What Does It Take to Become a Strong and Successful Soccer Player?
Any sport, for that matter, will require all these four core elements. Technical skills, for example, are needed in order for you to play proficiently in the field. The technical skills you need in soccer include dribbling, passing, receiving, heading, juggling, tackling, goalkeeping, finishing and scoring the ball. Overall, you can summarize it as having the ability to control the ball which is very important. This is because in this sport the team who has possession of the ball always has the edge to score. If you don't know how to handle the ball expertly, your opponents will always have the chance to steal it away from you and the rest of the components are then rendered useless.
Tactical ability means that you know how to strategize in-game. For young players, usually strategies are handed out by coaches in formations that they need to memorize and will then be called out in the field. While there may be tactics that can be followed all the time, you need to be able to exercise your own judgment, too. You should be able to take notice of the shortcomings of the other team and use that to your advantage. Exploiting the weakness of your opponents and pointing that out to your teammates is a superior ability that distinguishes you from the rest of your team.
Just like any other sport, physical fitness is very important. Soccer is a physically-exhausting game. You need the endurance in order to survive the length of the game. Aside from this, you must be able to show agility, speed and strength to help you overcome your opponents.
Lastly, you must have a formidable emotional strength. When you are in a competition, you are always subjected to the pressures of winning. When the possibility of losing is looming, you need to be able to respond calmly so that you can still concentrate on fighting bravely. It is also very easy to become frustrated in the game or be goaded into anger by your competitors, thus, a stable and calm mind is necessary so that you don't do anything reckless that can hurt your career as a strong soccer player in the future.