#4 Versatility

[lemonoppy]

https://forum.simulationsoccer.com/showt...#pid100852
https://index.simulationsoccer.com/#!/tr...r?pid=5834
ST -> Primary

For ILoveZeagLe, the offseason was about technique. The last season, finding out what it took to play in a league full of everyone who was at least as fast or as strong as he was was a shock. The transition between Academy and the real SSL was a huge jump, but after a couple seasons, Zeagle could feel that change lessen. More than an extra dozen games in his legs, he'd caught up to what it took physically. He wasn't there, of course, no doubt about that, there's always more to work on, but the managers saw the change in his ability to keep up with the pace of the game and put him on a different schedule. Not only was he focusing on his technicals, his ability to play a different position was what was key for the offseason. The Rova Wombats had seen his play and after some minutes up at striker, they had decided that that's where he was going to be set for the forseeable future. It wasn't that he wasn't good at CAM, it was a reflection of the wealth of talent up at Liffey that they would trial him at Striker to see if he could play there in order to break into the main roster. This meant a lot of build up and work to get him to see the ball from a striker's perspective, that composure to see the defense and make a clean first touch and finish.

For Zeagle, it wasn't an easy schedule, heavily demanding from his managers, but he knew that he needed to meet the moment, there were too many forwards and midfielders in the organization, too much talent to slack. It was going to be a hard road to breaking into the first team but there was a secret weapon, the playing of one twos with fellow draft mate Otto. The pair had been training together and it was time for the Wombats to head into that first tier again.

Approved

[Pandar]

CPT#3

Recently, Arsène N’Goussou has been looking to expand his versatility on the field. After a lot of time spent evening out his footedness, he realized that he could pretty safely move to the other side of the field. While he’d begun as a Left Attacking Midfielder, and has been spending a lot of time at Striker recently, he wanted to be able to play Right Attacking Midfielder as well. To start this process off, he and new Magyar rookie, Phil Space, took a trip to train in Shanghai with Marcel Voda and Sam Albinson. While there, they also participated in some team-bonding activities and worked on things like positioning and seeing the field. While N’Goussou had worked on being able to play the ball equally well from his right foot, he was suddenly discovering that he wasn’t used to playing with the boundary line to his right, and really needed to work on how to feel that side as naturally as he can feel the left side of the field.

After they’d wrapped up their training intensive in Shanghai, N’Goussou and Space were dismissed for a break. N’Goussou went back to France, and was able to get in touch with some of his teammates from the Pyrenees Union WFSC squad. He managed to book some time to head over to Spain, to practice and work out with Leandro Dybala and Joga Bonito. While Albinson had definitely been helpful to N’Goussou’s understanding of the position, Dybala and Bonito were indispensable to his improvement. They were far more experienced players at the position, and they were willing to work for multiple sessions to help N’Goussou get more and more confident, and gave him a lot of insight in how to see the field better from the right side of the field.

After all of these training sessions, N’Goussou was ready to head back to France, and then on to Magyar where he started to practice more with Space, and with the coaches to help him get confident enough to feel like he could start a match at Right Attacking Midfield, as well as at Striker or Left Attacking Midfield.

Code:

357 words

RAM -> primary
Player Page

Approved

[Mafx]

CPT #3

Once upon a time in what it seems like forever now, a young Caroni Riveras was making his debut in the SSL ecosystem in Atletico Medellin. Alongside him and a little bit further up the pitch stood the now retired Tommaso Capellari, their combined efforts down the right wing just falling short of the Academy title.

However, upon being drafted by Romana he was told to undergo a intense Physical training program for him to be able to play down the left instead, due to problems concerning that position on the Italian side, Riveras was thrown into the Majors directly after his Academy season and, to be completely honest, performed poorly, the difference in experience, technique were really obvious for anyone watching the games.

Internally, Riveras was told to look up to his colleague in the Right Wing, the very successful Hippity Hoppity, who had an impressive campaign in S24 and immediately became the compass that the Venezuelan needed to follow for him to become a better player in his new role, thanks to this mentality Caroni was able to steadily get better every season, his seasonal average rating reflecting his progress.

It has been 3 season since then, and with Hippity's impending retirement Caroni was asked by Romana's coaching staff to start training for a return to his previous position as a Right Defender, it was weird, all this time adapting to a new position, to then go back to his previous one, it felt contradictory, but... Nostalgic, too. 

