5 Cold-Facts That Could Change Freestyle Soccer in 10 Years Time
By Heikal Suhaili | Submitted On January 02, 2009
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Expert Author Heikal Suhaili
On a cold day while walking along the streets, I stumbled a couple of kids doing silky tricks while juggling with the ball. To my amazed, SPBO they can do tricks in different combinations or what they called as combo and link among themselves. The soccer tricks intrigued me that I began practicing a few of them, well at least one of them. So then I walked along the park to watch guys playing a nice friendly game on a cold hard rainy afternoon. Some of them particularly in the midfield outmaneuver the defenders with silky skills that left the defenders puzzled. Cool soccer tricks and skills. On my way back, I watched some videos on Youtube, usually I received a link from my friend via email and immediately I watched the video link and thought, ” The guy’s insane to pull off those tricks!”. I researched on these guys and found out that they’re definitely freestylers.
Cool and silky tricks in different combinations during juggling or dribbling are what freestyle soccer is all about. A new trend and relatively new to the world of soccer. It’s addictive and mouth-watering to watch that most people perceived freestyle as a hobby rather than a professional activity. Freestylers typically practice their soccer tricks and work on their combinations to showcase their skills to their friends and the world itself. Silky tricks and skills are recorded and edited to the video including slow motion and credits in order to upload to the streaming sites like Youtube. Freestylers even go one step ahead by performing in competitions and performances like advertisements and documentaries.
A couple of well-knowned freestylers like Billy Wingrove, Abbas Farid, Soufiane Touzani and Palle perform in competition and some of them even releases their very own DVD to teach the newbies in freestyle soccer. Other forms of soccer like beach soccer and five-a-side futsal have flourished in the last 10 years. So, can freestyler soccer follow the same footsteps to grow as a sport? I believe that freestyle soccer has the hidden potential that’s yet to be harnessed. Unless these potential actions are taken, freestyle soccer is prone to dullness. 5 factors that could impact on the world of freestyle soccer:
1. Making it a “Big” hit
Performing irresistible silky and cool soccer tricks in front of the audience on a live performance raise freestylers’ reputation and recognition worldwide. Profit-making companies play a huge role in promoting these outstanding individuals to a world stage like for instance, Nike in promoting top dog superstars such as Billy Wingrove and Abbas Farid. These freestylers often featured in Nike commercials along with soccer superstars like Ronaldinho, Edgar Davids, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Television programmes play a crucial role in promoting freestylers by broadcasting informative documentaries about their lifestyle for example, the BBC Match of the Day program featured a special section about Billy Wingrove and his lifestyle as a freestyler.
2. Engage freestyler with the club via a contract
A boring plain piece of paper that includes all the nitty gritty information on engagement between a freestyler and the club in order to validate their relationship for an agreed number of years. Freestyler’s role are explained in the contract including their wages, privileges with the club like access to the club’s stadium and training ground and travel with the club.
Billy Wingrove, a British freestyler, is contracted to his childhood club, Tottenham Hotspur which gives him the privileges to watch Tottenham’s matches at White Hart Lane, access to their training ground and meeting top players like Aaron Lennon.
3. Train and Travel with the Club
Under a contract, freestylers have the access to the club’s training ground to participate in five-a-side matches with the first team or even teach them some new soccer tricks to the players as Billy Wingrove did with Tottenham Hotspurs.
By training, freestylers have the privilege to travel with the club for away matches or continental championship like the Champions League. This allows them maximum exposure on different lifestyle and cultures on soccer and other things.
4. Coaching the Players
Freestylers have the option to coach whether on a part time basis or on a full time basis.
On a part time basis, a freestyler teaches soccer tricks to the players of the club as Billy Wingrove did with a former Tottenham player, Robbie Keane.
The fun begins in a full time basis. A freestyler coaches the players about freestyler soccer that’s integrated to the club’s training regime. He could influence on coaching decisions on their training regime like improving the team’s ball control and also travel with the club on away matches as well as watching home matches to monitor the team’s progress.
5. Half time Shows and Team Mascot
It’s a rarity in the world of soccer but more common in American sports like the NBA and NFL. But, half time shows evolved in the world of soccer quite recently thus an opportunity for freestylers to shine on the soccer pitch.
Maradona first did half time shows during his days at Boca Juniors. Similarly, Billy Wingrove did the same for the Premiership pre-match entertainment and for international friendlies involving England and Wales.
