7 (PROVEN) Ways: How To Get Better In Football

As a young footballer, all you want is to get into the first team and play at the elite level. But it is rarely that simple.  The path to playing in the first team can be a rollercoaster. You always need to grow your experience, competing for the first team positions, and even have to […]

7 (PROVEN) Ways: How To Get Better In Football

As a young footballer, all you want is to get into the first team and play at the elite level. But it is rarely that simple. 

The path to playing in the first team can be a rollercoaster. You always need to grow your experience, competing for the first team positions, and even have to go on loans to get more playing time. 



If you’re not patient and ready enough, you might even miss the opportunities that may present themselves to you. 



In our podcast episode, Joe Partington speaks with Sam Vokes (Welsh International) about how you can improve your game and how to get better in football, and take on the opportunities to take your game to the next level.


In this article, we take all the lessons given to us by Sam Vokes plus using over 30 years at the top level of the game to bring you 7 expert tips on how to get better in football.



If you have been struggling from the bench, or thinking of loan moves just as a negative thing, Sam Vokes has a different perspective and the article below is for you. 



If you don’t think turning pro is possible, Sam Vokes’ story is one of overcoming relegation, injuries and six loan moves before getting a place on the first-team squad. I think you will be inspired!


Lets go.



7 PRO Tips on how to get better in Football

Tip 1: Ask questions 

One of the most obvious ways to improve your game and get better at football as fast as possible is to ask quality questions and listen to others around you.


Coaches and all support staff, whether that is a strength and conditioning coach, physio, nutritionist, teacher, parent or psychologist are all there to help you.

It might seem daunting but taking that big step to ask someone a quality question can be the difference between improving significantly or maintaining your current level and always doing what you have done before.


Consider asking questions like;

  1. What do you think my best football quality is?
  2. What area of my football do you think I need to work on most?
  3. Would you mind giving me some honest feedback about my match/training performance?

“ If you’re asking questions to managers and coaches, and as I said before, scientists and physicists, it can only improve you as a person, as a player, and ultimately improve your career.”

Sam Vokes – how to get better in football


Tip 2: Be proactive and don’t be worried about what others think.

To other players doing things such as starting your pre-training routine early, or staying to do extras after training might seem “busy” or other players might make fun of you for going above and beyond the rest of the team are doing. But… this is where the gold is.

Try not to care about what others think, keeping your head on how to get better in football and chip away every single day at your own personal goals and processes.

Sam Vokes (Welsh international) says the below in our recent podcast episode with him about being proactive to improve your football.

“Being busy and proactive in yourself is an important thing in your professionalism. It’s down to you and at the end of the day, it’s your career.”

Sam Vokes – how to get better in football


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Tip 3: Enjoy your football and keep it in perspective.

When thinking about how to get better in football it is really important to keep your training, the game and your ambitions and goals in perspective.

By this we mean. It can be easy to become obsessed with reaching your goals. However, by overthinking and becoming desperate about the outcome it is easy to forget to focus on the process.

You often hear football players talking about “taking one game at a time”. This is the same point. Rather than getting ahead of yourself and thinking about the bigger goal and ambition, it is most important to focus on the day-to-day improvements and details you can work on to improve.

Before you know it you will take a breath in a few months’ time and will not recognise the player you have become. By focusing on the day-to-day and staying in the moment you have done the exact things you needed to improve.

16:31 “When those moments come across and you’re that nervous, it’s quite hard to enjoy it. Looking back now, I think I did enjoy it. Take the moments, take the oppotunities and stay in the present. Dont look too far ahead.” 

Sam Vokes – how to get better in football


Tip 4: Football lifestyle 

There are a few areas of your lifestyle that can hugely benefit your football and better still they are free and easy.


For Welsh international, Sam Vokes, he considers them ‘non-negotiable in how to get better in football. These areas are eating well, sleeping well and training hard every single day.


Below are the quotes from our Leave No Doubt Podcast where Sam Vokes talks about living right, having a good football lifestyle and training hard to improve your game and how to get better in football.

25:18 “If you have not lived your life right and done the right things in the week and you know you’re going into a big game at the weekend, there’s no worse feeling.”

