Advice from MLS veteran Khiry Shelton to young players
Published: Aug 26, 2024
Duration: 00:03:00
Category: Sports
Trending searches: sporting kc
Hey guys! There is one thing I would like to harp
on and it's something, I would tell my younger self this. Remain positive. I know it's easy to
get down on yourself, to beat yourself up when you're competitive and you're playing, and you
wanna win and you want to do the best that you can. Times are hard, you want to win all the time
but it's just not going to happen. But if you give 110% every day, and you push yourself every
day, you better yourself every day--even when you don't wanna do it, that's a key piece to being
successful and wanting to achieve your level and getting there. That would be my piece of advice
for my younger self. Going on to positions, I played striker, I played on the wing both left and
right, I am currently playing right back. Right back right now, I'm learning a lot. It's new to
me. But adaptability is huge. Being able to adapt and play different positions and just be flexible.
I love this game and I enjoy it so much. I just love it. I'm married to it. So being able to adapt
and learn on the fly and work day in and day out, watching film, studying players, that's a huge
piece. For our wingers, it's creativity. And a lot of it is playing a mental game with your opponent,
which would be the outside back. You know you gotta play a mental game with them because they're
always going to press you, kick you, step to you, things like that. So if you're creative and you're
able to get in the mind of your defender and kinda be aware of what move he is going to make
against you, you'll have an advantage. And then for my strikers, you know, I think it's keeping
it simple. Play 1 or 2 touch, laying it off, laying the ball off, running in behind is key so
you can stretch the defense. Also, when you're around the box, be selfish. Be very selfish and
go to goal, but share the ball as well. That's an important piece. Bringing the players--the
wingers, the midfielders-- around you to combine so you can open up an opportunity for yourself.
Alright guys, thank you for your time. Chau!