How the m-station is Utilized by Denmark’s Leading Soccer Academy
The m-station is used in the daily training routine of 2014-2015 Danish Superliga soccer champion FC Midtjylland. We spoke with the club’s ‘goal-box’ coach, Peter Johanesson, regarding the use of the m-station soccer rebounder at the youth academy and at the Superliga level.
The Jutlandic Heath, a Danish term used to describe a rather desolate landscape in Jutland, is home to FC Midtjylland, one of the leading soccer clubs in Denmark. In 2015, the club won its first domestic league title, finishing ahead of FC Copenhagen. In the following UEFA Europa League campaign, the club knocked out Premier League club Southampton before beating none other than Manchester United in Herning. None of this resulted from luck or star-player investments; it was the result of young players developed through the youth academy.
IT’S ABOUT OPTIMAL CONDITIONS
FC Midtjylland’s renowned youth academy was formed back in 2004, and since then, multiple players from the academy have made their way to the first team. The sole focus of the academy is to develop and enhance young players’ skills to prepare the players for the first team. We spoke with coach, Peter Johanesson, about how the m-station soccer rebounder contributes to this goal. Johanesson had this to say:
“To us, it’s about providing the players with optimal equipment. Without the m-station soccer rebounders, we would not have the right conditions for developing our players the way we want to.”
THE M-STATION FOR THE FIRST TEAM AND THE YOUTH ACADEMY
“Our academy players live right next to the artificial turf, so when they want to train individually they don’t have to go that far. Here, they’ll utilize the m-station rebounder to improve their first touch as well as their turns on their own.”
Johanesson emphasizes that the m-station is an effective device for training without other players or coaches around you. Continuous development is crucial for young players, so it is important that the players have the opportunity to train and improve on their own. The m-station offers young players that opportunity.
“The academy players utilize the m-station for improving on their own. They improve their movements and touches without having coaches next to them all the time. The kids are smart. They know what they have to do to improve.”
Johanesson has successfully used the m-station soccer rebounder to improve players’ ability to react faster on through-balls that carry great pace and unconventional movement.
“I use [the m-station rebounder] a lot during training sessions with the Superliga first team to help the players improve in 1v1 situations. The m-station can be used to make very specific passes, and we utilize the device to full effect by setting it up with an automatic ball launcher. The combination of those two devices is amazingly educating, because we can challenge the players even more and sharpen their reflexes. With the m-station and the ball launcher, we are able to create exercises suited for players at the on top level.”
According to Johanesson, the m-station has become indispensable to FC Midtjylland’s daily training sessions and concludes:
“Our players have developed immensely during their individual trainings thanks to [the] m-station, and for our part, there is no doubt that we will continue to use the device. We knew we wanted it, because it is simply that good”
If you have any questions about the FC Midtjylland use case or if you want to know how your soccer club can benefit from training with the m-station, please get directly in touch with our Marketing Manager, Simon Secher, at simon@muninsports.com.
Experience in-game situations with the m-station rebounder
Everyone who has played soccer knows that there is a major difference between practice and real games. During training and practice, everything is a bit slower, there is less adrenalin running through your body, and you do not commit to tackles as you would in a match. In other words, both your mind and your body are engaged differently.
Famous YouTuber Jorge Perez, the owner of the channel SoccerMachineTV, is known to provide great examples of how to properly do soccer exercises to improve certain aspects of your game. To Jorge, tools and devices for individual training are very important for those who want to improve continuously, as most players only practice with teams for a couple of hours each week. One of those tools is a soccer rebounder:
“One of the most valuable tools you can have other than having a soccer ball is a rebounder. It really opens up the possibilities as to what you can do: Receiving the ball and taking that first touch, which is a lot of what soccer is.”
THE REBOUND IS AMAZING!
Naturally, since soccer is the biggest sport in the world, the market for soccer equipment and soccer rebounders is very extensive – Jorge knows a great deal about this:
“There are other rebounders in the market but the m-station really stood out to me!”
“The first thing that we have to address is the rebound, the actual bounce of the m-station rebounder. It’s amazing! It’s really something else. I’ve tried different rebounders, but normally when you hit the ball and it comes back it comes back at a slower pace. With the m-station, there’s virtually no loss of force. The pace that you send the ball, that’s how you’re going to get it.”
According to Jorge, with the m-station and the greater rebound pace it provides, practice becomes like a real game, because you are forced to think and react faster. The only way to improve is by continuously challenging yourself, and with its extraordinary rebound pace, the m-station soccer rebounder makes sure that you do just that.
