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A common answer to the question; How to become a professional soccer player is? goes like this. Practice, practice, and practice. Go and practice at least 10.000 hours. The 10.000 hours law looks to be set in stone. The rule states that without 10.000 hours of deliberate training become an expert in any field is impossible. Whether it is a musician, chess player or professional soccer player. This article answers the 10.000 hours of practice question. The short answer is this. No, you don’t need 10.000 hours of practice to become a professional soccer player. But, you will most likely need more to reach your potential.
How Did The 10.000 hours Rule Come About
The 10.000 hours rule seem to come about from different sources. Although the theory is usually ascribed to Ericsson, it’s most likely predate’s Ericsson’s theory. Ericsson never used the 10.000 hours rule and notes that the term should not be ascribed to him. Ericsson reviewed many of the differences between elite, and amateur athletes, chess player, and especially musicians. The 10.000 hours comes from among other sources, piano players.
Ericsson gives many examples of needed at least 10 years of deliberate practice to achieve expert status. Most of these examples are based on musicians like violin and piano players, and chess players. Many studies found that there are almost no chess players that are chess masters without 10 years of practice. The main point of Ericsson’s article(s) seem to be not the 10.000 hours or even the 10 years but the premise that masters and experts can be made and are not genetically superior. Ericson wrote that;
Before Ericsson
In 1973, Dr. William Chase and Dr. Herbert Simon found that on average you need 10 years to become an expert of a domain. Most of the research from Chase and Simon are taken from chess players. Chase and Simon furthermore noted that the difference between expert and non-experts are almost always due to the quality of tutoring and quantity of practice. The next milestone in the 10.000 hours term comes from Newell and Rosenbloom. In 1981, Newell and Rosenbloom found that practice makes almost perfect. Repeated movement is needed for a long time to masters a skill. The duo called this the “power law of practice”. The power law of practice, however, was found by Newell and Rosenbloom to be installed preferably at an early age. At the beginning of practice, there is a steep learning curve, while learning tends to plateau later (see graph). This also means that it takes more time and energy to sustain the learning curve. As one starts learning at a later age, catching up will be a difficult task. Important to note that power law of practice is a general note on learning and practice in psychology, not specific for sports.
Every Sport Has Its Own Learning Curve
Although the clues from Ericsson, Chase, Simon, Newell, and Rosenbloom are very useful, they can be counterproductive. Terms like 10-years practice and 10.000 hours, and “power law of practice” are an average for a specific activity, not a rule set in stone. Furthermore, for some sports early specialized practice has been found to decrease the likelihood of becoming an international performer. Starting early in specific sports that peak very early it seems necessary to start early and reach your potential before puberty. These sports could include ice skating and gymnastics. The dynamics of a team sport furthermore makes specialization more difficult. Where in solo sports the coach can heavily influence your learning curve, in team sports the team players can increase or decrease your learning curve. Furthermore, your position can benefit or hinder your progress.
Other Sports And Time Needed
The time needed to practice for anything is mostly available in your youth. You are in your prime for most sports at around 27 years of age. This could mean that you can start a sport at age 17. Some sports allow you to become the best at a later age (golf, darts). Below are some examples of different sports needing different ties to become top class.
Other Sports
- Golf, it takes on average more than 20 years of practice for golfers to win their first GPA. Even Tiger Woods trained 19 years before winning his first GPA tournament. Even the youngest winner Sarazen, took 10 years to practice.
- Wrestling, to become a top wrestler, it can take up to 10 years but “only” about 6000 hours of practice.
- Swimming; young female swimmers practice more than 6000 hours, while male swimmers practice more than 7500 hours.
- Gymnastics; Olympic Gymnast train a startling 18.000 hours at age 16! While international athletes train about 6500.
- Field Hockey; Professional hockey players practice more than 10.000 hours in their first 18 years of practice, about 1.000 more hours than national hockey players
- Ironman Triathlon; The expert athletes in front of the pack trained more than 12500 hours to date, while the middle of the pack practices more than 6000, and the end of the pack ending with 4000 hours of practice.
- Darts, professional darters, surprisingly practice quite a lot. This is because the average dart player has more time to practice due to their age. The average darts player is late 30’s, early 40’s. Professional male dart player practice almost 13.000 hours, while female professional dart player practices almost 6500 hours.
- Cricket; Skilled adult cricket players practice more than 7000 hours at adulthood, while under 20 years of age, skilled cricket players practiced almost 3500 hours.
How Many Hours Of Soccer Practice before You Are A Professional Soccer Player
One 2008 study studied the difference between soccer and Gaelic football and whether the two sports had any influence on each other. although the study found no significant relationship between the 2 sports. However, the study did provide important information. The athlete’s number of hours practiced were noted from age 6 until they got their professional contract. The number of hour of soccer practice included all hours of soccer practice (also amateur). The numbers of hours recorded were found to be about 4500 hours (average). This means about 7-8 hours of practice a week. Although these professionals are not top players, they are professionals. Another study noticed the difference between high performing and low performing players. the study found that high performing soccer players engaged in about 6000 hours of soccer, while low performing players engaged in 4500 hours of soccer until the age of 18 years.
What About Top Professionals Soccer Players
The average age of a soccer player in his prime is about 27 years of age. The best player in the world winners in the last 10 years is on average 27 years of age. On average you will need more than 10.000 hours to invest to reach your full potential. A study following Belgium soccer players found big differences as they progressed. At about age 23, international soccer players already accumulated 10.000 hours. These players at age 27 would have accumulated around 12.000 hours of practice to reach their prime.
Exceptions Of The Rule
On average you don’t need 10.000 hours to become a professional soccer player. To become the best you will probably need more than 10.000 hours, likely more than 12.000 hours. There are however exceptions.
- Ronaldo from Brasil, starting playing field soccer at the age of 13 years old. He started playing at a professional Brazilian soccer club at 16 years. 5 years later he was voted as the best in the world.
- TOTO Schillaci only started playing amateur soccer at age 16! Before this, he played on the streets. Schillaci would become the hero of the 1990 world cup, scoring 6 times. He was voted 2nd best in the world after 9 years of playing football.