How a legend is built from the inside
?Pressure can burst pipes, but pressure can also make a diamond.? Robert Horry, retired professional athlete. This pressure can be mental and also physical. As spectators we all wonder how someone with so much to lose in what seems like every game, prepares themselves for matches or a particular moment in those matches. At Beach Soccer Worldwide we wanted to know how one of the biggest stars ever, Spanish beach soccer legend, Ramiro Amarelle, did just that.
Amarelle has almost every award and beach soccer cup to his name so there is not a better person with whom one can discuss game preparation. His beach soccer resume includes: Five time Euro Beach Soccer League champion. Two time FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup MVP. FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Golden Shoe winner in 2008. Four time Euro Beach Soccer League MVP. He was also the Euro Beach Soccer League Top Scorer twice. He made an instant impact in beach soccer, winning the Euro Beach Soccer League Rookie of the Year award in 1998 as well.
From time to time, athletes block out the energy and the crowd and stay in their own head to make sure they accomplish what they came to do. Other times, professional players use the noise, cheers, and jeers to harness their drive and play harder when their team needs them. Amaralle has his own tactics and said, ?First, I try and visualize the situations where I think I can help the team. That helps me to stay motivated and focused. Second, I stay relaxed.? Not only does this keep a champion such as Amarelle ready for any moment, but it is also understood that being nervous in any situation will not produce the best outcome. Mental readiness is only a smart part of the overall work that goes into playing beach soccer though.
?Perseverance. Perseverance is the key to my physical training. I have sacrificed a lot to train and to work. Everything you can give on the field is due to your training off the field. The level of demand you put on yourself will determine your preparedness.? Amarelle also goes on to say that this sacrifice and lifestyle is exactly what he wanted. He has given up friends and lost connections to name some sacrifices. But of course, the relationships he has made and maintained have equaled what he has lost. For Amarelle, the physical preparation goes hand in hand with the mental training. For him, sometimes he is so focused on getting ready training physically, that he becomes introverted and cuts everything and everyone out. Other times he is more focused on being relaxed and opening up to people, making friends and connections helps him do that.
League matches, National Selection matches, and friendly matches make the seasons long and grueling for all professional beach soccer players, especially one as dedicated as Amarelle. Physical ailments, which all professional athletes face and are forced to play through, and which Amarelle himself was fiercly faced against during the last seasons, cause a big burden on the players´ psyche as well. Amarelle states, ?To overcome an injury, above all, you need patience. Every day you wake up with pain, and even though you want to play and compete, you see that you cannot … Fortunately for me; I was already older when I had my worst injury, a hernia, so I had more patience and was more mature. If the same type of injuries happened when I was 19 or 20 years old, there would have been much more anxiety, much more anticipation, because at a young age you are not able to relate your situation to the big picture in the same way.?
These taxing situations and difficult training schedules can also take another kind of toll. On the field. Amarelle believes that his training regimen and experience help him avoid letdowns, but there are bound to be moments of lapses. ?I think the biggest weakness I have is not being able to control the level of demand I put on myself, and then being unsympathetic to myself and others because it too often leads to frustration and discontent.? This is where his relaxation preparation becomes extremely important.
It all depends on how you look at the glass. Is it half full or half empty? Do you use precious preparation time worrying about the possible negative outcomes or do you continue to prepare for something more? Preparing for a match or for one moment where one pictures themselves scoring the game winning goal in the last second, like the one Amarelle made at the World Cup Qualifier in Moscow in 2012 against Ukraine, Ramiro Figueiras Amarelle has a proven track record and insightful information showing everyone that he makes diamonds.