“With the m-station, the soccer ball can come back pretty aggressively, which is actually a really good thing if you’re trying to practice for a game situation, because in a game you are not going to get the ball soft; you’re going to get the ball at a pace and everything moves a lot quicker.”
ADJUSTABLE, MULTIPURPOSE DEVICE
The m-station soccer rebounder allows you to practice every aspect of your game. Whether you are looking to improve your first touch, shooting, turning, or reflexes, the rebounder can be adjusted to serve your every purpose. This is something that Jorge also noticed when using the m-station:
“When you have a rebounder that’s just stationary, the balls are just going to come back in the same way every single time. You’re going to get used to it and really there is not a lot more you can do. With the m-station, you’ve got that straightforward passer, you can do basic flat passes, and then you can adjust and tilt it in different ways. So you can not only practice flat passes, but you can also do a more slanted one and you can do passing back and forth in the air. I’ve been getting a ton of drill ideas!”
Watch some of SoccerMachine’s m-station drills here:
A UNIQUE TOOL THOSE WHO WANT TO PRACTICE ON THEIR OWN
As an adjustable piece of equipment, the m-station soccer rebounder can be utilized in almost any scenario during a daily training session. Regardless of the exercise, the device can be used as a replacement for or in conjunction with coaches and other players. As Jorge says, the device is not only suited for training sessions with the team, but it is also a unique tool for those who want to practice on their own for several hours per day to become better soccer players.
“Overall, the m-station is a great piece of equipment to take your personal training to another level. The m-station is the best training partner and it will be there whenever you need it. The versatility of the rebounder increases the amount of drills you can do by yourself, which I think is valuable for a lot of you out there. It is a very valuable training tool for individuals serious about improving their game.”
Watch Jorge’s full video review of the m-station soccer rebounder here or get directly in touch with our Marketing Manager, Simon Secher, at simon@muninsports.com if you have any questions.
The World’s Best Soccer Coach 2012: “3 things that will make you better”
If you’ve ever watched women’s soccer and thought that it isn’t nearly as exciting as its male equivalent. Read this and think again. Here you will meet the world’s best women’s soccer coach in the year 2012, Pia Sundhage, and she can indeed teach you a thing or two about how to improve as a soccer player. We at Munin Sports met her for at talk about self-training.
Pia Sundhage is one of Sweden’s greatest sports personalities. For more than twenty years she represented the Swedish women’s national soccer team, and won both gold, silver and bronze in the Euros and bronze in the World Cup. The Swede didn’t end her career before 1996 – and an active one at that, in which she also reaped four Swedish championships and four cup titles, and even a short tenure with the Italian club Lazio.
Since then, she has continued her career in the soccer world: Sundhage has fallen in love with the responsibilities of being a coach, a role she has taken up since 1992,first as player-coach and since then as an assistant. Since 2003 she has been the chief coach for multiple Swedish clubs, one American, and also the American and Swedish national teams, both with great success. She has won Olympic gold twice with the American women’s national team, and at the 2016 Games she brought home a Silver medal with her native country.
It’s dangerous to say, but if Pia Sundhage had been a male coach with the same qualifications, she wouldn’t have been a new name to the majority of the people who are reading this. Fortunately, the Swedish coach has had her share of recognition. In 2008 she was named the Female Sports Personality of the Year in Sweden, and she was awarded the Fifa Women’s World Coach of the Year in 2012, a year that also yielded one second place and two third places.
Because, when Pia Sundhage was a young girl back in the 1970s with big dreams about playing soccer, she self-trained every day to fulfill her dream.
-How much you should train depends on a lot of things, but in my case it was every day, seven days a week.
Of course it depends on age and level, but I will say that I, as an aging coach, still find it entertaining to this day! First of all, I like doing things independently. Back in the old days I used a wall, and enjoyed it. And enjoying what you do is the most important things.
It’s important if one wants to stay curious about what one could possibly do with a ball. And it’s not that you have to do it for hours on end. I don’t think so. You gotta enjoy it. Otherwise it will just feel like a chore, and that’s unnecessary.
But you should do it every day, and perhaps decide that the first day it’s gonna be 20 minutes, the second day 25 minutes, and then one hour the day after.
In my opinion it’s fundamental to reach the soccer elite. And if there is one thing I have learnt from my experiences, it is that curiosity should come from yourself, not from what the coach tells you to do, but for instance by looking at the players around you.
As a kid I would try out a lot of things. Try and fail, that’s the way. For me this was the only way to reach the elite level.
Take a good look on the challenge, test yourself, be curious, and imagine the things you can do with the ball. Those were the principles I followed, and also those principles that gave me chance to play as many matches as I did.
