Life and Lessons...from soccer?!?!?

When I was inquiring about good books to read over the break, one of my friends suggested “Wenger – My Life and Lessons in Red and White”. It is a biography from the famous coach of Arsenal (Premier League soccer club for those of you, like me, who are not soccer/football experts) – Arsene Wenger. Even though no one would ever mistake me for being a “soccer guy”, I read (and truly enjoyed) the whole book took away some great quotes and perspectives to share.

“…life is a journey punctuated with afflictions that help us progress with our fears, our inner moods and emotions.” – great idea to focus on the JOURNEY versus the goal. We all get caught up in the day-to-day challenges we are facing and struggle to see the final goal we are trying to reach. Instead, I love the idea of focusing on the present and focusing on how much more important the journey is – even while you are in the middle of it still.

“The coach must speak to the child within each player, to the adolescent he was and the adult he is now.” – as children, we are all playing a game for fun with our friends. That perspective is still important to maintain as an adult. When we grow to our adolescent phase, we better understand our passion for the game and can start to see the potential the game has across broader aspects of our lives. The adult understands they need to perform in a specific role as a player…but should never lose that sense of fun they started with as a child!

Another section I truly enjoyed was Arsene’s perspective on the various training stages everyone goes through – regardless of the sport. “The earliest years (5-12 years of age) should be focused on developing the technique. Then understand how the player is developing physically in the 12-16 range. Once those two are synched up, the next focus is the improvement of their mental resiliency in the 17-19 range. Finally, as they grow to become young adults in the 19-22 range, focus on growing their intelligence and motivation.” Such a great perspective to adapt your coaching of others to what’s most important to the players at that time.

“Passing the ball is communicating with another person…it’s an act of intelligence and generosity, what I call technical empathy” – my previous article spoke about the idea of empathy. So, I greatly appreciate the idea here that one needs to be very aware of what’s important to another person on the field in order to effectively pass the ball to their fellow teammate.

Whenever Arsene moved to coach a new club, he dealt with many skeptics along the way. We all run into people who question our abilities and doubt our opinions. And in some cases, this might lead us to lose confidence in ourselves. His credo was great – “I would fight the skepticism with the power of my convictions, my ideas, my capacity to adapt to the team and to get the best of them.” 

The next quote is centered around his view of great athletes. But I feel as if this comment applies to anyone who is working hard to accomplish most anything at any level, regardless of whether they are in a sport or science or art or music or technology or something else – “Great xxxxx's are built on a mix of passion, talent, merit and investment”. No one relies only upon talent. They must truly enjoy what they are doing and continue to invest in training, practice, mental toughness, physical well-being, etc. Fabulous people find the right mix of skills and capabilities to be successful in their field.

Finally, the last quote I will share is one of my favorites from the whole book…and it applies to 100% of everyone and anyone. As we close out 2020 and move into a great new year of 2021, I hope you ALL can follow this advice – “Retain your childlike soul and never lose sight of your dreams”.