SKILL UP! EP.01 : JC's Matchday Warm-Up Routine
Welcome to the first episode of our 'SKILL UP!' series.
We're really glad everyone's here now!
The series talks about grassroots football players' tips to improve football abilities while sharing their football stories.
Now, let's meet our first player, John Choi, the 28 year old British footballer.
Q. Can you tell us about your personal warm-up routine on match-day?
- John's Match Day Routine
1) Dynamic warm-ups - dynamic stretches for activation of muscles and preparation for the game.
2) Technical/tactical drills - often with the ball.
Q. You always try to keep yourself fit and healthy as a player. What is your motivation behind this?
I like to keep fit and healthy because of the demands within playing football. Exercising and regular training also allows us to condition both our brain and body to be ready for certain situations within football. For instance, whilst there are benefits in increasing performance levels, it can also help to prevent injuries, meaning that I can continue to enjoy playing for much longer periods.
You could perhaps say my love and passion for football can be seen as my motivation, whether it’s training to playing in a match. However, keeping fit and healthy generally, is also something that’s just been incorporated as part of my lifestyle as a “healthy” habit, where regular physical activity can be seen as beneficial, and personally contributes towards the physical aspects but also, one of the many reasons as to why I love to keep fit or train and play football is because it helps me to relieve any stress that I may have, and thus promoting good mental well-being.
Q. As a grassroots football player, what’s your goal?
My goal as a grassroots player is to help this club to do well. Of course I would love to play at a higher level (if the opportunity arses), however at grassroots level, whilst encouraging mass participation, this club also offers opportunities for players to develop further and progress through the English Football Pyramid.
You could say that we share similar ambitions in terms of going further and of course there is a lot of determination to do well, however I can only emphasise that this only comes through hard work. The club is already doing a lot of work behind the scenes to build for a successful future, so who knows? It would be great if I could continue playing for this club, but at a higher level.
Q. What’s your 22/23 season aim?
As a team, our goal is to challenge for the title again. Of course we’re going into a new league, which is going to be even more competitive so it’s never going to be easy, but at the same time, I believe we have a great foundation now at the club, with good understanding between the coach and players, and with the squad that we have, we’re always going to compete and have a chance to win the title again. Hopefully we can start the season well, building on from what was a great season (2021/2) and if we continue working hard to implement what our coach wants from us, then there’s no reason as to why we can’t succeed as we all have that drive and hunger to do well.
In terms of my personal goal for this season, I want to keep improving in all aspects of my game. If I can add more goals and assists, then that itself would be a bonus. I’ve always believed in my technical abilities and hopefully I can continue to help out the team by working hard and ultimately playing well.
In training we tend to focus a lot on positioning and the tactical side of the game, especially with the transitional phases, and this personally has helped me to develop so much in terms of positioning and off-the-ball movements. As a team, we all know our roles when we’re on the pitch, but at the same time we also want to be effective in ways we can help each other, not just with the defensive shape but also being influential whilst having possession during the attacking situation. We have an abundance of talent within our squad and that gives us confidence and belief to play football with a lot of positivity but at the end of the day, it’s the balance that we need to get right, as we also need players with the right mentality and attitude that will also work hard.
🔽 Be the next one! We're always on the lookout for new stories!
