Imagine the following scenario: The ball circulates haphazardly across the backline in a well-rehearsed movement. The opposition decides to press the team in possession and unleash two marauding forwards in a rush of overzealous ‘pressure’. The team with the ball begins to panic and its #6 (it could be any player, really) drops in to […]
Author Archives: Jon Townsend
Effort over Outcome
We live in protectionist times. As young players (and people), we aren’t armed with the skill-set to process losing for many reasons. One, we associate losing with failure. Second, losing has consequences (coaches, pay attention) associated with it that extend into ‘punishment’ (extra running, lack of playing time, lengthly lectures, finger-pointing, ostracizing, etc.). Third, soccer […]
Grounded by Gravel
“I trained 3-4 hours a week at Ajax when I was little but played 3-4 hours everyday on the street. So where do you think I learnt football?” -Johan Cruyff Consider reliability and resilience as skills. At first, these don’t seem like skills and fully understanding and appreciating them as skills takes some work, reflection, and […]
A Lesson in Losing and Accountability
Losing comes in many forms. On the simplest level, losing can be thought of not being victorious in meaningful competition. Going one step further, it can mean losing an actual opportunity or chance. Nearly a year ago, I wrote about the ‘art’ of having a bad game because there’s a myriad of ways to process […]
Fitness as a Lifestyle
Running abroad Last week, my wife and I travelled to Ireland to visit my sister, Laura and her family. On that trip, we made sure we took the time to take in the sights and experiences that travel to other countries affords us. My sister and I share a passion for running. However, her dedication to […]
Superman Complex or Savior Syndrome – the Inconvenient Truth about American Soccer
Think of American soccer the way people viewed cars and technology in 1950s science fiction mail-order catalogs. Everyone thought we’d have our flying car by now, right? In essence, the quandary morphs into what I call the ‘Jalopy-to-Flying Car Theory’. The impatient and uninformed firmly believe it’s possible to go from a jalopy to a […]
The Art of Self-Sabotage
*This post will focus on players, but the principles mentioned can (and should) be applied to coaching as well. Players and coaches think they know how to improve; but their actions and the corresponding results (both literally and holistically) often suggest otherwise. Here’s why: far too many players train their perceived strengths way too much, way too […]
Rules to Play By
Here are 25 strategies or pieces of advice that can help you elevate your game — or at least give you some new insights. Most these are more about life than sport; however, it’s important to see the overlap where ever possible. If you expect every person you meet to be rational, truthful, and loyal […]
Chaos Theory
Circus Time We’ve all seen it…players arriving a bit early to training congregate as they tie their fluorescent-colored boots. A few fire-off a Snapchat while off in the distance near the penalty area, there’s a group of players smashing pot-shots in the direction of empty goal rarely hitting the target. The routine continues. Light-hearted conversation is […]
Haste Makes Waste
By: Jon Townsend @jon_townsend3 If there is one piece of advice for anyone overseeing, encouraging, or involved in the development of young players it is this: haste makes waste. One should not assume that “the route to the top” is possible by anything other than taking the stairs, not the elevator. Success is culled from struggle. Step-by-step, […]
