Today, at KhelAcademy, we will talk about one of the best players of this
generation and our long footballing history. The boy from the small town of
Madeira was born into a working-class neighborhood. He had two clear
intentions from the very beginning. One was to become not only a professional
footballer but the best footballer on the planet. The second was to become
successful and financially sound to afford an excellent standard of living for his
family, and especially his mom. For the young Portuguese, this was what he
rightly deserved, and he set out on his journey. The story of Cristiano Ronaldo
has been a constant pursuit of these goals. It is a story of determination, hard
work, and exemplification of the never say die attitude. His story is not only a
lesson on footballing greatness but also a human-interest story – how the boy
from Madeira defied odds throughout his life to become the man he is today.
"I remember leaving home. My siblings were crying, my mother too. Even
my father was more emotional that day. But they knew it was an
opportunity I wanted in life." Ronaldo had said in an interview, recounting his
childhood days. At the tender age of 11, the Portuguese moved from Madeira to
represent the youth setup at Sporting Lisbon. From the start, Cristiano was
destined for greatness, but few would have bet on him to become the 5-time
Ballon D'Or winner he is on this Among these few, one of them was Ronaldo
himself. Even when others, including acquaintances and teammates, used to
ridicule his suggestions, it was always as clear as day for the young boy.
Ronaldo was a head above the rest of his teammates, but he was never content,
never satisfied with his gameplay. Developing this attitude went through a
rocky road for the youngster. A clear philosophy of his was to achieve results
and do everything in his power to achieve the results – winning games was
much more important than playing "beautiful" football for him. At the end of
the day, people remember who won the trophy than the team which performed
well. This mentality gave way to his three training sessions in a day to
maintain peak fitness and performance levels. Cristiano would also avoid
parties and hanging out with friends too much, and instead dedicate his time in
the gym or resting at home. This obsession to utilize his time to the t in every
possible effort to better hone his skills has made him one of the best we've seen
in this game.
The 35-year old always looks to experiment by implementing new routines or
more effective ways to execute training routines that make him better. After a
certain point, there is not much one can do to increase practice levels, as
everyone's body has a ceiling to tolerance. In such a scenario, quantity has to be
replaced by quality. Every session has a definite purpose that must be fulfilled.
One particular area of such focus for Ronaldo has been athleticism. With
immense technical prowess at his disposal, Cristiano was aware he needed to be
at peak athleticism to unlock his full potential. The Juventus stars' gameplay
amounts to several tackles flying his way. Building strength through extensive
muscular workouts was vital to avoiding injuries.
Fitness is an essential aspect of any athlete's life. Ronaldo's level of fitness has
helped him execute any skill he pleases to. It's far more challenging to execute
energy-intensive maneuver when one's body is not provided with sufficient
rest. The Ballon D'Or winner uses a sleep coach to optimize sleep cycles and
makes it a point to get 8-10 hours of sleep every night. This is combined with
spending most of his time relaxing at home with his partner, Georgina
Rodriguez, and 4 kids, including Cristiano Jr., twins, and their youngest
daughter, Alana Marti.
The moral of this story should interest not only football fans and budding
footballers but also the general public. Cristiano never gave up on his dreams,
no matter how improbable and fantastical they appeared to be. At the same
time, he kept his feet grounded and worked harder than the rest to improve his
abilities to become the goal-scoring machine he is. His story teaches us that if
you genuinely believe in yourself and risk everything for it, anything under
this whole wide sky is yours to get.
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