The following list is a list of character traits and competencies that you will find in professional footballers. Some appear naturally from a young age and some can be taught, some might be at the elite level in some players, and not so developed in others.
Not all of these character traits or competencies are needed to make it, some only appear as a result of development through coaching, training and competition or physical growth. But there are a core set of characteristics and competencies that young players should possess if they are any chance of being noticed by scouts or progressing into elite development programs. Can you guess them?
- Courage
- Aerobic Ability/Fitness
- Athleticism
- Competitiveness
- Continuous Improvement Mentality
- Natural Talent
- Football IQ/Intelligence
- Ability to deal with pain
- Tunnel Vision
- Can handle pressure
- Can deal with abuse
- Can deal with disappointment
- Takes ownership
- Speed
- Technical Ability
- Discipline
- Concentration/Focus
- Determination
- Self Belief
- Spatial Awareness
- Match sense (knows when to push harder to get desired outcome and when to slow or maintain tempo)
- Strength on the ball
- Work rate
- Creativity
- Vision
- Positional play (know how to move into space to receive a pass)
- Wants the ball
- Teamwork
- Can be taught/is enthusiastic about learning
Now that you have an idea of the characteristics and competencies that professional footballers possess, over the next few chapters we will examine the "core competencies and characteristics". These are the fundamental abilites, behaviours and character traits that a young person needs as a natural part of their makeup, if they are going to have any chance of making it to the big leagues. If they possess these, then they will attract the notice of scouts, progressing to higher levels of competition or give themselves a better chance of being part of representative teams.
We will then examine the "non-core competencies and characterics" which are the abilities, behaviours and character traits that can be developed by coaching, mentoring, training and competitive play in an elite development program, like you would find at any of the feeder academies for professional clus or the professional clubs themselves all around the world.
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