe in you, coaches who don’t, injuries, plateaus, competition for minutes, setbacks, opportunities and long stretches where nothing particularly exciting seems to be happening.
If your training habits depend entirely on how excited you feel about soccer that day, your development is going to be inconsistent.
And inconsistency adds up.
Motivation Might Get You Started. Habits Keep You Going.
There’s a massive difference between wanting something and building your life around it.
A player might genuinely want to play college soccer. That doesn’t automatically mean he’s consistently doing the things that could help him become a college soccer player.
He might train hard Monday because he’s motivated. Tuesday is team practice. Wednesday he’s tired, so he skips the individual work he planned. Thursday something comes up. Friday he decides he’ll start again next week.
Nothing dramatic happened. He just lost four days.
Do that enough times over a year and the gap becomes pretty significant. This is one of the reasons I care so much about habits.
A goal tells you what you want. A habit tells you what you’re actually willing to repeat. And over enough time, what you repeatedly do matters a lot more than what you occasionally feel inspired to do.
Stop Asking, “Do I Feel Motivated Today?”
This is a small shift, but it’s an important one.
Imagine you’ve decided you’re going to do 30 minutes of individual technical work three times this week. Wednesday comes around and you don’t feel like doing it.
The question most players subconsciously ask is:
Do I feel motivated enough to train today?
That’s a terrible question because you just gave your mood control over the decision.
Try asking:
What did I commit to doing?
Now you’re operating from a standard instead of a feeling.
Maybe you still don’t feel like it. That’s fine.
Go put your boots on anway. Start your warm-up. Get through the first five minutes.
You don’t have to give yourself a motivational speech first.
Build a Soccer Training System You Can Actually Follow
I’ve seen players make training plans that look like they’re preparing for the Champions League Final every day.
Technical training, gym, sprint work, film, mobility, finishing, weak foot, recovery.
Two hours before school, and another session at night.
It lasts about four days.
If you’re a young player trying to become more consistent, I’d rather see you create a smaller plan and actually follow it.
Start with a few non-negotiables.
For example:
Monday: team training
Tuesday: 30 minutes individual technical work
Wednesday: team training + recovery
Thursday: 30 minutes individual work
Friday: recovery or rest
Saturday: game
Sunday: game review + recovery
Your exact week will obviously depend on your team schedule, age, workload and what you’re trying to improve.
The point isn’t to copy that schedule. The point is to create one that works.
You shouldn’t wake up every afternoon and decide from scratch whether you’re going to work on your game.
That wastes more mental energy than players realize.
Know what the week requires before the week starts.
What I Wish I Knew Earlier About Youth Soccer Development
Make Your Training Specific
There’s another problem that sometimes looks like low motivation.
The player doesn’t actually know what to work on.
“Go train soccer” is incredibly vague.
Go do what?
Take 200 random shots? Dribble through cones? Juggle? Run?
If you don’t know what the session is supposed to accomplish, it’s much easier to skip it.
Give the work a purpose.
Maybe this month you’re trying to improve:
- receiving across your body
- your weaker foot
- finishing after attacking from the wing
- scanning before receiving
- first touch out of pressure
Now Tuesday’s session has a job. That’s different from going outside and randomly doing whatever drills show up on Instagram.
Serious development gets easier when the work is connected to an actual weakness in your game.
Don’t Confuse More Training With Better Training
This is important.
Reading an article about soccer motivation shouldn’t leave you believing the answer is to train seven days a week.
It isn’t. Rest is part of development. Recovery is part of development.
And there are absolutely times when feeling physically and mentally exhausted isn’t a discipline problem. It can be a sign that your workload needs attention.
One of the existing soccer motivation resources even identifies overtraining as something that can hurt a player’s motivation and performance.
So learn the difference between:
“I don’t feel like doing the work.”
and
“My body genuinely needs to recover.”
Those aren’t the same thing.
Professional habits include knowing when to push and when to recover.
Watch How to Recovery Like a Pro in the BTB Locker Room
What Serious Soccer Players Do Differently in the Off-Season
What to Do When You’re Losing Motivation for Soccer
This is different from not wanting to train on a random Wednesday. Sometimes players start losing their motivation for soccer for weeks or even months.
Don’t immediately assume you’re lazy. Figure out what’s actually happening.
You’re Not Seeing Progress
This one is brutal.
You’re training. You’re doing extra work. And you’re still not starting.
Or you still can’t beat the same defender. Or the technical skill you’ve been practicing isn’t showing up in games.
Progress in soccer is rarely perfectly linear.
Sometimes you’re improving before there’s an obvious result to show for it.
Instead of only measuring yourself by goals, assists or starting positions, look for smaller indicators.
Are you cleaner technically? Are your decisions happening faster? Are you winning more duels? Are you making better runs? Are you recovering faster after mistakes?
