How to Be a Professional Female Soccer Player

Over the past few years, the number of competitive female soccer players has increased exponentially. These exceptional female athletes are finally getting their share of the spotlight. One of these women may have inspired you to start playing. However, if you want to play soccer beyond the high school level, you may be unsure of how to do so. Here are a few steps that any aspiring professional soccer player should be taking.

Instructions --- Difficulty: Challenging

Step 1:
Practice, practice, practice The first step is the most obvious, and the hardest to do. It’s not enough to only attend training session twice a week with your teammates. Future professional players spend individual time with the ball every day to sharpen their skills and supplement their team practices. If you want to succeed in soccer, then you'll be practicing every day.

Step 2:
Attend soccer training camps By attending soccer camps taught by professional coaches, you'll have seasoned experts there to correct your bad habits as a player and teach you various new skills and techniques. Plus, you'll be playing with your soccer peers, who are just as dedicated to their soccer careers as you are. Never underestimate the power of friendly competition. In addition to attending soccer camps in your area, consider also an international soccer camp. These can range in length from a few weeks to half a semester, to even an entire academic year. Not only will you get the benefits of professional training, but you'll also have the opportunity to spend some time in another country with a different culture and learn a second language. To reach your dream of becoming a university or professional soccer player, you'll likely spend a lot of time traveling around the world to play. An international soccer camp will be a great introduction to that.

Step 3:
Update your soccer resume You might not think your soccer career is noteworthy now, but start keeping track anyway. Keep a record of every team you've ever played for. Track your statistics, the team's statistics, and every award you've received. Soccer resumes should also include an imbedded digital photo, your date of birth, height, weight, position, dominant foot, coaches' references and GPA for university consideration. Be sure to continue to update your soccer resume with current information year to year so that it’s ready to be forwarded to an interested coach, scout, agent, school or club at any moment. Don't think of it as bragging. Think of it as an honest assessment of the kind of player you are. When it comes to trying to play professional soccer, nobody's going to toot your horn for you. That's something you've got to do yourself. It's also a good idea to put together a soccer video resume or a highlight reel to send to university coaches or professional scouts who haven't had the chance to see you play. A personalized soccer video resume will effectively show what words and pictures cannot, and that may be the difference in getting a foot in the door.

Step 4:
Don't leave discovery to chance We all hear the stories about somebody who was just playing soccer in a park with friends when a professional scout happened by and signed them to a multi-million dollar contract. It makes for nice fantasy, but the chances of that actually happening are roughly one in 1.4 billion. You've got to get yourself out there. One way to do that is to attend elite soccer camps or high-level showcase camps, where professional scouts or football clubs will most likely be looking for fresh blood. Try to play in as many high-visibility games as you can, whether it's in college, at camps or in local competitive club matches.

Tips & Warnings:
Becoming a professional soccer player requires hard work and some good fortune, no doubt about it. But don't let that stop you. If you are truly determined to follow your dream of playing soccer professionally, follow these steps and play your heart out every step of the way. With passion, talent, and practiced skills, you'll become a force to be reckoned with on the pitch.

Resources:
Joey Bilotta is the vice president of EduKick, a soccer boarding school exchange program. Check them out online at: http://www.edukick.com.

EduKick Introduces Video Résumés for Soccer Self-Promotion

EduKick, Inc, a soccer boarding school exchange program, has introduced video résumés to its repertoire to help students promote themselves in the competitive soccer world.

Oakville, Ontario (PRWEB) December 7, 2007 -- With technology changing the way people work, play and even job hunt, soccer players applying to universities or professional clubs need to modernize their self-promotion efforts. To that end, EduKick, Inc, a soccer boarding school exchange program, has introduced soccer video résumés to its repertoire to help students promote themselves in the soccer world.


"University and professional teams are inundated with calls and résumés from players wanting to get noticed," said EduKick Vice President Joey Bilotta. "The key is to produce a packet of information for the coach or decision maker, including a high-level video highlight summary and a professionally designed soccer video résumé. You need something that will grab their attention and distinguish one player from the rest."


Soccer video résumés provide an opportunity for coaches to see players in action; even if they haven't been able to come watch them play in person. Players should still submit a traditional soccer résumé, which includes information like teams played for, those teams' standings, and individual statistics like scores, assists, points and shut-outs.


A soccer video résumé adds to that by giving soccer players their own personal highlight reel, which can help grab the attention of coaches, scouts and agents.


"We hear all the time how important self-promotion is when you're looking for a job," Bilotta said. "For our players, soccer is their job. We have the means to help them document their accomplishments on the field in a professional DVD highlight reel, which they can then use to help them stand out from their peers."


For the past five years, EduKick has been giving high school and university soccer players a unique opportunity to attend soccer board schools around the world. EduKick's soccer exchange programs take students to countries as diverse as Mexico, Italy, China and England. Some EduKick players even get the opportunity to participate in professional soccer trials.


"With EduKick, you get an experience unlike any other: training abroad in a professional soccer school environment," said Bilotta. "And now our players don't just have to tell coaches or professional teams about it. They can actually show them with video what they did with EduKick and how they played while abroad with us in our soccer school."


For more information about EduKick's soccer exchange boarding schools and soccer video résumés, visit them on the Web at http://www.edukick.com


To see EduKick's Soccer video résumé web page, click here: http://edukick.com/soccervideoresumes.asp?cat=146


About EduKick, Inc.:

EduKick's mission is to provide intensive soccer development training programs and academic soccer boarding schools that also teach youngsters about cultural diversity and foreign languages. As professionals, soccer fanatics and fathers, Joseph Bilotta and Corey Zimmerman wanted to create programs that maximized the EduKick youth's time abroad; instilling a sense of independence and pride through experiencing international travel, structured language study, cultural excursions, and daily professional soccer training.