Player Development - What elite players do in the offseason that average players don't, from someone who has seen both sides...

The offseason can, in my opinion, be one of the most important times of the year for athletes. You may have just had a great year... this is the time to compound on your results and build momentum into the next season. You may have had a rough year... this is the time to work on your weaknesses, your confidence, and foster an environment for a huge comeback season.

The offseason is also a great opportunity for athletes to finally work on their own schedules and develop parts of their game where they maybe just didn't have the time to spend on during season. What I want to get into with this post is the difference between elite and average players in their approach to offseason.

Right away, I think the most obvious point to start with is who actually trains during offseason. Average players will often view this time as a break from soccer while elite players see this as an opportunity to get a leg up on their competition (The best way to relate this to the real world are college students who take the summer off versus college students who get internships). Both sets of players take a break (your body needs a break and it shouldn't be encouraged to train at a high level all summer / offseason without one), but the elite player understands that this is a period of deliberate rest which must be followed by a real plan of action to improve. What I noticed the most from my time in football was that the elite players would come back almost completely different players. Their fitness would already be excellent, their weaknesses from last season would be noticeably better, their general ability would be higher than those around them. These players came into preseason looking like they were in the middle of the most competitive period of the season. One player who is a great example of this is Ronaldo... he is a player who takes every offseason as seriously as the season itself which is why he is still playing and still competing at a high level.

Another thing that separates elite players from average players in offseason is their recovery practices. Elite players understand that they need to solidify their offseason gains through active recovery (great sleep, stretching, eating healthy, etc.) while average players will still train, but will go home after training and eat junk food, or get terrible sleep, or just sit down without doing any movement or stretching. You are not just working on your athletic weaknesses, but also strengthening habits which will help you perform at your highest level next season. Recovery is almost just as important as the training itself. Elite players are on top of this while average players tend to slip up here.

Lastly, elite players find other ways to improve in the offseason outside of the field. This can come through things like intentional game analysis (Ex: following a certain players full 90 minute game and analyzing what they're doing well / what they're struggling with, then finding ways to adapt this information to you as a player and your own development - I was a 10, so I used to watch players like Bruno Fernandes and Prime Dele Alli (so unfortunate what's happened to his career) and do this exact format). This can also come from other things like analyzing your own gameplay from last season, studying your opponents for next season, or even watching tactical breakdowns of how to play in certain formations / against certain formations to give you more of a coaching perspective on the game. There's also of course the importance of offseason gym work, and having a structured plan for this is essential.

The players who arrive at pre-season faster, stronger, technically sharper, and mentally refreshed don't get there by accident. They usually just make a decision in the first week of the off-season that most of their peers did not make, and they stick with it. Consistency is everything for anything you do.

With offseason coming up, I'm curious what your plans are. If you're a coach or an athlete, we'd love to hear from you and get your take on this.