#4 Versatility

[Froste39]

CT #3
Player Thread

Duncan Maxwell, a Scottish central defender for Schwarzwälder Fußballverein (SFV) in the Simulation Soccer League (SSL), has long been renowned for his defensive prowess. Known for his impeccable tackling, aerial dominance, and strategic positioning, Maxwell has been a cornerstone of SFV's defense. However, in the ever-evolving world of modern football, Maxwell realized that to stay at the top of his game and contribute more effectively to his team's success, he needed to enhance his versatility both on and off the pitch. This realization led him to seek the expertise of a sports psycholigist.

Maxwell's collaboration with a sports psychologist began with a thorough assessment of his mental strengths and areas needing improvement. The psychologist identified that while Maxwell was mentally tough during high-pressure situations on the field, he sometimes struggled with adaptability and communication, both crucial elements for a central defender. Modern football demands that players not only excel in their specific roles but also adapt to various positions and scenarios, often requiring quick thinking and robust interpersonal skills.
Through a series of tailored sessions, Maxwell worked on improving his mental agility. Techniques such as visualization and cognitive restructuring were employed to help him anticipate different game scenarios and respond more flexibly. Visualization exercises enabled Maxwell to mentally rehearse playing in different positions, enhancing his tactical awareness and readiness to switch roles when required. This mental preparation translated into a noticeable improvement in his on-field versatility. He became more adept at stepping into a defensive midfield role when needed, providing SFV with greater tactical flexibility.

Furthermore, Maxwell's sports psychologist emphasized the importance of communication. Effective communication is vital for organizing the defense and coordinating with teammates, especially in high-stakes situations. Maxwell engaged in role-playing exercises and communication drills that improved his ability to convey strategic instructions and maintain composure under pressure. These improvements not only bolstered his on-field leadership but also positively influenced the team’s overall defennsive coherence.
Off the pitch, the psychological training extended to Maxwell's personal development. The psychologist helped him develop techniques to manage stress and maintain a balanced lifestyle. This holistic approach ensured that Maxwell was not only physically fit but also mentally resilient, capable of handling the pressures of professional football with a clear and focused mind.

387 words of article text.

APPROVED @Froste39 - Maxwell's keeper teammate would advocate hallucinogenic mushrooms for maintaining a healthy competitive psyche.

[Murtsi]

Career task #3

Player page

Well well, another opportunity to talk about how great I am, you know that is just up the alley of Kimi Häkkinen. Anyways, after my amazingly successful racing driver career, I had decided to take up the sport of football. Even though I realized I am pretty good at it, there were things that surprisingly I could get better, so I decided to take the best in the sport at these different things and learn as much as I could. The first thing I wanted to get better at was my dribbling. For this I reached out to both Ryan Giggs, legendary Welsh winger for Manchester United as well as Cristiano Ronaldo, legendary Portugese forward for Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus. I brought them both in to a training center built only for me. With them I worked for over 8 hours a day, one week straight. They taught me everything they know and we trained so hard. After this was all done, I took a next step that I don’t know if many have done. I recruited an AI expert who modelled everything Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo did and created an AI assistant from them. I then used this to further fuel my game and taking up tips and tricks that neither could come up with separately, but when put together, it was like magic. While I was on this AI rollercoaster experiment, I decided I also wanted to brush up on my finishing. For this I brought in Ronaldo, the original R9 along with Ruud Van Nistelrooy, both legends of their times. Again I put in one week of over the top effort with both of them (althought Ronaldo seemed to be snacking a lot) and learned everything I could. Afterwards, I had my AI expert create Ronaldo Van Nistelrooy and man, the things I can now do in this area of my game are spectacular, thanks guys!

APPROVED and APPLIED @Murtsi - access to such resources explains Kimi's MVP run. Well done!

