Mid-season blues and depression

[usasoccerhooligan]

ok right now, i'm in my offseason. my club ball in the spring is over and my high school team is about to start training sessions again. i'm not sure about other high school players, but i know that i always tend to get sick of the monotonous practices. i get tired of my days being "wake up, school, soccer, bed." my school team has practice every weekday that we dont have a game and sometimes on saturdays too.

i don't really get sick of playing soccer. i just get sick of the same routine. i'm not a big fan of drills, i just like to play. yes drills help but i can practice my footwork and other skills on my own. i just like playing a game, small-sided or full-field, and just working on tactics. real game situations.

does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep from sinking into mid-season depression? any ways to help me get into practices and yearn for them, rather than loathing them?

[schmuckatelli]

does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep from sinking into mid-season depression? any ways to help me get into practices and yearn for them, rather than loathing them?
Find something - maybe only one thing - you want to work on in each practice, and focus on it. Work on it hard, and make it about improving personally. It may be something technical (your first touch control), or it may be something tactical (attacking at width), but it must be important for you. For example, if your team is working on passing drills, maybe it would be a good time to focus on your speed of play, your ability to see the play before it happens, then execute it.
Also, it's OK to make errors. Don't be afraid to use practice to try things. Some will work, others not so well. Remember the ones that work, and the ones that don't, throw behind you and move on.
Good luck!

[servotron]

ok right now, i'm in my offseason. my club ball in the spring is over and my high school team is about to start training sessions again. i'm not sure about other high school players, but i know that i always tend to get sick of the monotonous practices. i get tired of my days being "wake up, school, soccer, bed." my school team has practice every weekday that we dont have a game and sometimes on saturdays too.

i don't really get sick of playing soccer. i just get sick of the same routine. i'm not a big fan of drills, i just like to play. yes drills help but i can practice my footwork and other skills on my own. i just like playing a game, small-sided or full-field, and just working on tactics. real game situations.

does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep from sinking into mid-season depression? any ways to help me get into practices and yearn for them, rather than loathing them?

man.... I am envious. Most of us have the same schedule you to, but replace "school, soccer" with "work".

You need to play in some pickup games or something.... but maybe play a different position? I've found recently that I like getting into games where a team needs an extra dude to play, and although I'm naturally an attacker, I will play defense, and have a good ol' time doing it.

[Futballer]

At least you gotta team that wants to practice.... Take advantage of it....

[eplkewell]

focus. when you practice focus on improving your skills, and if you scrimmage, focus on winning. if it's you play to win, it becomes more like a game situation. games are fun. right?

[Harper916]

Enjoy it while it last. Trust me I know how you feel. I use to get bored at practice because everything was so easy. I just wanted to get to the game and play. But I wish I could go back and have that same routine, school, soccer, sleep. Because when it's over and you're sitting at work years from now posting on BigSoccer you'll wish you could go back to the simple days of school, soccer, and sleep.