Freestylers also act as a mascot for the team to welcome new signings or as a pre-match entertainment. Recently, Abbas Farid and his friend did a pre-match entertainment about freestyle with Ronaldinho. The fact that Ronaldinho stares the whole time and giving ovation to those freestylers was a hilarious moment. So, I could conclude that freestylers are related but completely different to soccer.
ccer More Popular in Ten Years
While walking down the streets on a cold day, I came across two children doing silky tricks and juggling with a ball. I was amazed to discover that they could do different tricks or “combo and link” between themselves. I was so intrigued by the soccer tricks that I started practicing at least one. On a rainy day, I was able to walk along the park and watch friendly soccer. They managed to outmaneuver the defenses, particularly in the middle of the field. Their smooth skills left the defenders baffled. Cool soccer skills and tricks. When I got back, I viewed some Youtube videos. Usually, I was sent a link by a friend via email. I immediately viewed the video link and thought “The guy is insane to do those tricks!” These guys are definitely freestylers, I did some research on them.
Freestyle soccer is all about cool and smooth tricks during juggling or dancing. Freestyle soccer is a new trend that’s relatively new in the game. It’s addicting and delicious to see that freestyle is viewed as a hobby, not a profession. Freestylers practice their soccer skills and improve their combinations in order to show their talents to friends and the rest of the world. To upload to streaming sites such as Youtube, silky tricks and skills can be recorded. Even more freestylers can perform in competitions or performances such as documentaries and advertisements.
Some of the most well-known freestylers include Palle, Abbas Farid and SoufianeTouzani. They also perform in competition. In the past 10 years, other forms of soccer such as beach soccer and 5-a-side futsal has flourished. Can freestyle soccer continue to develop as a sport in the same way? Freestyle soccer is a sport with hidden potential. These potential actions must be taken before freestyle soccer can become dull. Five factors that could have an impact on freestyle soccer
1. It was a huge hit.
Freestylers’ popularity and international recognition increases when they perform irresistible, smooth and cool soccer tricks live in front of an audience. These outstanding individuals are promoted by profit-making businesses to the world stage, such as Nike’s promotion of top dog stars like Billy Wingrove or Abbas Farid. These freestylers are often seen in Nike commercials alongside soccer stars like Ronaldinho, Edgar Davids and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Television programs play an important role in promoting freestylers. They broadcast informative documentaries about their lives, such as the BBC Match of the Day which featured a section about Billy Wingrove’s freestyle lifestyle.
2. A contract allows you to engage a freestyler in the club
This boring piece of paper contains all the details about the engagement between a freestyler (and the club) in order to confirm their relationship for a set number of years. The contract explains the role of the freestyler, including their wages and privileges with club such as access to the stadium and training grounds and travel with club.
British freestyler Billy Wingrove is contracted to Tottenham Hotspur, his childhood club. This gives him access to Tottenham’s White Hart Lane matches, their training ground, and the opportunity to meet top players such as Aaron Lennon.
3. Train and travel with the Club
Freestylers can use the club’s training grounds to play five-a-side soccer matches with the first team, or teach the players new tricks like Billy Wingrove with Tottenham Hotspurs.
Freestylers can travel with the club to away matches and continental championships like the Champions League. This gives them the opportunity to learn about different cultures and lifestyles in soccer.
4. Coaching the players
Freestylers can coach on a part-time or full-time basis.
A freestyler is a person who teaches soccer skills to the club’s players on a part-time basis. This is similar to what Billy Wingrove did for Robbie Keane, a former Tottenham player.
Fun begins on a full-time basis. The freestyler coaches players on freestyle soccer, which is integrated into the club’s training program. He can influence the coaching decisions of the team, such as improving ball control.
5. Half-time Shows and Team Mascot
This is a rare phenomenon in soccer, but it’s more common in American sports such as the NBA or NFL. Half-time shows have been a recent development in soccer, giving freestylers the chance to shine on the soccer pitch.
Maradona was the first to do half-time shows in his time at Boca Juniors. Similar to Maradona, Billy Wingrove performed the same thing for the Premiership prematch entertainment as well as for international friendlies that involved England and Wales.
The team can also use freestylers as a mascot to welcome new players or for pre-match entertainment. Abbas Farid, his friend and a freestyler performed a pre-match entertainment on Ronaldinho. It was hilarious to see Ronaldinho staring at the freestylers and giving them a standing ovation. It is clear that freestylers and soccer are very different.