[Squid]

CPT 3
Player Page


Marco Tentacles is always trying to improve his play. Whether it is training sessions in season or in the off-season, Marco's incredible work ethic pushes himself to the max in every single work out and practice drill. Throughout the last off-season, Marco had his eyes set on winning another trophy and would work on his weak points in order to do it again. Entering the off-season with North Shore United, Marco really wanted to work on his positioning and agility. He was caught out of position a couple times throughout Season 15 and would get burnt by wingers that would take advantage of his positioning and inability to make quick turns and he was sick of it. The best way he could train was to train with the members of the Major League that are in the organization. Marco made some calls with the management of North Shore United and Reykjavik United to set up some training sessions with other players who returned home in the off-season. In order to improve his positioning, he traveled overseas to work with Reykjavik's Roberto Scarpetta. Scarpetta showed Tentacles improvements to his positioning and Tentacles would run drills with Scarpetta to practice these improvements. After a couple sessions of training with Scarpetta, Marco flew over to the Netherlands in order to train with Furious Chicken. With Chicken, he developed his ability to mark attacking players and close the gap. After training with the two defensive star players of the major club, Tentacles turned his focus on improving his agility. One player that knows how to make tight turns and control the ball accurately is Reykjavik's Jean-Claude Goddamn. Jean-Claude worked through different drills in order to help Marco gather control of the ball and maintain control of it in tight turns. He worked on everything from fast short turns, breaking up longballs by controlling the ball with his first touch, and battling for overhead lobbed balls. Using these improvements and developments, Marco Tentacles entered Season 16 poised for success.

APPROVED and APPLIED @Squid - learning from the best!

[Blueline]

Note: Please wait until 09/16 to grade.

Player Page

Media Day

After a long and exhausting season Sean only felt right that he should head back home and get some rest and family time. Only this time it was a little different. He was a SSL Champion at such a young age and he didn't want to let it breed complacency. As he was sitting in the airport, he texted fellow Irishman Sterling Scott "We got some training to do, be ready!" A long flight later and the plane touched down in Dublin. Sterling was hanging out in a parked car curbside waiting for him. As he approached he could see a middle aged woman sitting in the drivers seat. O'Leary looks at the woman, then sharply at Sterling. You made your mom pick me up at this time of night. Sterling gave a laugh and said, my mom insisted. After a short drive into the country side, we arrived at a very modest home, surprisingly with all the amenities we would need to physically train. It appears the Scott's family was well off and invested a lot into their son's football passion. Sterling showed O'Leary to his room and said "Get some rest." The next morning, Mrs. Scott prepared an excellent breakfast that the two devoured. After a short break of relaxing, the two started their long morning run around the estate. Followed by some high intensity training. This was to build up and maintain their high levels of cardio tolerance and sustainability during long matches on the pitch. Although they did spend some time weightlifting, about 80% of it was on their lower bodies with leg presses and squats. The upper body was more just for toning than anything else. After that, they would hit the small practice field outback and focus on the finer details of the game like dribbling, finishing, passing, etc. The two would stick to this routine religiously for the remainder of the off season. From sun up to sun down.

APPROVED but not yet and APPLIED 09/16, @Blueline - The secret to success is surely Mrs. Scott's cooking.

[Parriyah]

Player Page

Career Post 3




After yet another season with costly ball distribution errors, Misagh's decided that enough is enough. As brilliant as he is at stopping shots his lack of skill and composure with the ball at his feet has cost Buenos Aires many important points which could've put them in a much better stop in the league table had those mistakes not occurred. To prevent letting his team down in that aspect of the game again, Khabiri's decided he will become reliable with the ball at his feet, just as much as his shot stopping ability is.

Lady Luck smiled down on him in the off season, as Legendary Sweeper Keeper Ederson Moraes was hosting a training camp for whoever was interested in Manchester, England. Khabiri saw this as an incredible opportunity to improve his glaring weaknesses by learning from one of the best in the world at that skill, so he happily took some time off to travel to England, and attend Ederson's training camp.

Misagh's streak of good luck seemed to keep going as he was recognized the second he attended his first day of camp and Ederson liked the potential he saw in Misagh during his tenure with Buenos AIres, so he kindly offered Misagh extra training hours beyond the regular camp and heavily worked on Khabiri's ability to pass the ball, keep the ball secure, and even taught him how to fake out his opponents with confidence with the ball at his feet.

The camp lasted 30 days which was just enough time for Misagh to head back to Argentina and prepare for pre-season training with his team. The time he spent in Manchester with Ederson Moraes was incredibly beneficial as he is now a much more complete and modern keeper as opposed to a pure shot stopper who was dodgy in any other situation. His sweeping and distribution still aren't world class, but considering he was a 0 at it prior to the camp, he's good enough to have his teammates' trust when they pass him the ball and look to him to get the game running again.

