Striker is Not Just About Scoring Goals!

by Luigi
(Inwood, NY)

Although I can play in any offensive soccer position, I still consider the second striker as the most appropriate position for me. To perform well on this position you will need a lot of endurance and speed. You also need to be a very complete player.

I've played in youth division for 2 soccer clubs and I must say that I hate central backs. They would always kick me, push me, and even punch me! The worst thing is that I can’t do anything. However, the best revenge is when I score a goal.

You should see their faces he he :-) All forwards know the importance of scoring. Nevertheless, a forward has to do much more than that. I used to play as striker and seriously I never wanted to run without the ball.

So I used to "fool around" and waited for a teammate to pass me the ball. However, one day the coach explained to me that soccer is not just about scoring goals. He explained for me that helping your teammates, running without ball and encouraging teammates that makes mistakes was much more important than scoring goals.

I felt bad because I realized that I wasn’t following any of these things. I realized that I need to change my mind and start to help my team in defense, run a lot more without ball and encourage my teammates when they make mistakes.

By doing this I was able to improve my game and that's how I made it to the youth divisions. I believe that no matter which position you are playing at, you should be able to learn something useful from this story.