Now, determined to fill the Hippity shaped hole that's going to be available sooner rather than later in Romana's right back spot Caroni will start training for his eventual position switch, he already did this once so... How hard could it be to do it again? Hopefully not a lot, he thinks.

Approved!

[ReadySalted]

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https://forum.simulationsoccer.com/showt...9#pid95339 For many strikers over the years the transition to Central Defensive Midfield is a natural one, while the legs may not run as fast as they use to, the instinct is still as highly tuned as always and the years of experience mean knowing what passes the striker will want before they've even made it to help find that killer through ball down the middle or to cover the space the other team is looking to exploit, so for No Face it made perfect sense to work on the position in the off-season ahead of time, he felt dangerous and at home up front but is fully aware how quick careers peter out in this league and as much as he may hate it being true he knows one day his pace and agility will fade away, and in private he quite enjoyed the lack  of pressure on having to score every game, to sit back, and dictate the game from a more central position, watching the youngsters get on the end of a killer through ball was deeply satisfying and he realised scoring goals in the near future is only half of what this team requires from him, and that one day the youngsters will be up top scoring the goals and enjoying the spotlight and it was on No Face to help develop these talents any way he can, even if that means dropping deeper later in his career, so why not take some reps now every so often, get ahead of the curve and when the day comes that he loses his spot he is already ahead of the game, he's watched his icons like Kane and Rooney do it while he was growing up so he felt no shame in the transition, and felt good in the knowledge of another string to his bow ( CDM to primary please)

Approved!

[Doc]

CPT #3

ST > Primary

As Freddy Adu makes his transition from the minors to the majors, he felt like he needed to spend some extra time on the training ground this offseason prepping for his new role. In the lower leagues and coming up as a youngster, Adu was nearly always the star player. The offense ran through him, and he was the one expected to finish the chances and ultimately bring home a win for his club. However, on Hollywood, that won't be what is expected of him. Hollywood has a great reputation of being one of the best clubs in the world, and Adu will step into a role where he is expected to get the ball to other superstars to set them up. 

To make this a smooth transition, he spent the entire offseason working out with his new attacking teammates Juozas Kupinas and Marean Dohbra. Of course he also brought along his classmate and teammate Lucas Peioxoto, who has been playing with Adu for years in Kaapstad where the two have built incredible chemistry. While Adu has shifted more towards passing first, his new teammates have assured him that he'll still be asked to score goals when he's called upon as well. The trio are all unselfish and have started to built a rapport where they can sense where the others are and what they want to do with the ball. I expect lots of beautiful passing plays leading to goals in their future. 

In general, though, Adu likes to spend the offseason just making sure he's staying in shape. His fitness level is the most important thing for the club as he's always been of the mindset that games are won in the last 20 minutes. If he has more stamina than the other guys, he believes he can set himself apart. It still remains to be seen if this offseason training program will start to win trophies for his club, but he's very optimistic that he's on the right path.

Approved!

[SilverBlitzenAG]

CPT #3 - Media Day
Left Wing Back to Primary
https://index.simulationsoccer.com/#!/tr...r?pid=5748

"Silver, would you be interested in playing left wingback?"

That question had been on Silver's mind in the weeks after management had asked him about moving positions. He quickly accepted, wanting to be as flexible for his team as possible, but he soon realized that he wasn't quite sure what that really meant. Yeah, it was easy to say "I'll learn a new position" or "sure, I can pick up a new skill", but it was another thing to actually go and do it. Did he even know what he was getting himself into? Well, in order to be a more versatile player, Silver was going to have to get advice from some people that knew the position he was trying to get into.

"So, Roquefort and Bob, I'm checking in with the wingbacks in the org, trying to learn more about the position. What can you guys tell me about it?" What better place to start trying to learn a new position than with the players in your own organization? Silver asked the two plenty of questions about wingback, about how they made the same swap he was attempting to make, what it was like being in the backfield, what made the transition between positions easier, and how could he make things easier on his wing mates on the attacking side of the ball. In the offseason, he put in work at home. He carved out blocks of time for preparation, such as watching film, drawing up reactions to certain field positions, cross referencing with videos to see if his mind was on the right path. During the preseason, he was putting his theories to the test. He was practicing the basics in practices, taking risks in simulated games, and putting together what worked and what didn't in games. The more time that was spent working on his craft, the more versatile he would become. (316 words)

Approved!