No one knows this for sure but there are rumors alongside learning how to be a good sweeper, Ederson also taught Misagh a bit of penalty and free kick taking, There's no signs of him using that skill in the SSL just yet but in the near future, we may see him do something of the sorts and start volunteering to take set pieces for CABA.

APPROVED and applied  @Parriyah - Can't wait to see a free-kick goal by a keeper.

[Frenchie]

CPT #3

Fernand Rivest is a Montreal lad, through and through. He’s grown up to idolize hockey players, soccer players eventually, but the former have been steeped in his brain for as long as he can remember. The good part is that a lot of the undisputed GOATS of the hockey world between the pipes are all French-canadian : Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy, Roberto Luongo and Marc-André Fleury to name a few. With his newfound fame since the Brasserie Chez Stan sponsorship and his rise to soccer stardom since being drafted by Tokyo a couple seasons ago, his name was getting traction back in La Belle Province. When discussing with Managers Nhamlet and Metafiction, weighing in what he needed to work on, Fern suggested learning from the aforementioned greats, which was met with reluctance before the pair of gaffers proposed a middle ground, where he’d also need to reach out to some seasons soccer goalie veterans to balance out the hockey exclusive elements. So it was settled. Roy being a head coach wasn’t available, Fleury still being active wasn’t either, and Bobby Lou is spending too much time in Florida. That being said, Marty, the all-time winningest goalie, was nearby in New-Jersey and decided to rise to the challenge and help him out. They worked on positioning, mindset, play reading, communication, mental resilience, control and above all else : reflexes. See Marty was a specialist in a more….. unconventional style of play, which translated better to the soccer world. All in all, it was a weekend of hard work that seemed to pay its dues already.
 
To balance out this hockey side, Fern met up with another Montreal legend, Evan Bush. Evan played for a local lower tier team, the Montreal Impact, and his tenure was both impressive and shiny, just like his bald head some might add. He really helped hone all the things that were worked on to adapt them to the soccer elements, on top of hammering down one-on-ones, aerial ability, penalty saving, first touch and passing to name a few.
 
All in all, fern looks poised to have a much much much better second season in the land of the rising sun!

APPROVED - What I really want to see brought to sim soccer from hockey is good old fashioned body checking.

[Domffl]

CPT 3

Ali Dia (upgrade CM)


After a rather disappointing season for Hollywood FC, one of the few bright spots of the season, Ali Dia, decided he wasn't going to sit around and let himself be beaten over and over again by the same couple of teams. He immediately got to work on day one of the offseason, training with legendary midfield specialists from all over the world. Even though Dia was being used in a defensive setting for the time being, he was confident that he could stretch his possession game and vision to become a more useful player in the middle of the pitch without giving up too much on defense. Even now, he is easily the fastest player on Hollywood's young squad. His physical skills, the intangibles, the things that can not be taught by a training coach, those things Dia has already mastered, but his technique could certainly use some work. 
So, Dia sought out the best of the best to have ever played in midfield: Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez, Ricardo Kaka, Ronaldhino, and of course, Matt Le Tissier. Each of them agreed to come to Dia's home country of Senegal during the SSL offseason to teach all their best tricks. When season 19 starts up for the SSL, Dia will be ready to take on a more central role on his side of the pitch. Each mentor taught for a two week stretch. Iniesta taught Dia about positioning in midfield, particularly when off the ball. Xavi taught Dia about vision, particularly how to misdirect defenders' attention and timing his passes. Kaka taught Dia how to time his runs and dribbling techniques. Ronaldinho taught Dia how to use tricks and trickery during his dribbling to create scoring chances. And Matt Le Tissier taught Dia how to never miss another penalty kick ever again. Dia will look to spearhead the buildup creative momentum for Hollywood FC in S19.

APPROVED - Hollywood won't stay down long.

