STICKING TO YOUR ROUTINE IS VITAL
THE impact of Covid-19 has been considerable – probably the understatement of 2020 and 2021 put together! The world of football that we love, sometimes hate, and mostly obsess about, has, like many other industries, taken a big hit. The decision that the National League should continue but that North and South should not, has caused a massive amount of debate. No doubt, some very long nights have been spent pondering how this might affect owners, fans, players, staff, and community as a whole. The town or city’s football club is usually at the heart of everything. It’s the talking point, the good the bad and the ugly. It’s the reason people can bond in a workplace and what so many look forward to at the end of the week. When I think about the players and staff at those clubs, there is normally only one consistent. We do it because there is a game at the end of the week, and the chance to get three points. Now that this has been taken away, what now? For fans, it’s a big blow of course, but maybe there is a secondary team to follow – a Premier League team who can at least fill 90 minutes on one day of the week and offer that platform to celebrate, or air any grievances. For staff and players though, it’s a case of having to keep fit and focused. Obviously, next season is such a long way ahead that there has to be a downtime period. Perhaps it’s a time where a player can focus on the day job, on the family, or maybe even enterprise into something completely different with his ‘free’ time. I know a couple of lads who are committing to business ideas, some who are trying to upskill and take further education. Others are simply loving the fact that they can have a long period of rest. Starting a business at any time is tough but during this lockdown it is definitely about being creative. Setting up a website selling T-shirts, writing a food blog, becoming a Tik-Tok star, whatever the passion is, then my advice would be to go for it as long as it doesn’t detract from what actually pays your wages, football. If it is a positive distraction then all the better.
Edgy
For players coming to the end of contracts, I have a massive amount of sympathy and understanding. My advice would be not to beat yourself up, these are unprecedented times and nothing has prepared any of us for this period. Being persistent and adaptable is probably all you can do, whether that’s getting a new club or a new contract or retraining to earn money doing something else. The only thing you can control is you, and once you feel the mind and body has had the required rest, keeping a routine of fitness, both aerobic, and upper and lower body strength is absolutely vital. I’m probably teaching people to suck eggs here but maybe it’s a change in the normal routine. Whether it be alternating days or times, or different types of fitness, it’s about having a goal, having that routine, a bit of a mission. This is a proven tactic to keep focused and keep healthy in the long term. I still become edgy if I haven’t done a weight session or a run for a couple of days – I have currently gone a week so my anger levels are creeping up to critical! I know I’m not on my own there, maybe it’s the need for a release of sorts. For any young player starting out and fearing there are or will be no takers or clubs, I would focus on the level you feel could at least give you a chance in pre-season. Be relentless with it, go in on trial, play for free for a while, do whatever it takes to get that size 9 in the door and prove that you can add value to their team or club. In the meantime, it’s about finding a pitch and getting on a ball. If you haven’t got any weights then do a couple of hundred press-ups a day, squat thrusts, burpees, whatever it takes to keep strong. There is value connecting with old mates, and ex-colleagues. Not only to discuss each other lives and situations and have someone to bounce off, but also to do the ‘thing’ that most of us are very self-conscious of trying, networking! Players who want to go into different careers have to network, to show people they have the transferable skills, gained over years of playing and training, that can be adapted into any working environment. I really believe that ex-players, young or old, have so much to give, so much leadership and discipline, so much resilience. It probably still hasn’t been talked about enough when a player faces the inevitable hundred- foot brick wall as I call it.
Ambitions
What now? What can I do? How do I do it? The answer is you can do a lot, but you have to throw yourself out there and swallow the fear and pride that might exist and smash down a few doors into the bargain. What’s the worst that can happen? As for managers, it’s hard to determine what they do in that downtime period. It really is unprecedented times for them and sitting around twiddling their thumbs is not an option – that is alien to their day-to-day life. Watching hundreds of games is, obviously, par for the course in their job, but the time could still be used wisely developing yourself more, whether that be through courses or programmes, but mainly re-focusing on what the team needs and what all of your ambitions are. It’s clearly a great time to plan and to maybe build a stronger culture so that when you return you have those same goals and values. Whatever the age, whatever the stage and whatever part you have to play in this game we all love, my advice would be this...keep believing, keep focused and, more importantly, keep a routine.