Our values

Today I am writing about our values and why we have them. Love, Grit, Faith, Respect, Imagination. These are not random words for the sake of presentation. It is our code, the way we think and the way we act.

Love

What is love? Why is it the main value of a football academy? Excelling in sports or anything these days; is based off numbers and results. Should it not be something that relates more to the traits of the athlete, like determination or teamwork? Maybe, however I believe we have to go deeper...

Ask a 5 year old what Love is and the first thought they have might be of a man and woman, maybe they are kissing, or getting married, buying presents. However it is much more. There is no exact definition of Love, because to define something means to limit it. But if I were to try and define it, I would say that it is everything. You were made of Love, you live for Love. As cheesy or corny it may seem, we should not hide from it. And unless you are a psychopath, every other emotion you have is because you love. It's what sparks us, makes us feel alive. In everything that people do in which they consider truly important, there is the one common factor, Love. It is a value that is only understood by those who have felt it or are open to it, and is the core of MaceFootball.

At MaceFootball, we want players that love the game first and foremost. We are here to develop our relationship with football, to experience and to learn more and more about it. That feeling of wanting to go to the park, watching highlights before you go to bed, waiting for the bell to ring for lunch so you can play with your friends, nutmegging someone, beating a player. If you don't love the game, you do not have this feeling. As a business it is very easy to accept whichever parent wants their kid to have lessons, it is harder as a coach and romanticist to take on kids that are clearly not interested in the game. And this is not to be taken as a bad thing at all. It is not for everyone, but there is a reason why it is the most played sport in the world. We can help nurture this interest and love but it is ultimately up to the player. The journey of a footballer is not easy, and while it is unavoidable to be met with adversity, the very awareness of our love for the game is what keeps us going.

GRIT

The first thing that comes up when you type in google the definition for grit is "small loose particles of stone or sand." This is not what we mean when we put grit as one of our values, but it reminds me of a training session I had years ago.

It was hot, right after bushfire season and the Australian summer was brutal. The air was so dry and the pitch we were training on was so chopped up it had been reduced to a few patches of dead grass mixed with this very loose dirt. Right next to the field was a small farm, which meant the smell of animal manure always drifted in the air. This was also during preseason which meant we had to do a lot of running. Now the session was going ok until the last 15 or so minutes, where we had to do fitness. We did a circuit around a square, split in 4 different groups all going at the same time either jogging or sprinting. Immediately after the first sprint there was a big fog of dirt almost everywhere, which was tolerable for the first few minutes, but by the end of the 15 it had gotten worse and worse and I was convinced I was breathing in more dirt than air. I was one of the younger players on the team so I had a bit of an ego to try and prove myself. I told myself I was not going to stop unless someone else did and then I would consider it. This was not a wise choice. No one was tapping out! Even our coach just told us to keep going, I couldn't believe it. 20-25 players all running and kicking up dirt in a 20 by 20 meter square. I had never experienced anything like it before, the air that you so easily breathe everyday now attacking your lungs. It felt horrible. We managed to finish and by the end of it my chest was burning, I was coughing and wheezing, every breath was hurting, none of it was healthy. That night I remember being in the shower washing my body, and seeing all this black water go down the drain. Not the most prestigious way of training.

I did learn from it though. That was just one example of grit. To go against the grain, to bite the bullet, to swallow the frog. That session did not improve my fitness, in fact it probably just worsened it. But grit is mental. And it's what we teach here. We don't make our players run through unbreathable air, our sessions are completely safe. However they are being intentionally challenged to test their ability to endure, and not only to endure but to come out the other end with a stronger mentality. Anti-fragility. We seek past the comfort zone, not because we always want to, but because we have grit.

FAITH

To have faith is to believe. To have faith is to trust. When you're under pressure and it seems like there's no hope, faith is the last light. The bigger the goal, the more faith is needed.

Training is repetitive, to be a master of anything requires 10,000 hours of practice, so it's easy to give up. There will be times where it's the middle of the winter, it's freezing and dark outside and your bed is so warm. You drag yourself to the field, and for some reason you just can't control the ball, you can't juggle, dribble, nothing is working and you have a shit session. You're frustrated, annoyed and the little injury you copped from training last night starts to hurt. You start thinking things like "What am I even doing here, I should've just stayed in bed", and "No one is here watching me, there's nothing to prove to anyone." In moments like these, faith is needed most.

Faith is your ability to understand that if you want it enough, you will make it happen. It is your ability to trust that somehow, through doing the work and having delusional optimism, things will work out for you. It means believing in the most powerful force, you.

At MaceFootball we have a word for faith. That is undeniable. Both for ourselves and our players we believe in fully. The same must be for each player, they must believe in themselves, otherwise there is no point starting. Whether they want to pursue professional football or just to become a better player, there is always an objective goal they must have, a standard they must reach. We identify this and work towards it, and the first step is to have faith.

RESPECT

Respect is the ability to admire . Respect has levels. Human to human there is a natural level of respect, regardless of status, power or money. This is the truest form of respect, and is very rare, or I should say not common enough. It makes you humble, and keeps your ego in check. In football, a good coach demands the respect of his players, a better coach respects all players back. However this respect is earned, and the more respect earned means the more respect given. As a coach I respect my players by listening to what they have to say, and also understanding that I do not know it all, and I can learn from my players. As a player I respect my coach in turn by listening, and trying to understand the instruction. This is key to any team environment and is what we emphasise here.

Respect also comes from within, players that doubt or put down their ability do not respect themselves. While it is a fine line; we believe our players should be confident but not cocky. Respect is about knowing what you're capable of, and holding yourself to a high regard whilst understanding that everyone is equal.

Imagination

"To get something you never had you have to do something you never did."

Denzel Washington.

Read the underlined words very carefully. My best friend once told me that you do not desire things that you do not know about or that you know you can't achieve. This simple sentence clicked with me because it went hand in hand with something I have believed for a long time but was never able to put in words. That was this; your desire alone is proof that there is a version of yourself in the future, having that desire fulfilled. Everything that humans have ever created started with a thought, an idea, imagination. We all have desires, and while not all of them can come true, it is an indicator, telling you something about yourself.

This is why imagination is so so important. To imagine is to dream, and daring to dream is courageous. In pursuit of achieving your truest desires, there must be sacrifice of other weak willed desires.

Imagining also means questioning everything, "What is this teaching me", "What if it was done this way instead, what would happen". At MaceFootball we encourage our players to ask and ask and ask. To feed their creativity and allow a safe space for expression.