I am going to do a series of posts on the coaches who have helped me become the player I am today. The first, for many reasons, is Janet Albert from Advantage Soccer Academy.
I started serious soccer training when I was about 9 years old. I knew it was what I wanted to pursue. I started “training” on my own at home in my yard but I was so young that I wasn’t actually gaining much from the training – mainly because I didn’t know how or what to train. Luckily, my brother, Nick, had already trained with Advantage Soccer Academy, a program run by Coach Janet Albert. I wanted to start training as effectively as possible, so I gave Advantage a shot and started training with Coach Janet.
The first time I went to Advantage training, I must admit, I was really uncomfortable. Coach Janet mixes players of all ages together in drills. I used to dread going to those trainings until I learned to embrace the challenge of playing with kids who were 5 or 6 years older than me. I stepped way out of my comfort zone and now can see how helpful this was. Now that I am older, it is fun to work with the younger kids as well.
My favorite Coach Janet story is when she asked me how many juggles I could do. I said 35 and, honestly, 35 was probably a reach! I was pretty proud of that number though. Instead of telling me this was great, she told me that this was terrible and I should be doing at least 200 juggles at my age. Coach Janet never sugar coats things. She just tells you the truth you need to hear. So, during Covid lockdown, I juggled and juggled outside of my house on the concrete driveway. By the end of that summer, my record was higher than 1000. I also wore the bottom of my soccer cleats flat on the driveway. A huge part of my success as a player so far has come from Coach Janet and how she pushes me to be better. I am so thankful for that.
During the Covid lockdown, I played futsal with Coach Janet’s team at Chicago Street Soccer. With all the free time I had, I trained with Coach Janet almost every day. This is when I really started to improve my game. We were lucky to travel to Florida for nationals and qualified for the United Futsal World Championships. We even finished second in that event.
What Coach Janet does is different from other trainers and coaches. She breaks the technical side of the game down and makes it easy to understand but not easy to do. After she explains it, we can do drills that I have seen college and pro players struggle to do. Janet’s training sessions are filled with activity and you are never standing around. I like that I can train with some of the best players in Illinois who are also Janet’s girls. Janet has so much knowledge about what it takes to show our skills and gives us the tools to try to reach the college level.
Coach Janet’s daughter, Korbin Albert, plays for Notre Dame – and man – I have never seen such a talent. I have been so lucky to have the opportunity to train regularly with Korbin over these last five or six years. She has amazing skills and a work ethic that few players have. I know she is going to make it all the way. She has been a huge role model for me in my journey and having her to look up to is really neat.
Out of all of the coaches I have worked with, Coach Janet has given me the most tools that I have. My touch is so much cleaner, my shot has improved, and my overall awareness of the game has sky-rocketed over the past couple of years. Janet encourages me to be aggressive and “take” my opponents. But most importantly, she has given me the confidence that I need to improve and grow as a player.
Janet is a tough coach, but all of that toughness comes from a place of love and the fact that she wants her players to succeed in every way possible, not just soccer. Janet checks in with her girls. She has come to see me play basketball and regularly comes to watch me and her other players play with their clubs and high schools. We spend so much time together, indoors and outdoors, in the morning and late at night, and in many different towns working hard to get better. We have shared great moments together with soccer and having nothing to do with soccer. Janet is more than just a coach, she is family and I love her very much.