Sam Vokes – how to get better in football


41:32 “We’ve all been in those situations when you know you’re not in the team but there’s only one way you’re going to get yourself in the team and that’s doing things the right way on a daily basis.”

Sam Vokes – how to get better in football


43:58 “Even if you’re on the bench, I think the way you eat, the way you feel and the way you prepare on a Friday night has got to be exactly the same.”

Sam Vokes – how to get better in football



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Tip 5. Take responsibility for your performance and learn

Taking responsibility is one of the most humble things you can do as well as it can also massively improve your performance and your game.

Think of it this way.

If when you think everything is someone else’s fault or you look for excuses of why you didn’t play well, win or have a good performance you literally don’t learn anything and if you don’t learn anything you don’t improve.

On the contrary, even if you feel you played well but you still lost or for that matter in any situation if you ask the question to yourself;

What could I have done better? What was in my control that I didn’t do? Why did that person react in that way, perhaps I could have asked or said it to them differently.

In every situation you find yourself in there is a way YOU can take OWNERSHIP of the outcome.

This is so so important to do and it means you can learn and adapt to all the situations you find yourself in, even if they first appear negative on the surface they can quickly turn into a positive.

45:16 I whatever way of life, it’s easy to blame something else and not take the blame on your shoulder. But at the end of the day, where’s that gonna get you?

Sam Vokes – how to get better in football


01:02:17 “It’s important not to get frustrated. Just do the same things as when things are going your way and ultimately it will turn round and go in your favor. You just have to stick with it, learn the lessons and move forward.”

Sam Vokes – how to get a better football player


“As a player and a person, you’ve got to put yourself in that position that when the manager makes that call, you’re the one to pick the phone.”

Sam Vokes – how to get better at soccer


Tip 6. Make sure you are ready for the opportunity 

After scoring 10 goals in 10 matches for the Bournemouth youth side, Sam Vokes got a call to join the first team at only 17. He says this wouldn’t have been possible if he wasn’t enduring the day-to-day work that made him ready to grab the call when it came. 

“No matter what level you play and what age you are, You’re never too far away from getting an opportunity to be involved,” he says. It’s always important to be ready by putting yourself in a position to answer the call when it comes. 

Sam says the only way to become ready is by doing the right thing always. 

His readiness was the beginning of his career with FC Bournemouth where he later joined Wolverhampton Wanderers before going on loans at Leeds, Bristol City, Sheffield United, Norwich City, Burnley, and Brighton. He later signed for Burnley, Stoke, and later Wycombe. He has scored 110 career league goals, including 62 for Burnley in his 7 years reign at the club.

“We’ve all been in those situations when you know you’re not in the team but there’s only one way you’re going to get yourself in the team and that’s doing things the right way on a daily basis.”

Sam Vokes on the leave no doubt podcast: How to get better in football


Tip 7. Reframe your negative thoughts!

If you sometimes have negative thoughts creeping into your mind, they can knock your confidence and really affect your game.

In order to stop negative thinking there are loads of things you can do to help stop the negative and turn them into a positive.

One of the things Sam Vokes articulated in his podcast episode with us was to ‘reframe your negative thought’.


For example, Sam goes on to explain “it could be finding lessons from the mistakes you made.”


Challenge yourself and unpick the negative thoughts. If you didn’t play as much as you would like to, try and identify areas to improve on. Ask yourself questions like;

  1. What can I learn from this negative thought?
  2. What is the one lesson from the negative thought?
  3. What ownership and responsibility can I take to improve the negative thought?
  4. What is in my control to improve this negative thought?

Your body follows your mind. Stop the negative thinking today and start reframing!

If this idea of challenging negative thinking rings a bell for you. Check out our article 13 Powerful Exercises to stop negative thinking TODAY for loads of ways to help turn those negatives into positives and boost your football confidence to new levels.

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How to get better in football – Sam Vokes – Leave No doubt podcast


The Sam Vokes how to get better in football podcast episode: Show notes 

Who is Sam Vokes

Sam Vokes currently plays for the League One side Wycombe Wanderers and Wales national team. In a career that stretches to 15 years to date, he has played for clubs such as AFC Bournemouth, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Burnley, and Stoke City. 

