"Keeping motivation to do things like ball work by myself as I prefer training in a group"

"Maintaining the motivation to train every day. It was a struggle to find time to practice at least 5 mins a day while having lots of schoolwork. Lockdown also had me adjusting to the limited resources and space I had since my backyard isn’t very big."

"Training on my own and missing the opportunities to play 90-minute games and a full season. The reason that was a challenge was that the intensity of individually training and training with a group is a massive difference. Coming back and training with others, I still felt unfit regardless of individually training most days."

"Maintaining fitness. I only really worked on technical things when I went to train and didn’t do a lot of fitness training. Pilates definitely helped my fitness. A big mental challenge was staying motivated because it wasn’t easy always going to the ground to train, but when I had my mates to train with me, that helped motivate me"

"Having no motivation, not being to actually get out of bed, thinking that if I slacked back it would be easier but it really wasn't. I found myself being indoors for at least 3 weeks at one stage last year and it really drained me not only physically but also emotionally. I didn't go outside for a walk/run at all or not even just go outside to check the mail just for a bit of sun. My room is quite dark and I don't get sun due to my neighbor's big tree in the way. But the main biggest challenge was just changing my mindset. I definitely was thinking I would be fine if I didn't accomplish anything or set goals for myself but once I experienced it I was definitely at a low. So I find it hard to work at home since I have just myself at home so secluded no one to properly talk to. But now I'm happy I've understood that self-love/care is very important."

"Getting motivated to train instead of watching tv."

"Maintaining a good level of match fitness. I had gone for many interval runs and gone to the pitch with some mates, but it wasn't the same as an actual match. It felt different when I came back but I got my fitness back to a good level as I got 10.3 on the beep test. I think that if we did not have coronavirus and I played a lot of matches within that time, I could have been at another level in terms of my fitness. But there are no excuses so this time I have been taking a different approach. Eating better, doing match-specific training, and going for some interval runs as well.

"Keeping motivated enough to train most days and resisting staying up late at night".

"Keeping motivated. Having those days where you get up and try to find any excuse to not train. Things like weather conditions, too much work to finish, or just saying I trained yesterday so ill have a break today. One thing I have noticed is that training with purpose benefits you more than training just so you can say you trained. If you train with the purpose it can make your progress quicker. If you don't it keeps you at the same level and does not really benefit you apart from keeping you fit."

"I found it difficult to keep in balance with different subjects and keep my soccer schedule in place. A lot of the time it felt like we were bombarded with work - so it was hard to find time for ourselves. once I got back to club soccer, everyone was all over the place because some people trained harder than others during lockdown - which showed our true dedication to the sport. It was hard not training as a team because we all developed so differently by ourselves. lockdown encouraged self-development, but also meant that teamwork was being put aside. The lockdown also meant it was difficult to practice game situations and have a coach to support and critique your gameplay. However, I think the lockdown taught us independence and self maturity, and things like yoga sessions kept us in a routine."

"Not playing with the ball due to having limited space and not having someone else to train with"

"Staying consistent with my training and finding the motivation to tell myself that it will all be over soon, only for it to keep extending."

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