Probably the best asset a striker and attacking midfielders need to have and that is speed. Many want to know how to get much faster than they already are and this question plagued me for many years during my younger years. There would always be this guy who would always beat me in the 100 metre sprint at the school athletics carnival every year. It would drive me mad because I personally didn’t know about the best speed building techniques. The best one I know about at this point in time would be using a special apparatus called a speed ladder as pictured below. Using this piece of equipment becomes a form of isometric exercise.

How Do You Use It?

Once layed out on the ground, you proceed to run though each square, one after another, making sure both feet are hitting each square. This rapid succession of running through these squares builds speed and as you go along with your progress, you can move your legs faster meaning more strides in one minute. The biggest reason why this exercise works so well is because it is high intensity and with this intensity comes results. Take a look at the video below of to see an example of how you should go about building up your speed. By the way, the two shown here do this exercise incredibly fast and I can’t do it that fast yet.

What To Do If You Can Get One

I personally would like to purchase a speed ladder, but I’d much rather, using chalk, draw out the ladder on a concrete floor and run through the squares. It is simple, cost-effective, however, is not convenient. The ladder on the other hand is. So if you ever wanted to get one for yourself they will set you back around $40 USD. Here’s to building your speed, and it doesn’t matter what position you play, you can never have too much speed, only until you can’t handle it.

If you play football for reasons other than enjoying yourself, then I am going to drop a small bombshell and say that you will never be a great player like Ronaldinho. The biggest reason why I write this is because of one of the 4 games I had on the weekend. In particular, the one I played in the Premier League. The team that I play with for that league is one of the most serious bunch of people I’ve ever played with. Like I posted earlier, this is the team that lacks cohesion and doesn’t seem to have fun while playing football.

What Effects Can This Have?

This allows for negative talk, shouting at other players and as a result leaves the victims of such verbal abuse lacking confidence, lacking composure and can even lead to leaving the team. How do I know this? Because these are the very same emotions that went through me for about 5 minutes, and it was only during that 5 minutes that I played mediocre football. I honestly thought about leaving this team, because Premier League or not, I refuse to play with a team that plays so seriously and puts one another down. You just can’t play like that. Yes you have to be serious about playing your best, but you play your best when you’re having fun.

The Ronaldinho Smile

Ronaldinho is a good example of having fun while playing the best football of your life. I hardly see him go on without a smile on his face because he loves playing football. If you ever feel as though you are being pressured by others to play serious football, make sure that you don’t give in to them. Yes be aware of the team and play your best, but play with an open mind and heart towards the fun you want to be having with that ball. Only then can you really play as well as the greatest player in the world, Ronaldinho.

Pictures are © Getty Images

I’m sure many of you have seen the Joga Benito clips and the one I want to talk about today is the one with Ronaldinho featured as a young child playing for Gremio in Porto Alegre. This happens to be my favourite of all the Joga Benito clips that Nike have pulled out. When you watch the video, Manchester United great, Eric Cantona says:

Now, something I’ve found to remind you of how it should be. When you were a kid it was easy, you were not afraid to try… to dare. You do it just because you liked it. So my advice to you is, never grow up my friends.

I actually see some good advice in Cantona’s little blurb. As you watch Ronaldinho obliterate the entire team (which is of course staged, but I actually don’t think it is impossible to do) the words of Cantona seem to ring into my ears, especially when the younger Ronaldinho tried all these unorthodox things on the football court. This brings me to the point of this post.

Never Be Afraid To Try Anything

Given the right place and the right time of course. Let’s take me for example. The other day at football training, I received a ball from a team mate who send it behind my feet and I needed to get it back. Now it would’ve been easy for me to just stop, turn around and stick my leg out and control with the inside of my foot. But no, I wanted to try something. So while looking up to maintain the illusion that I had nothing to do with the ball, I didn’t turn around and stuck my foot out behind me, visualising the ball would flick forward if it hit the front of the boot. Sure enough it hit the boot and had the desired effect, but the power on the pass was too high so the ball went in front of me and out of my control. If that were a game, the thought of trying that wouldn’t have gone through my mind unless I practised it vigorously.