Vokes has also been on loan to Leeds, Bristol City, Sheffield United, Norwich City, and Brighton. He’s scored over 110 league goals in over 500 appearances for different clubs and the national team. 

Sam Vokes Early Career and Joining The First Team Squad

When he scored 10 goals in his 10 appearances for the FC Bournemouth youth team, Sam Vokes put himself in the right place to grab any opportunity to join the first team. Just a night before matchday, he was called up to join the first team and was included in the starting 11 after the team suffered four injuries. That was the beginning of Vokes’s career for FC Bournemouth’s senior side. 

He was just 17 then and he recalls struggling to cope at the level since he was only used to playing for the youth team. However, he stayed open-minded, hungry to learn more, and asked questions to improve his game. 

“ If you’re asking questions to managers and coaches, and as I said before, scientists and physicists, it can only improve you as a person, as a player, and ultimately improve your career.”

Sam Vokes – how to get better in football

Although he was nervous in his first game, he says it’s always important to enjoy the moments and just try and play your game. 

His involvement with the first team also helped change his football lifestyle.



The youth team environment was completely different from the first-team environment. Vokes thanked the managers and the senior players around him who understood that he was coming from a different environment and even helped him feel comfortable and settled in the senior team. 





The pressure even piled on him as a striker when his club was stripped off 12 points due to the ownership saga, an incident that sent them to a relegation battle that they did not survive, despite scoring 12 goals for the side. 



At the time, he was also dealing with life’s pressure, with wages cut to half, living in a hotel without friends and family, and other teammates also struggling to take care of their families. 



Approaching the game with the pressure



It’s always hard to approach the game in the right way when dealing with different types of pressure. 

Sam Vokes advises players to always keep their focus, concentrate on the game, and look after themselves in front of the game by making sure you are training the right ways and taking care of their nutrition. Some other times, you will have to sacrifice some other things like friends and partying time just to help you focus on building your career, it all helps in how to get better in football. 


“If you have not lived your life right and done the right things in the week and you know you’re going into a big game at the weekend, there’s no worse feeling.”



He notes that eating the right way and going to the gym for exercises can tremendously help you keep your body in the right shape and condition for the matchday.

Gaining Promotions, Loan Moves & Playing as a Substitute

After AFC Bournemouth was relegated to League Two, Sam Vokes’s efforts earned him a spot at the Championship side with Wolverhampton Wanderers, in a season that they led the league almost entirely and eventually earned a promotion to the Premier League. 

However, with the in-form strikers Chris Iwelumo and Sylvan Banks-Blake, Sam Vokes found himself mostly playing as a substitute. To gain playing time, he opted for a loan move to the League One side Leeds United. He later returned to Wolves but went again on loans to Bristol City, Sheffield United, Norwich City, going back to Burnley, and later signed on loan at Brighton. 

All these moves, Vokes says, really helped him not only to earn playing time but also build his career as a young player. He advises young players not to see loan moves as a step back and instead use them to grow their experiences in different environments.

“ I look back right now and think they (loans) were probably the best part of my football. It’s probably where I learned the game and where I learned about myself.”

Sam Vokes – how to get better in football


Vokes says these moves to different environments helped him “pick up a little bit” from every manager and learn as a person.  He says that they were better than sitting on the bench.

Signing for Burnley

Even after signing for Burnley, Vokes battled to get into the first 11 as the manager preferred more mobile strikers in Charlie Austin and Danny Ings. He again found himself playing as a substitute. However, he says even in this situation, as a player, you’ve always got to be ready.

While it’s clear that you are not in the first team, the only way to get in it when in this situation is by doing the right things the right way on a daily basis and this is how to get better in football more generally as well.

“Even if you’re on the bench, I think the way you eat, the way you feel and the way you prepare on a Friday night has got to be exactly the same.”

By making the proper preparations for the game, you give yourself the best chance to perform and help the team.

There’s no need to have excuses going into a matchday. It only brings the team down. Instead, go with a good mindset if you want to set a positive impact. 

This mentality eventually paid off when Charlie Austin left the club and Vokes was chosen as the main striker, combining with Danny Ings up front. 

