Has anyone ever considered where football talent comes from?
Many pundits, experts, and coaches merely look towards to God or Genetics.
I find it hilarious that people are so quick to think that these things out of reach by “a mere mortal” and that those we call naturally talented are simply lucky.
People ignore the 18 years of childhood that went into creating that athletic specimen we call a “talent”.
People don’t realize that all those years as a toddler on the playground is what helps set the foundations for elite movement capabilities.
That somehow the baby that was crawling everywhere barefoot is more athletic than the baby stuck behind an iPad…
You see talent is built into all of us from birth.
But for one reason or another, most of us lose touch with it…
That Talent must be fostered, nurtured, and developed throughout childhood or else your brain will assume you don’t need it and will reassign resources to whatever else it thinks you need more… based on what YOU are doing.
And this window to build talent unconsciously only lasts for a short time of our lives.
After you turn 18, it gets harder and harder to rewire your athleticism unconsciously.
For some it can be even younger at 16 or even 14.
I see many players come to me at 15 years old already with an injury list unheard of 20 or 30 years ago.
And sadly we see even Top Football Clubs destroying world class talent in front of our eyes.
Arda Guler now injured for a third time.
Jack Wilshere’s career destroyed with injury.
Ansu Fati playing at Brighton.
And even today, Gavi with a potentially torn ACL.
If world-class talents are being destroyed with the most “elite” methods at billionaire dollar clubs, do you think lesser talents stand a chance? Do you think big clubs have any idea what they’re doing?
The truth is they are just as far behind as the rest of us.
And if you are well-read, you’ll know that innovation always and must come from the outside.
It must disrupt what is “normal” and move forward the current paradigm.
So what can you do?
You can realize that muscle-based gym methods is actually the opposite of elite athleticism.
You can conclude that the pain itself is not the cause of the issue but rather a clue, and that numbing the pain away with blood flow, pills, surgeries, and other symptom-based recovery methods will only create more issues in the long run.
A player like Arda Guler came to Real Madrid. He was skinny, young, fascial-driven, and all the other pieces of natural talent we talk about. He had an “unfortunate” contact injury (which could have been avoided) and was thrown down into the cycle of wack-a-mole therapy.
They stuff him with pills, injections, and supplements to numb away the pain. The put him in the gym to “toughen” him up and build some muscle. They do quick-fix surgery to get him back sooner.
And then “out of nowhere” he has “random” soft-tissue injuries that he’s never experienced before in his career.
Now these non-athletes (doctors and physios) have mettled with his athleticism like a baby with a machine gun and caused more harm than there was in the first place.
I can only pray he figures this out on his own and realizes that doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.
We are here when he’s ready to get back to his old self.
… and so how can YOU learn from his struggles?
The answer is to become conscious to your talent.
To wake up and take back what is yours.
To build yourself into such a resolute, rugged, and resourceful footballer that your body, mind, and spirit is simply unbreakable.
Take notes on the below:
