BEATING THE OFFSIDE TRAP!

I am a soccer fan. Over the years I have learnt a lot from simply watching what soccer players do their thing on and off the field. I have come to learn about things such as off the ball movements that players make to get themselves in a position where they can be passed the ball. I have written on the art of positioning and how I believe that same art can be used in our own lives and careers.

Lately what has caught my attention is what they call the offside trap. This is a defensive manoeuvre whereby the defenders of the team position themselves in such a way that renders the attacking players of the other team offside and as such useless to the rest of their team. According to Jenn Eyer, a player is offside if he is closer to the goal line than the second to last defender (the goalkeeper is usually the last defender). This means that a player will have to be in an offensive position, past the defensive line and in a position to go one on one with the goalkeeper when the ball is played or passed to him. A player is offside the moment the ball is passed to them or the moment they touch the ball. Defenders practice and some have nearly perfected the art. Attacking players have also had to learn to beat the offside trap.  They have learned to time their runs with the precision of a fraction of a second and as such beating the offside trap. The key to beating the offside is to be quick but not in a rush. It requires you to be patient enough to wait until the last split second before making your move. Beating the offside trap is an art in itself; one which very few players ever master. Most either move much too early, whilst others much too late to actually get to the ball on time.

This is indeed the case with most players even off the field too. Some move to a new club much too soon, whilst others move too late. This is the struggle a lot of young players with a budding career have; they are not sure when to move and also where to move to. If you speak to any soccer fan they can give an account of a player they believe either moved too soon to a new club or too late. Others can even give an account of a player they believe, even though the timing was right, the player moved to the wrong club. This is because when the player arrived at that new club their career floundered; they never reached higher heights or they simply could not fit in at this new club. There are many reasons why they may not have succeeded; the coach may not have been able to adequately use the player or the team’s way of playing simply did not suit this particular player.

This happens every season and many of us see it, talk about it but it never occurs to us how that may very well be us one day. We do not think that we could be the ones who could make our move to a new job too soon or too late. We do not consider that we may be the ones who one day may make the wrong career move which could go on to shape the rest of our professional careers. It is a pity that we only ever hear of the players in the top positions who ended up not succeeding after a move to a new company. We do not hear about the junior accountant who left KPMG to join PWC and did not fit well in that new environment. Where he wanted his career to go could not be fulfilled at the new company. We never hear of these stories so we do not believe it happens nor do we consider the effect it has on the young accountant’s future prospects.

Whether it is football, being an accountant or engineer, we have to learn to beat the offside trap. We have to learn to be quick but not in a rush. We must learn to read the game and also those we are playing with. Sometimes our fellow players can be our best source of advice. When the budding Brazilian soccer star Neymar Jnr was set for his move to a big club he had two of the best Real Madrid and Barcelona eying him. With the advice of fellow Brazilian Dani Alves he chose to move to Barcelona as opposed to Real Madrid. Today he is a part of the infamous trio which include Lionel Messi and Luis Saurez. One does wonder how different his career could have been had chosen to go to Madrid as opposed to Barcelona. Would his career have gone on to be as good as it is today? We may never know.

Having people who have been in the game much longer than you there to advise you on certain matters and also to mentor you could be one of the best assets a young professional could ever have. The opportunities are endless. Choosing the right ones that will improve you and help you reach your goals is no easy task. A wise man once said “in the multitude of councillors purposes are established.” Consider you current batch of councillors, how many of them really have the expertise you need to really help you make the right decisions? Most of our councillors are simply friends who are just as clueless as we are but they will always have an opinion. If you are going to beat the offside trap in your own career and purpose you need people who can really help you read the game and help you make those timely moves and at the right time. In order to that you may have to remove a few of your friends from your list of councillors and add some real expertise in this department.

Beating the offside trap becomes more difficult as you begin to play against formidable opponents. The higher up the ladder you go the more difficult it is to know where to move and when to stay. It is more difficult to know where to move to next. It is for this reason that very few do extremely well at the very top of any industry. It requires skill and a little luck at times to really thrive at this level.

I believe we need many more young people playing at this level of the game but to do that we need our experienced players taking them under their wing and teaching them the ropes.