[Turd Ferguson]

CPT #3

Goalkeeper - just give me that sweet, sweet TPE lol

Turd Ferguson started his career as a winger before switching over to goalkeeper just before his first season as a professional, so he knows a thing or two about versatility. However, what Turd did not realize when he was an outfield player is that playing goalkeeper requires quite a bit of versatility as well! Playing in net means that you have to constantly react to rapidly changing scenarios, from fluid plays in the field to tricky set pieces and corners. And to add to that, there are many different styles and tactics for goalkeepers, all suited to different defensive formations and styles of play. Turd started to become a bit overwhelmed by all of this after his first season or two, so he decided to call on the help of a professional, the famous goalkeeper and CD Tenochtitlan club legend Calvinball. The man is an absolute legend, and Turd hoped that his experience and wisdom would help Turd become one of the best keepers in the history of the league. Even though Calvin is not yet retired, he saw something of himself in young Ferguson and decided to take the inexperienced keeper under his wing. In doing so, he began to teach Turd Ferguson how to play as a sweeper keeper rather than just a shot stopper. This meant that the pair began working on Turd’s dribbling and passing in addition to his usual shot stopping and set piece drills. Turd took naturally to this given his history of playing in the outfield, making him a naturally versatile goalkeeper who is now able to play the ball far outside his net. This sometimes creates risky situations, but Turd is sure-footed and with the help of Calvin he was able to meld his outfield and goalkeeping skills to become a unique type of versatile keeper. This has set Turd up for a whole lot of success in the future!

(318 words)

[Jakesdy]

Career Task #3
Vyacheslav Shevchenko
CDM -> Primary

During the off-season, Vyacheslav Shevchenko returned home to Belarus, specifically Minsk, where he initially had a good rest and visited family and friends in Rogachev and other cities. Afterwards, of course, Vyacheslav began training to get in good physical shape for what was sure to be a very busy new season in the second division of the SSL minor league. To this end, he joined an amateur team competing in the corresponding amateur championship of the city of Minsk. They were very cheerful and good guys, and it was a joy to play and train with them. The training sessions were varied: from those focused on defensive actions to practicing attacking situations and free kicks. Physical exercises such as jumping, jogging in free time, and endurance training were also included, as the role of box-to-box requires a lot of running on the floor, which requires good physical fitness. As for the tournament performances, this also provided a good opportunity to develop and improve his skills and versatility on the field. The team's formations were quite flexible, so Vyacheslav had to periodically drop back to serve as an additional defender, or, conversely, move up to the opponent's goal and create pressure with long and short shots and sharp passes. All of this is quite difficult to simulate in training, and in official matches, such "chaos" is hard to imagine during a game, so it was a truly good opportunity to hone skills that are very difficult to apply in real professional play. The tournament itself turned out to be quite interesting, and Vyacheslav became a key player for his team, helping them to victory in a dramatic final (the tournament itself was held in two stages: a league stage and a four-team playoff. There were eight teams in total). Therefore, after the tournament, Vyacheslav gained very good experience playing in new positions on the field.

Word Count: 314 Words

[rrf_1]

Career Point Task #3 Media Day
Ekon Ayo  LWB --> Primary

After an award-worthy rookie season for Ekon, S26 was a bit of a step back to average.  He still retained his strong defensive backbone, with 49 tackles, 30 interceptions, 43 clearances, and 19 blocks through 15 minor league matches.  However, his success as an offensive creator regressed, just as he was starting to gain some momentum in that area of his game.  Coming off a season with 16 chances created and 6 assists, Ekon was only able to create 2 chances and connect on 1 assist in S26.  The significant drop in this area made it clear to both Ekon and his coaches that his offensive skillset still needed some work, so his top priority in the offseason was improving as a creator in all types of schemes and formations.  Instead of heading straight to the practice field, Ekon disembarked on an international trip to observe some of the world's most unusual and strategic team sports in action.  He hoped that watching unfamiliar sports would allow him to focus on the fundamental behaviors of these athletes, unencumbered by the games’ arbitrary structures and rules.  Adopting good creation tendencies and techniques at the core might translate into an effective offensive role for Ekon back in left defense for Cairo City, more akin to a hybrid wing back.

