What did our students learn from Mark Viduka?

As part of a learning task, our students were asked "What is the main message that you will take away from this interview and apply it to your life?" As you can see by their responses, each child took something different from the same interview, which shows us as coaches that despite our best intentions to pass on a singular message, the human mind will interpret the message in its own way.

"If you want something don't get distracted by things that won't have such a huge effect on your life."

"Hard work and mental toughness and enjoyment of the game will get you the furthest and that you cant take your chance for granted and that you only have one chance to prove it."

"To train every chance that I have. Even if it is kicking a ball against a brick wall."

"You have to take the ups and the downs of life and football."

"To stay motivated and stay focused on your long term goal"

"The main message I take from this interview is to do what you love and to keep going even though it will be tough.

"To always be mentally strong and don't waste time and just practice with every little spare time you have."

"With hard work you can be success full and sometimes you have to do the things others don't to become successful".

"That you have to be mentally strong and stay focused if you want to achieve something."

"It's all about consistency in life and you have to deal with the ups and downs"

"You have to have the mental strength to not only get through soccer but also in life and how you have to try and stay composed on the pitch and not let things like crowds and haters get into your head and try to only focus on yourself."

"Keep practicing, always go outside and get a ball, and also write long-term goals and short-term goals".

When Mark wanted to make it in the top 20% he said "I'm here for a reason and that's the reason I'm here for", which I will apply in other things in life.

"Be mentally strong and learn what I should improve on to keep up with others or even excel in a field."

"That if you want something in life, you have to work as hard as you possibly can to get it. Nothing will come easy. But always enjoy what you are doing."

"Concentrate on your own development and keep working to make yourself the best player."

"A good mentality, because if I'm playing on a much older age group it would be a lot of pressure because that's where things start to get a lot more serious and if you cannot deal with that you're chances of getting into the professional level is very slight, that's why I will work on it and apply it to my life"

"The message I will take away from this is to focus on and have a strong mindset as he talked about mentality I see how important it is and how much it can affect your game and life".

"There is only one thing that can determine the outcome of your life and that is you. What I mean by this is nothing is going to come easy you are always going to have to put in effort but the more effort you are willing to put in the more that will come out of it."