Super Wingstorm

Super Training.

Inside a four-square-meter area marked by white lines, Yang Yang was skillfully performing various ball control drills.

The Pendulum Move, step-overs, the elastico, the la croqueta, the Marseille Turn...

Yang Yang’s feet constantly shifted between various skills, over and over. He would even mix several techniques in a continuous sequence, interspersed with adjustments between his left and right foot and changes in rhythm.

It was a tedious and monotonous form of training. It might have felt novel at first, but over time, it was bound to become boring, even fostering a sense of resistance. But Yang Yang always persisted. Besides, he never got tired in the Super Training space, so as he practiced, he would lose all track of time.

These were all highly practical skills for the pitch, but they all stemmed from the same basic principles, and many were quite similar.

For example, Ronaldo’s Pendulum Move was very similar to the famous Brazilian step-over. To some extent, you could even say the Pendulum Move was a variation of the step-over, just one that Ronaldo had specifically optimized for his own physique.

The Pendulum Move Yang Yang currently used wasn’t actually the same as Ronaldo’s either. It was also optimized for his own physical attributes, making it a skill unique to him.

But on the football pitch, the situation is ever-changing, and the circumstances a player faces can shift at any moment. This requires mastering and applying a wider range of skills to handle different scenarios.

After he made it to the first team, Old Ice from the Super Training had Yang Yang use this drill as his daily warm-up.

Right now, it was a four-square-meter area. Later, the space would gradually shrink to increase the difficulty.

When the time was up, Old Ice called a stop to the session.

Yang Yang felt a sense of relief and couldn’t help but smile wryly after he stopped.

His body wasn’t tired; his mind was.

Forcing himself to focus on such a monotonous drill was an agonizing process, but it was immensely helpful for improving his on-pitch performance.

Not long ago, the Dutch Telegraaf interviewed Manchester United’s top striker, Ruud van Nistelrooy.

The Dutch center-forward mentioned in the interview that he diligently practiced speed-enhancing drills every day. The strange thing was, the whole world knew that speed was his greatest weakness.

"I’m not trying to improve my speed on the pitch, but the speed of the ’me’ inside my mind."

"Through this speed training, day after day, year after year, I always feel like I’m improving. Even if it’s just a minuscule, one-hundredth-of-a-second improvement, it’s still progress."

Van Nistelrooy’s words had a profound effect on Yang Yang. He strongly agreed with the Dutch striker’s philosophy.

Often, people fail not because they are incapable, but because they don’t believe they are capable.

This might sound a bit esoteric, and everyone has their own limits, but a strong mental fortitude can often help a person continuously break through those limits, even if it’s just by a minuscule one-thousandth of a second.

But in a football match, that tiny fraction of a second could determine the success or failure of a pass, a touch, a shot, or a tackle.

Yang Yang was still a long, long way from reaching Van Nistelrooy’s level, but that was his goal.

And through his recent training, Yang Yang had begun to reap the rewards. His [Ronaldo’s Assault] felt much more natural to use on the pitch, especially when facing a tight defense.

"Old Ice, what kind of player do you think I’ll become in the future?" Yang Yang asked on a sudden whim.

He was thinking of Van Nistelrooy. It was said that the Dutch center-forward had started out playing as a sweeper. His position gradually moved forward, from sweeper to defensive midfielder, to attacking midfielder, and finally to center-forward, where he reached the pinnacle of his career in the position closest to the goal.

Sometimes Yang Yang wondered, ’If Van Nistelrooy hadn’t played as a center-forward, would he have just been an ordinary Eredivisie center-back instead of the world-class goal-scoring machine he is today?’

"As I’ve told you before, the bucket theory is a good way to assess a professional player’s ability and potential. If Van Nistelrooy hadn’t played as a center-forward, with his football intelligence and work ethic, I’m sure he still would have been a very good player. But it would have been impossible for him to reach his current heights."

Yang Yang nodded. The so-called bucket theory states that the shortest plank determines how much water a bucket can hold.

A professional player’s ability and ceiling were the same, which was why Yang Yang was desperately trying to shore up his weaknesses.

"So from the amateur leagues to Demboch to Heerenveen, was he just trying to find his position the whole time?" Yang Yang asked again.

Van Nistelrooy played as a sweeper in his amateur team and switched to midfield at Demboch. But his goal-scoring ability was outstanding, and coupled with his physical attributes, he was converted to a center-forward after joining Heerenveen. From then on, his goal-scoring momentum became unstoppable.

The Dutch center-forward was Yang Yang’s current age when he joined Demboch.

"It’s hard to say. There were likely both active and passive factors," Old Ice replied objectively.