What Can We Learn Here

Firstly, it worked to an extent and that is something that I could work on in my own time and incorporate it into my game if I wanted. Secondly, I tried this at the right place and the right time. Training is predominately the best place to try out something you usually wouldn’t do in a real game. So take young Ronaldinho as an example. Don’t ever be afraid to try anything that you think will help out a certain situation you might be in. And don’t pay any attention to those who say “What do you think you’re doing?”. You just tell them, it’s better than trying that during a game isn’t it? It keeps them quiet everytime for me

I get asked this question all the time and it becomes a great discussion point everytime I go to football training. Is it good or bad to be going to the gym while you are playing football for a team and even more importantly, how does it affect your game? My answer everytime is pretty much:

It depends on how you like to play. Do you like a very fast non-contact game or do you rather a slightly slower but physically demanding game of football on your behalf?

I’m going to tell you now that Ronaldinho has a great balance of both strength and speed. He has enough of both to be a real threat on the field and that is why you and I call him to be the very best player in the world because he is like a well oiled machine.

So What Does This Mean For Me?

What I’m trying to say here is that if you decide that you would like to bulk up for the ladies and for yourself, be prepared to reap the effects. Naturally you will get slower than what you already are because as you put on muscle, that means the more weight that your legs need to carry. So therefore, you will lack the speed and finesse that someone like Cristiano Ronaldo possesses. He hardly gets into a physical encounter with his opponents doesn’t he, because he depends solely on his speed and flair to get past defenders.

Now Don’t Discount Going To The Gym Just Yet

Let’s take the situation described above and see how not going to the gym will affect him. Take note that if he is trying to hold off a defender who has him locked into the corner of the field, the chances are Ronaldo will come out second best because he lacks the strength to keep a defender off his back. What does this mean for you? It means that id you go to the gym while you play, be prepared to be physically ready to win the ball off your opposition and manoeuvre your way through the defence using your body weight. Fondly enough, Ronaldo plays in the English Premier League, one of the most physically demanding leagues on the planet, where using you body weight and strength to get past defenders and keep strikers at bay is the key to winning.

So Which One Is Worth Pursuing?

Both. You will need the best of both worlds to do well in the future. As I outlined above, Ronaldinho possesses both strength and speed which is a deadly combination to have. When you have these two attributes, that makes for a hard time for the defender to take the ball off you and possession of the ball increases as a result. To finish off, I am going to leave you with a story of a friend of mine who decided to hit the gym full-time and gave football a rest. When he was skinnier, he was lighting fast along the field, getting past defenders with ease and speed. However, when backed up, would lose the ball due to the lack of strength he had. He then decided to start going to the gym meticulously to gain weight and strength. Sure enough, after a year and a half, he became a huge powerhouse. Now as I watched him play a few things were instantly noticeable:

• He was much slower than before
• He relied on his body weight to keep the ball at his feet
• He relied on his size to keep defenders from access to the ball

Do you want to play this way? He now has to work on his speed, and I’m glad to say is coming along well. I personally play like Ronaldinho, in the sense that I use both my speed and strength. This is I believe the way to go. So go to the gym but in moderation, that is if you want to be a great player like Ronaldinho and the only girlfriend you ever want to have is the game of football. If you only play football for fun, I recommend you go ahead and gym it more often, for some real girls

So I finally received my Barcelona FC jersey today in the mail. I talked about this purchase the other day in another post and I wasn’t surprised to see the quality of material that it possessed, good but fake. As a matter a fact I am wearing it right now as I type this post and may I say that it is damn comfortable. When I first saw it I was thinking, “Please God, let it be the right size”, because in all honesty it looked really small for me plus I’m a pretty tall and big guy so I was worried a bit. Luckily when I put it on, it was all good, perfect fit. Here are some pictures that I took for you to compare.

Overall I have to say that I am pleased with the purchase considering I payed around $30 including delivery. It’s not great considering it’s not real, but it is good enough for the time being because I don’t have one of them money trees