Pia Sundhage used to be an assistant manager with the China women’s national team, and here she learned a couple things about self-training that she didn’t in the US or even Sweden. Physique is a central element in those Western countries, whereas the Chinese are devoted to technique.
-In Sweden they talk about whether one is right- or left-footed, but in China, I realized, they aim at technical perfection. When I asked one player whether she uses the left or right foot, she didn’t understand the question, and asked what I meant.
I then asked which foot she felt most comfortable with, and she asked if that even matters. It did to me, so I asked her which foot she would use when taking a free kick, and she just told me it depends on the angle of the kick.
I have never got that kind of answer anywhere else, not even in the US.
And technical skills is something Pia Sundhage wants more of in women’s soccer, and she hopes it will change in the future – for example through self-training.
-One of the reasons I started out with self-training was a lack of coaches – the ones who were available weren’t really competent, so you needed to do something on your own and do it differently, if the goal was to reach the top and get better than the others.
Nowadays there’s a lot of talk about technical players, who compete in the World Cup, Olympics, leagues, and I think it’s obvious that we need to be more calm on the ball. It’s a good expression that I learned in the US.
They (female soccer players, red.) have no problems with their fitness or attitude, but everyone, except maybe for Marta, needs to learn to be calm on the ball. I believe we can do so much more if we improve on a technical level.
And I think it’s interesting, because back in the good old days, every team tended to be very physical. Especially Sweden, but if you take a look on Latin America today, for example Chile, Costa Rica, and the likes, they really seem to be focused on the more technical aspects. And that is important for the women’s development.
So I also hope that self-training will get more common, so we can improve in that aspect. I also think that the rising popularity of women’s soccer will lead to more self-training among girls. When you talk with the managers about this, they will also emphasize the importance of self-training, so it might get better soon.
Technique isn’t the only thing you should work on, though. Pia Sundhage has named three things, that can always make you better, regardless of your level:
-If you think it’s fun and are looking toward taking it to the next level, there are three things that you can always improve while playing soccer.
The first is to win. The desire to keep on winning, and you must win – even when you are competing against yourself. That was important to me when I self-trained.
Second, you must feel that you are able to do much more today than you were yesterday. That means, if you make three good free kicks out of ten the first day, you make four good kicks the next day, and five the day after that. That will inspire you to keep on going.
Lastly, I also think that it helps to self-train in the right environment. If you have a place that is easily accessible, that will make you tie your boots and find your zone, then it’s possible to go on and on and on, and you will definitely improve.
And if you’ve got the right place in mind, but is worried about the possibilities of playing soccer, Pia Sundhage notes the technological advances that have made it possible to use highly portable training equipment such as rebounders that can help you anywhere.
-I am actually happy that there is more gear available today. When I was young, I only had the garage door to play against. But now I actually use some of this training equipment to keep myself fit, since I think running is tiresome.
I like that it’s possible to change the angle (on rebounders), and that the ball will return in many different ways, but also that they will react to the power of your shot. It’s a great advantage. So I’m happy that there’s more stuff out there to inspire and help with self-training.
Pia Sundhage had 146 caps for the Swedish first team and scored 71 goals for her country throughout her career.
“The small – yet significant – difference”
Sjur Lothe is only 16 years old, but he has already represented Norway on the youth national team. This achievement is the result of hard work and dedication; Lothe began self-training at a very young age, and that has since paid off. Here’s his story.
If you ever find yourself driving around the southwestern parts of Norway, there’s a good chance you’ll spot a 16-year-old kid named Sjur Lothe running around with a ball. The young Norwegian spends a lot of time around the ball, both on his own time and at his club, Vard Haugesund.
But it’s on his own time that Sjur Lothe has worked especially hard, and that has paid off with selections to the youth national team. This is quite an achievement for a young lad who plays for a club whose senior team plays in Norway’s third best soccer league.
“I’m absorbed in my self-training. It has been important in my development as a soccer player, especially in terms of technique and ball control. I view the time spent on self-training as “the small difference”—that is, the one thing that separates me from the rest, explains Lothe, who left his childhood club FK Haugar in 2015 to join Vard.
“In the long run, the number of hours spent on self-training is decisive. In my view, that’s where the differences start to show, but determining how many hours you need to spend on self-training is difficult, as there are many factors in play, such as time spent on organized training, and the length, intensity, and quality of your training.
“How often you need to train depends not only on how well trained you already are, but also on the intensity level of your exercises. I’d say that you should spend about 2.5 hours per day on self-training. Earlier, when I was around 11-14 years old, spending lots of time on self-training was my main focus. Back then I would self-train between 18 and 20 hours per week.”