Yang Yang nodded in understanding. As a professional player, especially a young one, you often had no say in the matter. You’ve essentially sold yourself to the club; whatever position the head coach tells you to play, you play.

To put it pessimistically, even though Yang Yang was on a good run at Ajax right now, if Ronald Koeman were to adjust the team’s tactics one day and no longer need his type of right winger, Yang Yang would be benched in a heartbeat, possibly not even making the matchday squad.

"Football is a team sport of eleven players. Everyone needs to integrate themselves into the team as a whole. You help the team, and the team will naturally help you. It’s a process of mutual achievement."

"To do that, you must be able to appropriately change your style of play based on the team’s different needs. For example, partnering with a center-forward like Ibrahimovic, a striker like Wesley Sonck, or an attacking midfielder like Van der Vaart—those are clearly three different ways to play."

"Right now, the team needs you to attack on the right flank, so you can continue to improve yourself as a right winger. But you need to become more well-rounded, because who knows when the team might get a new coach, or sell a few players and change its overall strategy. They might need you to change your style, and you have to be capable enough to handle that transition."

"A player’s career is a constant process of self-adjustment. Van Nistelrooy played sweeper in an amateur team, midfield at Demboch, and center-forward at Heerenveen. While these were the team’s arrangements and demands, his own adjustments were also crucial. If he had failed to adapt at any of those steps, there would be no Van Nistelrooy today."

"This is just career planning. From a personal perspective, you’re seventeen now, still young. Using your speed to attack on the wing is fine, but you have to consider what you’ll do if you lose that speed one day."

Old Ice’s warning rang like an alarm bell in Yang Yang’s ears, sending a jolt through his entire body.

There was a prime, living example right there on the Ajax team: Van der Vaart.

The Ajax captain had been hailed as a world-renowned genius from the moment he debuted. His talent was so incredible that everyone found it hard to believe. Many even thought he would become one of the world’s top superstars. His speed and technique were astonishing.

But suddenly, an injury took out his meniscus, robbing him of his speed. It was a devastating blow, forcing him to retreat to central midfield and take on more of a playmaker role.

Yang Yang had trained with him. He knew how good Van der Vaart’s touch was, how brilliant his technique was, how strong his individual ability was. But without speed, none of it could be fully utilized on the pitch. It all had to be hidden away.

And the cause of Van der Vaart’s current situation was just that one single injury.

By the same token, if Yang Yang lost his speed like Van der Vaart, would he be able to successfully transition?

Back in Yang Yang’s hometown, his parents often taught him a saying: a thief should prepare three days’ worth of rations before a heist.

The meaning was to plan for a rainy day and take precautions before something happens.

He was only seventeen. His professional career had just begun. The things he had to do, the efforts he had to make, were still countless.

After Yang Yang reaffirmed the direction of his efforts, Old Ice quickly delivered a consolation prize.

The training partner who drilled with him every day would be upgraded from the Eerste Divisie level to the Eredivisie level.

This made Yang Yang very happy, because he had taken another step forward.

But more than that, he felt the pressure and the difficulty.

He felt very clearly that professional football was like a pyramid: the closer you climbed to the top, the greater the difficulty.

This was clear from the amount of time it took for him to upgrade his opponent each time.

Old Ice also told Yang Yang that the higher a player’s level, the less obvious the gap in technical ability becomes. Instead, tactical awareness, application of skills, match experience, and a player’s own mental strength become the key factors.

Yang Yang understood this deeply.

It had only been a little over a week since he moved from the second team to the first team. It was impossible to have improved so much in such a short time. So why was his performance on the pitch so completely different?

The answer was simple: he was more confident.

Sometimes, a strong sense of confidence can bring about a complete transformation in a player.

This wasn’t just true for Yang Yang, but for the entire Ajax team.

After two consecutive losses in the Champions League, on the brink of elimination from the group stage, everyone was on the verge of collapse. Every single player severely lacked confidence. This caused Ajax to play tentatively, second-guessing every move on the pitch. They even struggled to make an impact against Bruges.

But after defeating Bruges and successfully advancing from the group stage, the team quickly regained its confidence in the Eredivisie and the Dutch Cup. Match by match, the team was rebuilding its self-belief, one step at a time.

This might not have been fully evident on the pitch yet, but Yang Yang believed that in the second half of the season, Ajax would make every team sit up and take notice.

Ronald Koeman’s young team didn’t lack ability. Reaching the Champions League quarterfinals last season was the best proof of that.

Now that they had regained their confidence, this young Young Guard would continue to shock the whole of European Football.

And Yang Yang would be a part of it.