A Glimpse Into the Mind of an Expert Soccer Player

By: Alex Crimmins

When looking at expert athletes, I believe it is important to look at accomplishments

because they are a telling sign of their abilities to either lead a team or be successful as an

individual. When an expert is on a team it is also about winning championships not just

individual awards because that represents their ability to lead and carry a team. In an interview

with Jennifer Smith (to protect her identity this is a pseudonym), an expert soccer player who is

now retired, I found out what made her an expert from her youth days to the international level.

When talking about expertise, the term “deliberate practice” is instrumental in defi (Smith,

2010)ning what an expert is. The key thing in becoming an expert includes 10,000 hours or 10

years of deliberate practice (Ericsson, Krampe & Tesch-Romer, 1993). Deliberate practice

includes three things: no immediate financial or external rewards, structure that required effort

and concentration and the sport is not inherently enjoyable (Cote, Baker & Abernathy, 2003, pg.

93-94). In talking with Jennifer, I found that she agreed with some of the deliberate practice, but

was not sold on the idea that deliberate practice is the main reason to becoming an expert.

Jennifer’s accomplishments speak for themselves and she is very humble when talking

about herself. Her accomplishments include being a four-time NCAA national champion,

NCAA All-American, three-time All-Conference, three-time NCAA All-Tournament Team, four

conference regular season titles, four conference tournament titles, was the NCAA individual

career record for matches played (99) and matches started (94) upon graduation, was ranked 11th

in school history in goals, 12th in points and 18th in assists upon graduation, was one of 50

members elected to the conference 50th Anniversary Women’s Soccer Team, nine year member
of full national team for her country and is just one of three women inducted into the Canadian

Soccer Hall of Fame. Although she wasn’t scoring all their goals, she had a significant impact of

the success of her team. Even when she talked about her accomplishments and being an expert,

she wanted to focus on her drive to compete and win.

She started playing soccer because of her father and the environment he created in their

household. Soccer was always on the television and he was very passionate about the game. He

developed that passion in her although she played multiple sports. The development of that

passion grew stronger as she got older and at the age of 14 began solely focusing on the game of

soccer, but did play a sport in high school. Her parents were very supportive of her and provided

anything she needed, whether it was the financial needs, equipment, travel or moral support. The

fact that her parents were involved is significant in her developing her talents, but they did not

push her to a certain sport. They allowed her to choose even though her father wanted her to

play soccer.

As we started talking about how she began playing, I wanted to find out if her deliberate

practice started at a young age. One thing that was important to her was playing multiple sports

when she was younger and the only thing she wanted to do was compete. She did not care what

sport she was playing; all she wanted to do was win. Since she was so focused on winning, she

always challenged herself to become better in any way. Sometimes challenging herself meant

playing with the older girls or boys. She was able to develop skills in all areas and not just

soccer. This helped prevent a term called arrested development. Arrested development is when

an athlete is stuck and plateaus in the skill acquisition and their performance suffers and they are

unable to get better (Ericsson, Krampe & Tesch-Romer, 2003, pg 365). She also prevented
burnout because she did not specialize in one sport until she was older. Even talking about

practices when she was younger she gave a one-word answer: compete. She can’t remember the

specific drills, games or tasks, but the one thing she can remember is that she competed and that

was the most important thing.

One of the things that can affect youth players as they grow up is their relationship with

their coaches. Coaches are the ones that teach players the game and sometimes they can give the

wrong information or players don’t get along with them. For some people it is crucial that they

have a coach they like or understands the game so that they are comfortable. If the players have

a negative experience it may hinder their growth and passion for the game, but Jennifer felt that

that thought process was a very selfish one. Playing on a team means that multiple people are

counting on you to perform to the best of your abilities and if one is concerned about their

relationship with the coach it affects the team. Jennifer believes that players should be playing

for each other and not worrying about their coach. If a team has a problem with a coach they can

collectively as a whole change it. She also believes that it is all about your attitude and what you

make of the circumstances. If an athlete were to go into a situation with a coach thinking

negatively and worried about the coach, they will most likely not succeed because they are being

negative. For her it starts with one’s attitude and controlling the things that you can control.