“I would rather practice making 100 passes than 20. The specifics of my training would also vary, but I mostly focused on keeping the ball under control and playing around with it. Now my daily life is busier due to school and team practices, and the time I spend on self-training has decreased. I now focus primarily on quality, awareness, and match-like situations when self-training. I’m very preoccupied with that “small difference” belief. It’s all about executing the 10 additional passes that everyone else neglects.”
A lack of dedication and continuity
The majority of youth players aren’t as diligent as Lothe, though, and that bothers the Vard player.
“Most of the young players I know often hang out with their friends and spend their time on PlayStation or at parties; they prioritize all that over their development as soccer players. That’s something I find unfortunate. What I’ve found to be a key factor in a player’s development is the ability to sacrifice. If you want to become good at something, you must devote time to it. There are so many players on my team who self-train, but I’ve noticed that no one has thoroughly considered exactly what or how they need to improve. Also, my teammates don’t seem to have any continuity in their training. These things are important.”
Fortunately, Sjur Lothe has some advice on how one can get started with self-training.
“What oftens keeps us from self-training is time. Self-training is time-consuming. But it really doesn’t have to be. My advice is to choose one or two things that you want to improve, and then work a little on those things every day. Don’t make 100 passes; make 20. Don’t make 100 crosses; make 20. Don’t dribble 15 times; start out with eight. That’s important if you want to step up the quality of your game and develop better control.”
“There are also certain exercises that are better than others and easier to squeeze into your daily schedule. This is where the m-station enters the picture. Spend about 10 to 30 minutes each day with the m-station. Make a habit of it. Improve a little each day. Make that small difference”
The ambitious Lothe continues:
“In the hours I’ve spent on self-training, I’ve focused on developing better ball control, developing a better first touch, and perfecting my turns. I can now practice moving the ball into the right spaces, and there’s one specific exercise I use for that. You’ll need a second player:”
Step 1: Player 1 starts with the ball (facing the m-station), and Player 2 stands a few meters behind him.
Step 2: Player 1 passes the ball towards the m-station, but before receiving the ball from the rebounder, Player 1 must turn around and face player 2.
Step 3: Player 2 points out whether Player 1 must pass to his right or left, and Player 1 passes the ball in that direction.
“One way to finish this exercise is to have Player 2 target a goal (or the space between two cones) after receiving the pass. Also try to keep the touches to a maximum of two. Later on you can increase the difficulty by playing the ball to the opposite direction of where Player 2 is pointing”, Sjur concludes.
If you ever make your way to Haugesund, be sure to look for Sjur and his m-station, as it’s practically guaranteed he’ll be running around somewhere with his soccer ball. And who knows? Perhaps it won’t be many years before we see Sjur Lothe in the Tippeligaen with FK Haugesund, and maybe even as a member of the Norwegian senior national team.
How to practice turns with the m-station soccer rebounder
How to practice first touches with the m-station soccer rebounder
How to become a better finisher with the m-station soccer rebounder
Marcus Allbäck: “Self-train what you are good at”
Marcus Allbäck is one of the most skilled Swedish forwards of all time. For many years, Allbäck played at a very high level in some of Europe’s biggest leagues, and he participated in several tournaments. Self-training is one of the reasons he was so successful. Now he’s sharing his experiences with us.
Sweden has delivered heaps of world-class forwards over the years. The next big star could be AIK Stockholm’s 17 year old Alexander Isak but for now it’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic who makes the headlines. The Swedish superstar’s name is almost synonymous with Swedish soccer itself, but there was also a time before him. Back then it was Henrik “Henke” Larsson who scored goals in large numbers, first for Celtic, then with FC Barcelona. But there’s a Swede who has represented Sweden in more countries than Larsson has, and who put Swedish football on the world map, and that’s the now retired Marcus Allbäck.
The former Swedish national team player represented Sweden in his final international tournament in 2008, when he traveled to the Euros in Austria and Switzerland with his team. His career was coming to an end, but oh, what a career he had. It didn’t take him to Barcelona, like Henke’s, or Juventus, Manchester United, or PSG, as is the case with Zlatan’s career, but it gave him a chance to prove Sweden’s capability for producing efficient sharpshooters.
With two stints in Danish soccer, one in the Netherlands, one in Germany, one in England and one in Italy, the now 43-year-old Swede is a well-traveled man. At Örgryte IS (in Sweden) he got his early schooling, and at the Dutch SC Heerenveen and the Danish FC Copenhagen Allbäckdeveloped his talent to the fullest. He scored countless goals, but if not for the self-training in addition to his club practices, he probably wouldn’t have done so. The Swede is therefore certain that self-training is a necessity if you want to make it to the top in soccer.
