VISION 2025...Practice Makes Permanent
By Cawike Chibuzo .C.
The difference between a professional and an amateur in any field of human endeavor is not talent, neither is it skill, the difference is the regularity of practice.
An amateur is always content just to know the basics of a field, and will not practice regularly after that. At best he would practice vigorously intermittently, only to stop the practice for a longer period.
One area where this is very apparent is in the life of overweight individuals. A weight watcher might decide to undertake a fast for a month, or to eat lightly over the same period, but when the body starts getting into shape, he suddenly switches back to his old habit and ends up even eating more at a time because he stretched the body far in a short while. On the other hand, anyone who consistently eats lightly will hardly add unnecessary weight, but when he adds weight, he can always easily burn it off because of the regularity of his eating habit.
In the same vein, a professional sportsman will hardly be overweight, as long as he or she maintains a regular training schedule.
Experts have confirmed that an average person does not read faster than a grade six or seven student, because we are always taught to read around this grade, and immediately we learn how to read, we stop practicing further, because we are not professional readers. Only few people go on or strive to improve their reading ability, these are the ones that are professional minded, and they practice reading more regularly,
In his book 'you were born rich' by Bob Proctor, he told the story of Dr. William Devries, the chief surgeon of a team that successfully placed the first artificial heart in the chest of a human patient.
According to Bob Proctor, the Toronto Daily star, interviewed Dr. Devries just after the surgery, and when asked the secret to his phenomenal success, he said “Rehearse… rehearse … and then rehearse some more: For if you 'stick to' this principle' he continued, “when it comes time to perform the actual operation, the procedure will have become almost routine for you”.
The truth is that every human being has a moment to display his God-given talents or skills to the admiration of others. That moment will always come for everyone of us, but what determines whether we will actually put up a great show or if will seize the moment is the depth of our preparation.
In sports like in any other area of life, the most effective technique for preparation is practice. Doing the actual thing the way it ought to be done, irrespective of your level of proficiency.
No wonder friendly games are taken very serious by serious football clubs and football nations. Having spent time to rehearse a particular formation or particular skills, players are given the opportunity to display the skills or try out the new formations in a competitive match. At this level, mistakes are not fatal, but only prepare players for the game of their life.
Another avenue football clubs and national teams prepare for the ultimate game is the feeder team or age grade competitions. Competitions organized for feeder teams and at the age grade competitions. Competitions organized for feeder teams and at the age grade levels are only meant to be rehearsals for both the main team club competition and senior world cup competitions respectively. Great teams both at the club level and national team levels do not try to win these competitions at all costs, because at this level they understand the difference between what Nido Quebein calls 'productive failure' and 'non-productive success'. Anyone who believes in regular rehearsals is not afraid of productive failures because the more you rehearse, the more you fail, the more likely you are to win the ultimate price.
As a nation, the only reason why we still struggle to make a mark in any proven area of human endeavor is because we are always afraid to fail.
This fear of failure is the reason why we can afford to use 'men' in their late twenties to prosecute the under seventeen Junior World Cup for instance. This also is the reason why we have consistently made Pele a false prophet by not winning the senior world cup yet. Now that the magnetic Resonance imaging (MIR) test have been introduced, if we stick to it, then our era of dominance in football is near.
As we March towards year 2025, we will not be afraid to learn from productive failures. We look forward to flock with those who are prepared to rehearse, rehearse and rehearse some more.
Are you ready to rehearse?
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