https://padlet.com/c_j_mdragon/2yb98df9ptsx en-us 2017-08-06 21:56:20 UTC 2025-12-07 17:22:13 UTC hello@padlet.com c_j_mdragon https://padlet.com/c_j_mdragon/2yb98df9ptsx/wish/180208492 My dad came to the United States from Mexico when he was 19. Growing up in Mexico, he played soccer and was actually quite talented and passionate about the game. His passion for the game was passed onto me at a very young age, starting soccer when I was 5 years old. I was learning how to kick the ball properly and dribble and my dad always stressed the basics and their importance to me. He always said that the first step in becoming a better player is to master the basics first. In order for me master these skills, I would need to learn the basics and learn them well.

Looking back I now realize my father was teaching me the 3 steps of learning a skill, much like the Fitts and Posner 3 stage model. The first stage was the cognitive stage. This first stage is based primarily off of cognitive and verbal processes. My dad would show me how to properly kick the ball or how to dribble, and I would have to try and mimic that motion. This allowed me to come up with a plan on how kick the ball properly, a strategy to know where to kick it with on my foot. The next stage is the associative stage: this is the stage I got good enough to consistently kick the ball without major issues. I started to gradually get better at kicking. The last stage is the autonomous stage: this would be when I no longer had to really think about setting myself up proper, it was just an automatic task. ]]> 2017-08-06 21:57:50 UTC https://padlet.com/c_j_mdragon/2yb98df9ptsx/wish/180208492 c_j_mdragon https://padlet.com/c_j_mdragon/2yb98df9ptsx/wish/180233757 When I first started playing organized soccer, my favorite position was forward. I loved the feeling of scoring a goal. I played forward a lot of my career in youth soccer. The object was to score goals as often as possible as a forward, and so you had to be fast, a good shooter, or a good dribbler. I wasn't super fast, but I could dribble well and could shoot well too. Being able to run full speed and dribble with enough touch to keep the ball in your possession on top getting by defenders took some good coordination.

Being able to dribble a soccer ball while running full speed requires strong foot-eye coordination and vision. Using your eyes to guide where your feet and legs running while maintaining possession allows you observe the defense and where you want to attack. A strong sense of vision and good coordination make for a strong forward.

Shooting required accuracy. A forward that can shoot accurately on goal is a forward that has a likely chance to score a lot of goals. The more shots you have on target, the higher the chance of scoring more goals. ]]> 2017-08-07 03:39:56 UTC https://padlet.com/c_j_mdragon/2yb98df9ptsx/wish/180233757 c_j_mdragon https://padlet.com/c_j_mdragon/2yb98df9ptsx/wish/180234477 When my dad played soccer in Mexico his favorite position was goalkeeper. He would tell me stories of how he was the youngest person in the adult league in his village at 15. Most men were in their 30s. He always talked about how he was pretty good for his age and his greatest skills as a keeper was stopping penalties. These stories motivated me to become a goalkeeper. Being a keeper required the ability to react to a shot with quick reflexes. These shots tested you're ability to process where the shot is going to react to the shot as quickly as possible.

Being a goalkeeper always tested my ability to process information. Seeing the shot taken would be an example of Stage I of Information Processing, the Stimulus Identification. Stage II of Information Processing is the Response Selection. Reacting to the shot quickly would be an example of this stage. Having the ability to react quickly to a shot is difference between a shot saved and a goal scored. ]]> 2017-08-07 03:50:54 UTC https://padlet.com/c_j_mdragon/2yb98df9ptsx/wish/180234477 c_j_mdragon https://padlet.com/c_j_mdragon/2yb98df9ptsx/wish/180235123 High school is a tough place, not to mention sports there too. I went out my freshman year for soccer and was one of three freshman to make varsity. I remained on varsity all 4 years, and each year my role on the team became larger and larger. I got much better over my last two years of soccer from the amount practice and effort I put in. That's all I cared about and I worked hard to get better, and I did. My coach wanted us to have the most effective practices possible, and so he made our practices random variability for the basic skills. 

He always stressed that the basics were important and being able to not think about it doing them should be the goal. Because of that, everyday we would work on the basics but he would change up the conditions on how we make short accurate passes, or what size of target we shoot on, or where to pass on the open man. This allowed us to interweave these skills and become better at them quicker. This went from my coach make us restart after an error or run as punishment for not putting in enough effort to improving our performance on these drills and decreasing our errors in practice, allowing us to get done early or scrimmage longer. ]]> 2017-08-07 04:02:06 UTC https://padlet.com/c_j_mdragon/2yb98df9ptsx/wish/180235123 c_j_mdragon https://padlet.com/c_j_mdragon/2yb98df9ptsx/wish/180236099 Now that I am at college, I don't have as much time to practice or play soccer. I am a little rusty and not in good form like I was in high school. During the fall some friends and I try to relive our high school days by playing intramural soccer. I really enjoy it because I love the game and I love the competitiveness, even if it is only for a free t-shirt. 

Trying to perform the best and like I used to at my peak performance requires me to dig into my long-term memory and get back the muscle memory of kicking a soccer ball and dribbling. I know I have active memories of playing soccer and how to move with the ball and kick, but initially it is poor when it has been an extended period of time. After a little practice though, my mind and body become in sync and my ability to remember my skills becomes like riding a bike, you always remember how to do it after a little practice. ]]> 2017-08-07 04:15:49 UTC https://padlet.com/c_j_mdragon/2yb98df9ptsx/wish/180236099