–Self-training, in my view, is an incredibly important part of success. I don’t think anyone has made it to a high level without self-training, he explains without specifying how much effort you should put into it; that depends on oneself and one’s level of ambition.
It’s important to find a good balance. For example, if one has many practices with the club, it’s also important to rest and give the body a break. I recommend doing self-training after normal training, and also once in a while on days when you don’t have club practice. I think it’s important to train both what you’re already good at and the techniques you need to improve.
To me, self-training is something you start at a young age and continue doing throughout your career. The exercises and situations will change with time, but it’s all about what you want to be able to do with a soccer ball. You get to decide how much you want to train and how good you want to become. There are no shortcuts. It’s hard work.
No matter where you live, you can make use of a training tool, such as the m-station soccer rebounder from Munin Sports. And the m-station is a training tool the Swede is quite enthusiastic about.
-I own an m-station, but it’s mostly my son, Rasmus, who uses it. Sometimes we use it together, and we’ll try to hit it with a good strike so we can volley the ball towards the goal. It’s very obvious to me that Rasmus is getting better. I would recommend the m-station. It’s really top notch.
“m-station-time” with Marcus Allbäck and his son!
Train with matches in mind and with teammates
The seasoned Swede would often train game-specific moves, and not only as a young player; he did so all the way through his 21-year career.
–I was a forward, and I wanted to prepare for situations that I felt would emerge in matches. For example, I practiced volleys all the time, and with both feet, not so far from the goal—quite close, actually. I just focused on kicking the ball perfectly with the left and right foot.
To get more out of self-training, it’s a good idea to include teammates. That’s what the Swede did in the Netherlands, where he played for SC Heerenveen.
-I have an example from my time in the Netherlands: We had a Finnish national team player, Mika Nurmela. He played on the right wing, and he would make some fantastic crosses, so after training the two of us and a goalkeeper would stay on the field and practice attacks.
I would make a pass to Mika from outside the box, Mika would run to the sideline and make a cross that I would try to score off of, and the keeper would try to protect the goal, which of course was very difficult since I was the one shooting towards goal, Allbäck says with a grin, and goes on: But in that way, all three of us got some practice.
Self-training with teammates paid off for Allbäck. He scored 25 goals over two seasons, and with an average of about one goal for every two matches, he secured a move to Aston Villa in the English Premier League. With enough practice and hard work, you can also find great success; all you have to do is get down to it and take the initiative to self-train. One way to get started is to talk about self-training with someone on your team.
–Talk to a teammate and try to find an exercise that both of you think is fun. Or talk to an assistant coach or another leader on the team and find out if they might be able to help you out.
You must figure out on your own how to effectively self-train and perform exercises—it all depends on how good you want to be. You can find so much inspiration on the Internet today. The most important thing is that you find something that interests you, and that you feel will make you a better soccer player.
Marcus Allbäck represented Sweden for 9 years. In those years he had 74 national team appearances and scored 30 goals for the national team. Since then, he has been an assistant coach for the Swedish national team. In 2007, he scored 11 Superliga goals for FC Copenhagen in a golden season for the Danish club. He helped his team secure “The Double” and find great success in Europe, where they beat Manchester United 1-0 in a tough match in Parken Stadium—a match in which Allbäck scored the winning goal.
Details, details, details
15-year-old Herman Sjögrell has already experienced multiple of Europe’s biggest clubs at at close quarters, and this is because of his sky-high level of ambition, seriousness and daily self-training sessions.
One of Sweden’s biggest soccer talents is named Herman Sjögrell, and that has not gone unnoticed. The young Swede has been at tryouts in several of Europe’s top clubs, including Tottenham, Manchester City, and AC Milan. Also Danish F.C. Copenhagen has had the midfielder on loan for a youth tournament.
If Sjögrell fulfills the great potential that is obviously recognized around him, he will be able to thank himself for the effort that he has put into the game since he was a very young lad. Because, self-training is a big part of the daily life for the merely 15-year-old Swede.
“I believe that supplementary training is what makes the extra small difference on the field. Without self-training, it’s difficult to reach the top.”
“The team practices will not always make space for the things you need to practice. Self-training does that, and it will also make you focus on your weaknesses and fine-polish the qualities that are essential to you as a player. I think it’s important to prioritize the extra training,” he explains, although he doesn’t reveal how much spare time he leaves out to the supplementary exercises. But he makes it clear that it’s a daily routine.