Those things matter.
You’re Comparing Yourself to Everyone Else
This has probably never been harder for young players.
Open Instagram and somebody committed.
Open TikTok and a 15-year-old is training with a professional first team.
Someone on your team made an academy. Someone got invited somewhere. Someone has better highlights.
If you spend enough time watching everybody else’s soccer career, yours can start feeling terrible.
Use other players as information. See what’s possible. Study good players.
Then get back to your own work.
You can’t build your development around somebody else’s timeline.
You’ve Had a Bad Run of Games
This is where soccer motivation can disappear quickly.
One bad performance becomes two. Then you start pressing.
Then every mistake feels bigger because you’re trying so hard not to make another one. Eventually soccer stops feeling like something you play and starts feeling like a weekly test you’re scared to fail. I’ve learned that one of the most important things a player can develop is the ability to respond.
You lose the ball. What happens next?
You miss a chance. What happens next?
Your coach criticizes you. What happens next?
The mistake matters. Your response matters too.
Why a Strong Soccer Mindset Must Be Trained, Not Just Taught
Don’t Wait for Your Coach or Parents to Motivate You
This is another uncomfortable part of becoming a serious player.
At some point, your development has to become yours.
Your parents can pay for the club. They can drive you to training. Your coach can teach you. A private trainer can give you exercises.
But nobody else can manufacture your commitment for you.
There’s a difference between a parent constantly saying:
“Did you train today?”
and a player already knowing Tuesday is his individual training day.
That difference matters.
If your goal is to reach a high level, start taking ownership before somebody gives you the title of “high-level player.”
You don’t need the college commitment first. You don’t need the academy contract first. You don’t need somebody to tell you that you’re serious.
Build the habits first.
Use Motivation When It Shows Up
I’m not anti-motivation. Far from it, honestly.
There are going to be moments that light something up in you.
Watching a player you admire. Going to a college game. Having the best match of your season. Getting invited to train somewhere.
A coach believing in you. Seeing a professional environment up close.
Use it. Train. Write your goals down.
Make the change you’ve been putting off.
But while you’re motivated, build something that will still exist when you’re not.
Set your schedule. Create your standards. Decide what you’re working on.
Make the good decision easier to repeat. That’s the part most players skip.
They use motivation to produce one huge day instead of using it to build a better month.
Try the Three-Standard Soccer Motivation System
If you’ve been inconsistent lately, don’t build a massive new routine tonight.
Pick three standards for the next four weeks.
1. One Development Standard
Choose one piece of work you control.
Example:
Two 30-minute individual sessions each week.
Not seven.
Two.
Do them.
2. One Recovery Standard
Example:
Complete my post-training recovery routine after every team session.
Whatever your appropriate recovery routine is, make it repeatable.
Access the BTB Recovery Library inside the BTB Locker Room
3. One Performance Standard
Choose something you can actually observe in games.
Maybe:
After I make a mistake, my next action is aggressive and intentional.
Ask for the ball again.
Press. Make the next run. Communicate.
Don’t spend the next four minutes replaying the mistake in your head.
That’s a standard you can actually watch back on film. Track those three things for four weeks.
You’ll learn more about your development from doing that consistently than you will from watching another 30-minute soccer motivation compilation on YouTube.
What Parents Should Know About Soccer Motivation
Parents, this part matters. You can’t want this more than your player does.
You can create opportunities, and you can provide structure. You can help them understand their schedule, and you can ask good questions.
But if you’re constantly dragging a teenager outside to complete extra training that only you care about, eventually you have to ask what you’re trying to accomplish.
That doesn’t mean a 14-year-old should have the self-discipline of a 28-year-old professional.
They’re learning. Help them learn.
There’s also research suggesting that the motivational environment surrounding young soccer players matters. A 2025 study involving 876 youth players found more positive motivational outcomes among players who perceived their environments from coaches, parents and peers as more empowering and less controlling or discouraging.
Supporting serious development and applying constant pressure aren’t the same thing.
Your goal is eventually to hear:
“I’ve got it.”
And realize they actually do.
When You Really Don’t Feel Like Training
You’ll have those days.
I’ve had them. Every player does.
You don’t need to pretend you’re fired up, and you don’t need another motivational soccer quote.
You don’t need somebody yelling at you through your headphones. Look at the standard you set.
Put your boots on and start.
Some days the session will be unbelievable. Some days you’ll simply get the work done. Both count.
Because you’re not trying to become the player who feels motivated the most.
You’re trying to become the player who can be trusted to keep going when the feeling changes.
Motivation isn’t the system.
Inside the BTB Locker Room, Chris breaks down the training, recovery, performance and development systems serious players can begin building long before they become professionals.
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