[sliceruser]

Career PT #3[url=https://index.simulationsoccer.com/#playerPages][/url]

i cannot get the player page link to work at all it just keeps breaking, my player name is alexandros mograine 

upgrade RD please

Alexandros had been a defensive focused player ever since he started his SSL career and despite playing RWB and trying to be a defender even in Academy he had some underlying offensive drive he couldn’t shake as a SHL player when he made the jump over to try soccer. So rather than become more versatile he put his focus into specializing further and covering more on the defensive side of the field by playing and practicing as a right defender. At first it was tough to get out of the offensive habit he had learned but slowly but surely, he started to get a better grasp of what was needed of him. It helped to have his teammates Ali Dia and Nathan Cormier there by his side to help him learn the ins and outs. They had only just arrived in Hollywood the season before and were bonified top 3 players in their draft class and defenders as well. they taught him the best places to position depending where the ball was on the field and to read the momentum to understand where the play was moving so his positioning and marking made leaps and bounds. They then had him do laps around the field into dribble practice which felt like lasted hours. For a month it felt like his legs were jelly going home until it started to feel normal and all of a sudden, his ability to keep the ball from going in weird places or being tackled away from him went soaring. Progress has been slow but after 3 full seasons he feels like he is finally starting to understand what it means to be a defender in a proper soccer league. With the start of his 4th season underway Alexandros can’t help but feel he and Hollywood have made large strides and are ready to start making waves in the league.
 
-315 words

APPROVED - the waves are coming, for sure.

[Xotcin]

Career Task #3

William has always been someone who puts it all into training, this offseason was no different. After a long and somewhat unsatisfying season, Williams decided it was time to stop messing around and really get back into heavy training. So he bought a ticket back home to Detroit to see some familiar faces. Once he landed he made it to his old training facility, an old warehouse in the suburbs. He met with his youth coach that trained him up until he was swooped up by Stockholm Idrottsklubb Academy. Coach Phil, as he was known, was quick to get William on the pitch to see where his weaknesses were. After a few shoot arounds and penalty kicks, Coach Phil knew what needed to be worked on. The kicks and throws were not up to snuff for the SSL, let alone the minor league. While the reflexes were there, Phil sensed a slight hesitation still. Lastly, the kid is looking skinny, let’s get some muscle built up before the next season. So it began a whole new training regime to get me into better shape. Honestly, building strength was the easy part. It was not very long before the results started showing. Once the muscle was there, the kicking power and throwing power came next. It almost seemed natural, like the ability to throw and kick further was there but the knowledge to do so was not. Lastly was the dreaded reflexes. Every young goalkeeper knows how important it is to have quick reflexes. The mental strain after just missing the ball by half a second is enough to drive a normal person mad. Williams is not normal though, they are a goalkeeper. Coach Phil had Williams doing the old basic trainings like an eight year old might do with the dad in the backyard. Catching tennis balls with one hand tied behind the back, diving saves while on your knees, and of course running a lap around the block for every goal let in during practices. You want to know the crazy thing about these basic training drills, they work. As Williams’ Agent, I watched the growth happen in real time. His reflexes got sharper to the point where any SSL team, major or minor, could trust him to keep balls out of nets.Next season is really going to show just how much Williams has improved.
[397]

APPROVED - oh, the plight of the keeper in a pace-addicted league.

[kdr]

CT#3 

upgrade RWB

It is time for the off season and these next two off seasons will be really important for the Puma. This season, I believe I will make it up to the big team and play for Tokyo.  And then next off season is the World Cup where I will represent The Isles in the competition.  I have been very good in the minors and my pace and offensive ability have served me well, but it is time to work hard on the defensive side and learn the tackling and getting the ball away from the opposing team.  I will be a totally compete player when I do this, well I am already complete, but you can never stop working on the tools of the trade.

First, I met up with my new team mates in Tokyo.  Especially helpful to me were Momo Adamu.  He is my mirror image on the other side of the pitch and a great veteran of the league.  As a LWB and LD to my RWB and RD he advises me on my slide tackling technique. He also advises me to get my strength up a little bit from where it is.  Next, I meet up with Jude Leer.  He is one of the leaders of the team and with him I work on my positional skills and vision.  He stresses how important it is for to see the field and plan two steps ahead to be the greatest player you can be.

After meeting with my league team mates, I fly back home to Britain and meet up with some of my compatriots in the British Isles.  There are some good veterans on my team especially in the defense, so I pick their brains and we work on everything I have learned so far.  I worked with Duncan Maxwell, Hol LeDiver, and Emmanuel Blackman.  We worked on tackling and positioning and stressed the need of Work Rate to keep going even when your muscles start to give out.

And that is how my off season went so that I can become the player I am meant to be.