Last night I had the great privilege of sitting down with my team mates in a small room and watching our games for this season. Previous to that, I was supposed to attend training, however, I never received a text message or a call letting me know we didn’t have any training. It was really frustrating to go all hyped up for training to find the field was totally closed down, no lights, just darkness. But with a quick call to the manager, off we went and gathered in a little room at the local school to watch some past games. We of course had some munchies, dip and drink to make the night more merrier, but it did get me thinking about the diet we needed to follow, but nights like this warranted some junk food.

Don’t Hold Back With Your Criticism

This was something I learned last night when watching these tapes. It is constructive criticism which helps others realise what they are doing wrong on the field and you in turn will have to take some your way. This is what these sessions are all about. You watch the plays, the manager and coach will tell you what is being done wrong and if you happen to be at fault, they will highlight something that will need to change in a certain situation, whether that means falling back or committing to a challenge for the ball.

You See It In The Movies

In particular you see it in NFL Football movies. The biggest one that comes to mind is The Longest Yard with Adam Sandler starring as the quarter back. Another one that comes to mind is Water Boy also starring Adam Sandler where the coach sits down and goes through old games that happened the previous year, commentating on all the faults that the team does in one play. Quite funny, but this is a good example of the importance looking back on the past games you’ve played is important. If your games aren’t recorded onto video, do something about it, I’m sure someone has a camcorder, so use it and you might just tactically win your next game.

I recently received the July 07 Edition of the Ronaldinho Online Magazine which you can register for at the official Ronaldinho Gaucho website. Other than the usual competitions and prize draws, the magazine featured something new this time. It had advertised the fact that there have been new and fresh TV spots that have never been seen before in Spain. Once you click on the image, you are taken to this page where is showcases all the TV spots Ronaldinho has done so far.

Back To The TV Spots

Seeing Trident Gum and Gatorade surprised me because they are companies I wasn’t aware had their hand in the Ronaldinho jar, but I guess there is a little Ronaldinho to go around to everyone. On the actual TV Spot page, my favourite one would have to be the first video you see, the Pepsi advertisement where Ronaldinho and Co are in Bavaria. The only reason it’s my favourite one is because you see the Bavarian girls messing around with Ron’s hair. The Gatorade advertisement is also very good and is fresh because you see the 10R boots on Ronaldinho’s feet. Overall, I had already seen half of the videos on that first page, but happy to see the new stuff. What I did notice was the sheer amount of commercials he’s done.

No Wonder He’s More Valuable Than Beckham

That page alone shows you how many different companies have sponsored him and given him big bucks to feature with their product. I mean, Ronaldinho’s biggest fan is probably Nike who are laughing all the way to the bank with his 10R clothing line, not to mention the lovely 10R football boots. A couple of months back, I did a post on the Forbes Top 10 Most Valuable Footballers, so that would be a good one to go back to and read up, because I do a in-detail look at how Ronaldinho tops the list when it comes to making his dough.

In the Be Like Ronaldinho book I teach the reader how to do various tricks and techniques to get past defenders, however, many footballers I know are proficient tricksters, but still lack that skill of ball control and speed when doing these techniques. This is a big mistake many footballers make, that is why they need to master their ball control and speed on the ball before they can accurately and effectively get past defenders using Ronaldinho style tricks and techniques. Now you’d think that I’m doing a plug for the book, but bear with me here as I explain what I’m getting at. The book teaches you how to develop the following before you even get to the tricks section:

• Ball Control
• Balance
• Agility
• Running With The Ball

So this means before you even think about addressing your ‘want’ of being able to do tricks, you need to make sure the skills I have listed above are at least above average.

Don’t Get Too Fancy

So I hope this helps you understand that being able to pull off these tricks does not necessarily make you a great football player, but rather an entertainer. But don’t get too fancy, especially in a game, because that is where your team counts on you to deliver the goods when you’re playing. I can just remember all the times I’ve screwed up trying to do some kind of fancy move and as a result I’ve let the whole team down. You don’t want that kind of incident haunting you for the rest of the week, believe me on that one. Only do them when it comes natural to you, and that means don’t over do it. When an opportunity comes along to do a Step Over and sprint, much like Cristiano Ronaldo, then go right ahead and if the opportunity comes to leave a defender staring at you like a lemon while you execute an Elastico, then go for it. Just as long as you do it in the right place at the right time.