“For my part, I train every day club practice is off. All kinds of training that benefits my game is important. It has made me the player I am today.”
Demands a greater focus on self-training
Even though Sjögrell is young, he thinks that self-training should be given still greater importance. Especially in Sweden there needs to be a greater effort for the young players – as in the great European clubs.
“I certainly believe that we need to make more time for self-training here in Sweden. The professional clubs in Europe do exactly that, and I think it has something to do with the clubs provide their players with a professional mindset from an early age. They live soccer,” the midfielder explains with a clearly passionate ring to his voice.
But when the clubs in Sweden don’t emphasize self-training enough, you’ve got to do it on your own. For this reason, Herman Sjögrell has also put his mind to living soccer. And the only substantial way to do that is to train durable qualities.
“I practice a lot of different things that will pay off in the long run. That is, technical qualities as a soccer player. For instance I focus on my finishing and ball control – the things that are most important in my position. Details, details, details,” he points out.
Great ambitions takes great seriousness
He currently plays in BK Häcken, but in his former club, Angered MBIK, a few miles north from the Swedish major city Göteborg, he played along Kevin Ackermann, who has been at tryouts with Manchester United. In that way Herman Sjögrell is a part of a quite talented year group.
“Many players from my team have ambitions in the soccer world and self-trains for that reason. To collaborate with friends while training can make it even more fun, but it’s also important that the self-training stays serious.”
One of the ways Sjögrell has improved as a soccer player is by focusing on and realizing his weaknesses. He has also found the easiest way to practice exactly that with the m-station soccer rebounder from Munin Sports, and he advises you to do the same.
“Try to create the best circumstances based on what you already can. For me, training with my m-station is easiest, because I can do it at home. It’s great exercise, it saves me time, and it’s fun,” he explains and goes on:
“I have an m-station, and it helps me with the things I find most important – the technical aspects. I usually practice my first touch, volleys, passes, and to keep the ball in the air.
“Every time I use m-station I am having fun, and I sharpen my technique. There’s a lot to gain from just half an hour of training.”
How to become a better finisher with the m-station soccer rebounder
How to practice turns with the m-station soccer rebounder
How to practice first touches with the m-station soccer rebounder
“I want to be the best version of me!”
It’s important to be focused and goal-oriented when you’re self-training. This is well known to 19-year-old Victor Guldbrandsen, who—after two years in England—has returned to Denmark with a clear vision of what he wants to achieve through self-training.
In August 2014, the then 17-year-old Victor Guldbrandsen substituted the green pitch of Lyngby Boldklub with that of Championship club Ipswich.
Now, the Dane—who has made five appearances for the youth national team—has returned to Denmark after finishing his contract with the English club, and even though the 19-year-old didn’t break into the starting eleven at Ipswich, he developed tremendously as a player. The former Lyngby midfielder focused heavily on self-training during his tenure in England, and with great possibilities, seeing that the English mentality is something wholly different.
“I think the self-training culture is a little different in England. In England you really work towards success, especially when you’re aware that talent isn’t everything. They Young British players know that as long as they fight through, they will become better!”
Set goals for yourself in self-training
When Guldbrandsen left Denmark in 2014, he left on a mission to evolve as a player, and so he chose the club that offered the best development plan. But the lad from Lyngby had his own plans for development, too. Guldbrandsen had a very clear goal to improve in two specific areas, and to reach that goal he utilized self-training:
“I focused on two things: my first touch and my shifts. Three to four times per week after training I went to a touch box for around 20 to 30 minutes and practiced exactly those things.”
“After finishing up, I would take 20 to 30 right and left footed shots to practice my shifts, and I think that has paid off.”
A touch box functions like a rebounder, such as the m-station soccer rebounder from Munin Sports, which can also greatly improve a player’s first touch. Take a look here to see how you can improve your first touch with the m-station:
Take your time and be patient
“Maybe you won’t sense progress much in the beginning, but with time the improvement will start to show. You should be able to see progress after one or two months.”
Guldbrandsen has a very clear idea of what he wants to achieve, and he is aware that his body won’t allow him to train forever. When he is older, he would like to be able to look himself in the mirror and know that he gave his all, and for that reason his motivation to train as much as possible is high.
“The reason I self-train is that I want to be the best possible version of myself. My motivation is rooted in the fact that I want to eventually look back on my time as a soccer player and be sure that I did everything I could to be the best possible version of myself.”
Do you want to improve your first touch? If so, take a step toward your goal and buy the m-station soccer rebounder here
Danish Newcastle player: “Start self-training!”
