One easy way to get better...

...is to watch MORE soccer. Players who regularly watch the highest levels of the game, and have a purpose behind it, will improve more than if they do not do that. Tactics, positioning, decision-making, mentality, even techniques can actually improve just from regular viewing.

So, here is my suggestion for how to actually make that work. Pick a professional English club to support, get to know their players, and watch specially the players who play your position, or who you resemble and want to emulate. You will start to learn what to DO, and also to NOT DO what professional players never do (if that makes sense.) 

Why English clubs? Their leagues - the men's Premier League and the women's Super League - are the best in the world by far and also are the most easily accessed on your TV. And their clubs are historic and iconic and are improving.

Pick one of the BIG six clubs: Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham, or Chelsea - their teams are always competitive, the most featured teams on TV, and are rarely if ever in danger of being relegated to the second division. Right now, those six clubs are first through sixth in the Super League (!) and are five of the top six in the Premier League (Chelsea is having a poor season by their standards and are currently 11th.)

I don't care if you pick a team because of its colors, its history, because of its position today in the table, or because you really like a certain player. Just pick a team...and then stick with it. And watch both the women and the men play for YOUR new club. I will be asking for YOUR club by Tuesday the 12th when we have a bus trip down to CO Springs! 

FINALLY...as girls soccer players, support and watch your US women's national team every time you can. Tomorrow night they play Columbia in a big quarterfinal Gold Cup match at 6:15 PM, with the game being shown on Paramount Plus. Coming off a poor Women's World Cup this past summer, the USA continue to show that they are no longer the dominant team they once were, losing to Mexico in a group match this past week for the first time EVER on US soil.