Even with the success, he has realized, he advises players not to get too high with the highs, or too low with the lows in their career. It’s always good to get grounded in the middle so that you can keep the right people around you.

Advice to substitute players

“Although you can’t see the next level, keep doing the right things right, day in and day out. If the opportunity comes about, you’re there to take it.”

Dealing with injuries, goal droughts, and game pressure

After suffering a nine-month injury, Vokes says although it was challenging for him, he only focussed on picking the positives by learning from them. He started a diary that kept him on track toward recovery. The diary helped him set goals and targets, with steps from getting back to walking again, to playing again in his first match after it. He thinks this is a massive way of how to get better in football. He also wrote about sessions and what he had to do to recover fully. Vokes also relied on the sports staff who built sessions to get him up to the level they thought he could play again.

 

As a striker, everyone sees you as a person to provide the goals, assists, and gets forward for the team. However, he says the role has changed and now strikers need to contribute even more. And when the pressure gets high in the march, it’s important to stay calm and relaxed. You just have to believe in yourself, step forward and represent your country or club.

There’s no need to be too worried when you’ve hit the goal drought. Sometimes it can be frustrating to be doing everything but not just scoring as a striker. It happens for most strikers and there’s nothing personal.

Vikes says you just have to do what you had been doing when you were on form and things will turn round in your favour.

“ It’s important not to get frustrated. Just do the same things as when things are going your way and ultimately it will turn round and go in your favour.”

E-Perform Action Points: How to get better in football

How to prevent football injuries

  • Stay active even at the end of the season. If you let your muscles and ligaments become inactive during the off-season, you’re likely to succumb to injuries.
  • Warm-up before the match. Cold and stiff muscles are more prone to injuries compared to warmed-up muscles.
  • Focus on hydration and proper nutrition. Dehydration leads to cramps and can lead to overheating, which makes players highly likely to get injured.

How to improve your game and how to get better in football

  1. Always do the right thing, from training and eating right. That gives you a higher chance to grab onto the opportunities when they come.
  2. Go on those loan moves! They’re never a negative thing! In fact, they give you a chance to improve your experience and get more playing time.
  3. Whether you are on the first team or not, always prepare for the matchday just like the first 11 team members. 
  4. Ask Questions
  5. Be proactive – don’t be worried what others think
  6. Enjoy your football to be your best
  7. Improve your football lifestyle
  8. Take responsibility
  9. Be ready
  10. Reframe your negative thoughts



Resources

Important articles

13 Powerful Exercises to stop negative thinking TODAY

The BEST football players leg workout (2022, Free PDF)

10 Common Soccer Injuries (and How to Treat Them) (soccercoachingpro.com)

Soccer Nutrition & The Footballers Diet | Understanding Sports Nutrition (isspf.com)

Nutrition for Soccer Student-Athletes_web version.pdf (sportsrd.org)



Episode timestamps

[02:09] About Sam Vokes

[02:55] Elements of success

[03:50] Comparing football 15 years ago to modern-day football

[05:05] How best can one use people around them to become better

[09:48] Learning the different roles at the elite football level

[12:00] Playing at FC Bournemouth

[14:06] Getting ready for the opportunity

[18:15] Comparing the youth team environment to the first-team environment

[20:18] Dealing with relegation pressure

[25:00] Preparing on a matchday

[26:08] Fulfilling the ambitions to play in the Premier League

[32:22] Going on loans

[35:42] Adapting and getting comfortable in different environments

[40:18] Signing for Burnley

[44:50] Overcoming excuses mentality

[45:56] Becoming the main player alongside Danny Ings

[49:42] Dealing with injuries

[54:50] Staying fit to perform in the Premier League

[59:07] Pressure and responsibilities as a striker

[01:02:17] What to do when facing goal drought as a striker

[01:02:28] Representing Wales in the international duty

[01:14:16] Playing on a high-pressure game

[01:17:30] Different between 17-year-old and 31-year-old Sam Vokes

[01:19:50] Attributes young players need to develop their game.

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Learn Lessons from the best players in the game: Leave No Doubt Podcast: Out NOW: Sam Vokes – how to get better in football.
how to get better in football