There are no disadvantages to self-training, says Danish Newcastle talent Elias Fritjof Sørensen, who has had a busy 2016.
In June 2016, Elias Fritjof Sørensen became a Danish U17 champion when his team beat U17 division team Slagelse B&I in a close final in Frederiksberg.
Only one month earlier did Sørensen have his debut with the club’s first team, becoming the youngest player ever to debut for the team. In August 2016, Sørensen joined Newcastle. Altogether it was a very eventful three months for the U17 national team player, who also had his debut with the Danish youth national team during that time.
Sørensen’s skills didn’t come out of nowhere, though, and the talent is now preparing to try his hand at a more serious game of soccer at one of the most storied clubs in England.
Training on one’s own yields results
Self-training in addition to training with his club has helped Sørensen reach this point in his career and it is a central part of his mindset.
“Self-training is really important to improve your game. I self-train a great deal, and I would truly recommend that everybody else with ambition do the same. It will help you get better with the small details you’re working on, even if you only have a few hours every week after your standard practice to self-train.”
The forward netted more than ten goals for HB Køge’s U17 team in the 2015/16 season, and he owes much of that success to his commitment to self-training.
“I spend a few hours self-training every week. Often I’ll practice shooting towards the goal, so it’s my finishes that I have self-practiced the most. For instance, I have focused on finishes after receiving through passes, shots from the edge of the box, and so on.”
Self-training will boost your self-confidence on the field
Elias emphasizes that an increase in self-confidence has also played a huge part in his recent success. When you decide to self-train, you have nothing to lose, says the Newcastle Dane, who only sees positives in getting started with self-training.
“Generally, I self-train to gain some self-confidence and be more courageous when different situtations emerge in a match. My advice is to just get underway with self-training. There’s no negative consequence to it, and you can only improve as a soccer player. You should start out with simple exercises. For instance, just shoot the ball towards the goal. A finish doesn’t have to be complicated, but try to do many different exercises, since a lot of different situations can emerge in a game.”
The m-station will get you started
If you’d like to self-train with someone, but no one’s around to help you out, the m-station from Munin Sports is a great companion for practicing in the yard. The Newcastle player adds:
“I have tried the m-station and think the concept makes perfect sense, not only for serious practices, but also for casual playing with the guys. It will undoubtedly improve your first touch if you raise it as far as possible, and you will also be able to practice turns and, of course, finishes.”
How to practice turns with the m-station soccer rebounder
How to practice first touches with the m-station soccer rebounder
How to become a better finisher with the m-station soccer rebounder
m-station used by Real Madrid stars
We are proud to announce that one of the top football websites in the United States, TopDrawerSoccer.com, has published an article about how Cristiano Ronaldo uses the m-station football rebounder to perfect his skills. Check out Cristiano Ronaldo and Isco using the m-station here
With 16 goals in Champions League 15/16, Cristiano Ronaldo once again made it clear that he is made of something very special. The Portuguese winger has now scored a stunning 545 goals in his career and he has been among the best players in the world in almost a decade.
One of the secrets to his success is his relentless training discipline. No other footballer can claim to have worked as hard and focused at the training ground where Ronaldo has brought his physical and technical skill to perfection. As his former coach in Manchester United, Sir Alex Fergusson said to UEFA in 2009:
-There are some players, such as Kaká, Messi and Ronaldo who are innately gifted. But this is not enough, and there is a practice element which becomes very important. If you watch Cristiano Ronaldo, he practices after every squad training session, and quite a few others do the same.
As a coach, we dedicate parts of the training to improving touch, movement, passing and speed of play, but the special quality, the detail, depends on the player being willing to sacrifice himself after training – this is a hallmark of the great players. If the big talents only rely on their natural ability, they won’t have that extra edge. They must do something extra on their own.
One of the things that set Cristiano Ronaldo apart is his amazing ball control, and as the picture in this article shows, he and his teammates in Real Madrid practice with the m-station from Munin Sports that has become the number one rebounder choice for the best soccer clubs in the world. It is also found at Champions League clubs like Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Dortmund, Ajax, Benfica, Manchester United and Chelsea and it is the first rebounder in the world that create passes at such a high quality that it has been adopted at such a broad scale at the top level of international soccer.
And something indicates that Cristiano Ronaldo’s use of the training tool started at Manchester United where his former skill coach, the dutch technique specialist Rene Meulensteen who served 6 years under Ferguson, used it a lot.
-The m-station is a fantastic training aid which I use often during my training sessions with young and top professional players. It improves touch, control, accuracy and agility. It is repetitive, challenging as well as enjoyable and can be used in a variety of training settings, says Rene Meulensteen about the m-station.