As we moved on and started talking about her collegiate years, she admitted that she had

to work harder to compete with everyone else because it was a higher level. Practice became

more structured and lasted two to two and a half hours. She played six days a week so it was a

jump from playing three or four days a week. The level was more intense, but it continued to

develop her desire to compete and dominate her opponents. One of the elements of deliberate
practice is it is not inherently enjoyable, but this never really occurred with her. There may have

been moments where she wasn’t enjoying the drill, but it goes back to her love of competition

and to win. So the not inherently enjoyable element does not specifically relate to her. Her

college coach created a competitive environment in everything they did that also helped drive her

desire to compete and dominate. Every day they were challenged to get better which helped

prevent arrested development. She played on one of the best collegiate teams to ever, which

meant that they always had the best players. This meant she had to work hard every day and

challenge herself to compete to prevent losing her starting spot. When I asked if she ever

suffered from arrested development she said it was impossible for that to happen. In a team sport

it is easier to prevent because different aspects can be added. For her, in practice they would add

more pressure, less touches with the ball, overall a faster paced environment so that you had to

be challenged in ever second while playing. That way they bred the competitive desire while

becoming better each day. She had a passion to get better and that prevented her own arrested

development.

International soccer is very different from collegiate soccer because there is a small age

range, but at the international level there is a much bigger age range. Another difference

between international and collegiate soccer is while playing internationally you do not have to go

to class or have any other jobs. The only job a player has is to be a soccer player. This means

that practice can last as long as coaches want it to. The length of practice was the one thing that

Jennifer did not like about international soccer. She recalled times where she didn’t know how

long practices would be so she only gave 70% to 80% to preserve herself. By practicing those

habits daily it is an environment very prone for arrested development to occur and it did with
some athletes. Coaches created the type of environment where players couldn’t get better

because they weren’t working as hard as they could to avoid being too tired at the end of

practice.

Besides talking about deliberate practice, I also brought up the nature versus nurture

debate with her. I asked her if she believed that she was born a great soccer player or she had to

develop it throughout her life and her environment had more of an impact. Her answer goes

back to being a competitor. She said she was born to be a competitor and soccer just happened

to be the sport that she was talented at. In this instance, it seems that it is both nature and

nurture. She was born with the desire to compete and win, but her environment led her to soccer

and a passion for the sport.

The last thing we talked about was, according to me, the best part of the interview

because it allowed me to fully understand why she was so successful as a soccer player. I asked

her if she considered herself an expert after I explained the qualifications and definition of an

expert. As I mentioned before, she is a very humble person, so the answer she came up with was

a very different way of looking at things. Instead of looking at only her own career, she said she

did not believe she was an expert compared to her peers and some of the people she played with.

To clarify her answer, I have to say that she played with and against the top female soccer

players to ever play the game, not just in this country but the world. She trained with them every

day, which made her better and more humble. I looked at her accomplishments and asked why

with all her accomplishments she didn’t feel like she was an expert. Her response was that she

always felt that she brought something to the table in every minute of every game she played, as

well as in practice. She never considered herself the best player out there and maybe she wasn’t,
but she was still a player that if she wasn’t on the field it showed and it had an impact on the

results. Again, her humility plays a major role in how she views herself and her

accomplishments.

Although Jennifer doesn’t consider herself an expert, she would be considered one with

all the criteria and I certainly consider her one. She has played the game of soccer competitively

for 24 years from youth to international. As we ended our discussion and were talking about

being an expert, she believed the thing that sets experts and non-experts apart is the innate desire

to compete, which she defines herself as having. She is a very competitive person and believes

that separates that best from everyone else. The innate desire to compete and dominate

opponents is what drives the experts to get better. A soccer player can have the skills, but they

may not have the mentality and eventually it will catch up to them and to Jennifer that is the

most important thing. Throughout her career in both soccer and every job she has held, she

prides herself on her competitiveness and desire to win. If someone were to describe her in one

word it would be competitive.

After interviewing Jennifer, I feel like I have a better understanding of everything that

goes into being an expert. As we talked about in class, an expert has all of the athletic skills, but

one thing we don’t talk about often is the psychological and mental side that separates them apart

from everyone else. I believe now that not only being an expert means being a great athlete, but

it also has to mean wanting to dominate and crush opponents. Experts want to win everything

they do because that helps them get better.

Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R., & Tesch-Romer, C. (1993). The Role of Deliberate
Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance. American
Psychological Association , 100 (3), 363-406.

Smith, J. (. (2010, February 27). Expert Athletes. (A. Crimmins, Interviewer)