Ekon’s first stop around the world was Vilnius, Lithuania to see basketball, a familiar sport but one that he still didn’t know anything about.  The national team in Lithuania takes a very tactical team-first approach to the game and prioritizes good ball movement and clever spatial organization to create offense.  After watching the creativity of this team, Ekon strolled through the city’s old red-roofed medieval neighborhoods to reflect on how he could better position himself on the pitch and exploit passing lanes to create high quality chances for his teammates.

From there, Ekon traveled south to the coastal town of Kotor, Montenegro.  Wedged between rugged mountains and a serene crystal blue bay, Kotor is a hub for the international handball scene, a fast and physical sport that requires good teamwork and rapid decision making.  Ekon’s teammate Juliette Greer @Metafiction, who was recently pulled forward into an attacking role for Cairo City, tagged along to try to learn new ways to get past opponents and place shots from distance.  The Montenegro handball team linked an unyielding aggressive defense with a direct vertical offense.  Striking without patience like this is another tactic that would complement the more methodical play Ekon saw in Lithuania.

Parting ways with Juliette, Ekon then flew over to Bilbao, Spain.  Bilbao is a modern city known for its art and culture, so he made sure to enjoy the Guggenheim and Azkuna Zentroa before returning to his business of checking out cesta punta, a unique court sport of the Basque Country where players wear a curved wicker basket as a glove and hurl a hard ball within a walled court.  This sport was particularly interesting to Ekon because the players showcased a strategy that was more about punishing the mistakes of your opponent rather than attacking them with aggression.  Outlasting the other team through consistency and discipline is another element Ekon can add to his football arsenal.

With two sports left to see, Ekon then booked his flight to Kilkenny, Ireland.  In addition to being a very historic city complete with cobblestone streets and central castle, Kilkenny is also the all-time title leader for Ireland’s national sport of hurling.  He never really grasped how this sport works beyond the 15 player teams working together to advance a small ball using funny-looking wooden sticks, but the fierce competitiveness of the athletes was immediately obvious.  Ekon watched how Kilkenny relied on a relentless work rate and one-on-one advantages to win opportunities rather than intricate passing or slow-building play.  Ruthless physicality in isolation can be just as effective as complex schemes.

The last destination for Ekon was Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where the football-volleyball hybrid sport of sepak takraw was first standardized.  In this sport, players use finesse and precision to send a rattan ball over a net via acrobatic maneuvers.  Tokyo striker No Face @ReadySalted met up with Ekon to see if he could learn better habits for his own overhead shots, and the two were incredibly impressed by the athleticism and team synergy of the Malaysian team.  They snuck a quick training session into their trip by racing up the colorful steps at the Batu Caves and then celebrated a successful journey with a tour of the delicious street food around the city.

Now enriched with a fresh set of creative ideas, Ekon is ready to bring his offensive game back to a productive level for Cairo City in S27!

[Moka26]

I was just heading back from our inter-prom maracana tournament... (Here it is, if you want to read it) 

As soon as I landed, I received a call from PurpleLabs (if you don't know about them and how I started with them, you should probably start here (that's my CPT3 if you don't notice)). They asked me to help them calibrating things as they trained with one of their other football teams. Since I planned to buy part of the company I accepted, and went with them.

I was curious of what they decided to try this time, and why they chose this team and this stadium in particular. They're a R&D lab, after all. 

So you can't imagine my surprise and how I burst laughing when they told me that they wanted me to test another football-related product... american football, not soccer... I asked myself how they got confused that easily, while still laughing about that mistake, and they told me that they sent their Britain-based team in America to find some new deals and partnerships with football teams there. 

Then I decided to try it out and... wait, it wasn't a mistake !? If you wanted to expand into American Football, why did you call a soccer goalkeeper?

They had to explain me again, and when we entered the stadium I saw some players from other affiliate leagues, notably the ISFL. It was a training kit for quarterbacks that they were making, and they had to collect some data to calibrate and make it work. And me in all that, you may ask? I am the lowest reference point, while still being good enough because I'm a goalkeeper. So if their training method worked on me, it would work on almost everyone.

I got them their base measurements, then we started throwing balls across the field. It was fun, silly and tiring, and that was part of why I was considering buying the company.

At the end of the day, I was able to throw a little better, and at least they got their measurements... I could finally head back home, and do some binge-sleeping before the training camp.