A recent study from the Swedish Football Federation show that Meulensteen, Ronaldo and all the other players who use the m-station isn’t just doing it for the fun of it. After practicing with the m-station in four weeks students from the Swedish FA´s elite high school improved their ability to control the ball with their weak leg with more than 41%.
A great offense wins games, but a strong defense wins championships. Conceding goals is just as impactful as scoring them, so if you have trouble scoring goals, it is imperative that you do not concede any. For young players, choosing to be a defender may not be as appealing as choosing to be a striker, because those who score goals are the ones most often acknowledged.
However, defenders are just as important as strikers, and being a defender requires even more concentration because every mistake can be especially detrimental to the success of the team. Fans forget the moment a striker misses an open goal, but they remember poor defending because it leads directly to goals.
Take your defending to the next level with these 5 drills for the m-station soccer rebounder and sign up for NEXT11. Sign up here to unlock new drills on a weekly basis and continuously improve your defending.
1. Headers — Clearing
Being able to clear the ball correctly with a header, especially if you are a center-back, is crucial. First of all, if you mistime your header and only graze the ball with the top of your head, the botched clearance is just as dangerous as the cross itself, and perhaps even more so as there is one less defender to take care of the ball. Secondly, by clearing correctly with a header, you are asserting dominance and the opposing team will be less inclined to try crosses again. This is a way of protecting the keeper, as many goalkeepers prefer shot stopping to dealing with aerial balls.
When performing this drill with the m-station soccer rebounder, make sure to keep your eyes on the ball and take a slightly offset stance before you jump.
2. Short passes — Interceptions and passing on the first touch
For a modern center-back, soccer is not just about tackling, heading, and marking. You need to be able to participate in the game even more; having a center-back with great skill on the ball allows greater options for a team during a game. Also, if you can pass both long and short, you reduce your limitations as a player. If the opposing team emphasizes marking your forwards, pass it short. If the opposing team pushes your defensive midfielders or your defenders up, pass it long.
To improve short passing, make sure to look up when you know where you will meet the ball to see where your opponents are. Next, lock your angle and kick the ball with the inside of your foot. For every move you make on the field, it is important to look up in order to give yourself an overview of the field and players’ positions. Do not make assumptions or pass blindly — learn how to look up while playing.
3. Crosses — Shoulder feint and crossing
Defense is not solely about center-backs; fullbacks are just as important, but not only for defensive reasons. In today’s soccer, it is important to be able to contribute on both ends of the field by dribbling, overlapping, and crossing. Coaches do not want a Gary Neville anymore; they want a Jordi Alba, a Marcelo, or a Dani Alves. Looking at Barcelona, the runs from Dani Alves and Jordi Alba are instrumental parts of the offense, as the players offer width and depth on their respective sides of the field. When Messi has the ball, Alba makes the deep run, and when Neymar has the ball, Dani Alves makes the deep run.
When crossing, as exemplified in this drill, approach the ball at a 45-60 degree angle, raise your arms to the side, and strike the ball with the inside of your foot.
4. Dribbling — Dribbling straight
As a fullback, you will have to create space for your teammates by almost always going wide. By staying wide, regardless of whether you are in possession of the ball or not, you demand attention and therefore stretch the defensive line of the opposing team, which ultimately provides space for your team’s more creative players to operate in. However, if you too are capable of dribbling, you demand even more attention, as the defender cannot stay 1v1 against you. Naturally, if you drag two players towards you, at least one of your teammates will have enough space to do something. As a fullback, you should stay wide in order to not take up space that is already occupied, which is why dribbling straight is important.
Point your toes towards the ground as if to strike the ball using your laces, and make small touches using the laces with the ball in front of you. Frequent small touches give you better control as you run.
5. Long passes — Switching the play
As mentioned earlier, a center-back’s participation in the build-up of a play is essential to a team’s success in many tactical systems. Most teams prefer to build up gradually from the defense rather than send long balls for tall strikers, as most strikers at top-level play are all about movement off the ball, first touches, and finishing. However, on occasion you might want to play a long ball to the wing or the forward, and as a center-back, you have to be prepared for this. Stay clear of a marking and run into a position where you can receive the ball to take pressure off your teammates. Playing a long ball does not necessarily have to be an act of panic.
Before you receive the ball, look up to understand the movement on the field. Approach the ball at a 45-degree angle, lean your body a bit away from the ball to create a straight line from your foot up through your hip and shoulder, place your standing foot 10-20 cm away from the ball (depending on your height), and point it in the direction of the pass.
