Are we getting the most out of our practices?

The quickest way to master technical skills is through thousands of hours of deliberate practice, some say it takes ten thousand hours. If practice is not deliberate it will take even longer to master the skills.

Deliberate practice is performed specifically to improve the skill and not just going through the motions. Deliberate practice also requires intense focus and effort and is not inherently enjoyable. Let's take a look at what deliberate practice looks like to master soccer techniques and then compare that to ourselves so we can start becoming deliberate in our practices.

Dribbling

Here is a clip of a professional soccer player Matt Sheldon practicing the single-foot fast dribble with one touch for each step. Notice how fast he is moving and well he controls his dribble through the middle of the lane. There is good technique- one touch with outside of foot on the ball for each step, head up, accurate ball control, and high urgency/speed. He is trying to improve his skill not just do the skill through focus and effort.

Here is what our dribbling practice looks like. Are we just dribbling or are we trying to improve our dribbling skills? I see some players talking while dribbling, this is not effort and focus that deliberate practice requires.

Passing

Here is Matt again with his wall pass workout. Notice he says, "with just my right foot I'm going to do about 200 passes and after that I'm going to go to my left foot and do the same exact thing".

Here are our players practicing passing. What evidence do you see of deliberate practice? What evidence do you see of non-deliberate practice?

To be sure, deliberate practice is not required to get better, but it sure will speed up our mastery. Take a look at our passing practice three years ago.

In the end, the most important thing to consider about practicing is what you want to get out of it. If you don't want much then deliberate practice is not necessary. If you want to master your skills in the shortest amount of time then deliberate practice is necessary. Either way, deliberate practice or not, it will take years and decades to master soccer techniques.