Anytime I’m going through a slump on the soccer field, I’m quick to attribute it to the inevitable decline of old age. But then I’ll look around and there will be two or three guys even older than me who are still crushing it. At the professional level, there are more examples of players who shined into their forties and beyond. I’ve written about how retired MLS star Robin Fraser inspired the whole Second Half project when I heard him describe his ongoing playing habits. “I’m 47 years old and I’m still doing the exact same thing I did when I was 7,” he said.

To help remind myself that footy after forty is for real, I put together this list of super ballers who defied the march of time, with details on how they did it. If there are other iron men (or women) I should know about, hit me up on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. 

Ryan Giggs I can remember watching Giggs play for Manchester United at the same pub in Galway on Sundays during my junior year semester abroad in Ireland, back in the spring of 1995. The Welshman and I were both young twentysomethings at the time, so besides appreciating his nifty goal-scoring prowess, I felt that generational connection. Little did I know that some twenty years on, Giggs would still be going strong, netting 114 goals in all during 672 appearances for the Red Devils, before finally calling it quits in 2014.

Focus and discipline were key to Giggs’ longevity, but he also attributes it to yoga. "I did change a lot when I was 29-30,” he once said. “I started drinking less alcohol, eating the right things and resting a lot more. But yoga was probably the biggest part." I've been doing yoga for about seven months now. It's helped cure my once-chronic hamstring condition and I'm sure it's prevented other injuries from occurring.   

Teddy Sheringham Here’s another hard-charging Brit whose 24-year career bested even that of Giggs. Sheringham bounced around a bunch of clubs in the Premiereship, but he’s best known for his stints at Tottenham, alongside Klinsmann, where he scored 97 goals in 236 appearances over 8 seasons. He holds the record as the oldest field player to appear in a Premier League match (40 years, 272 days) and the oldest player to score in a Premier League match (40 years, 268 days).

Sheringham wasn’t quite the teetotaler that Giggs became—tales of debauchery followed the wiry Englishman throughout his career. He credits good genes for his longevity. “My dad is a tall, slim man and I have been lucky to follow in his footsteps like that,” he said in an interview. "Plus, I have been able to stay clear of injuries over the years and that's a big part of it." There’s also the fact that Sheringham relied on guile, more than speed or power alone, to find the back of the net.

Tim Howard The greatest U.S. goalkeeper ever is also proving to be the most enduring. Howard (who I should note only just entered his fortieth year) opened the 2018 season in goal for the Colorado Rapids, the club he joined in 2016 after thirteen years in the Premiere League. He’s best known for his World Cup heroics and acrobatics, including his man-of-the-match performance against Belgium in the 2014 tournament, when he made a record-setting 15 saves in the 2-1 loss. 

Howard has a particularly American approach to fitness and nutrition, in his willingness to try new things, like the paleo diet. “My personal trainer suggested paleo to build muscle while staying lean, and it’s one of the first plans that’s worked for me,” he once said. He also practices “fasted cardio,” exercising on an empty stomach to burn more fat. My biggest takeaway from the Howard method, though, is the emphasis on sleep. “Ideally, I’m in bed by 10 p.m.,” he told La Opinion. “Athletes do so much to take care of their bodies, yet sleep is the element most get wrong. I even nap for an hour after practice. It’s my favorite part of the day.”

(Editor's Note: Since this story first posted, several people have pointed out that Brad Friedel can also stake a claim to being the "greatest" and "most enduring" U.S. goalie ever. The fact that Howard is the most capped keeper of all time for the USMNT swayed by vote. But Friedel is an iron man for sure, holding the Premier League record for most consecutive appearances with 310. Like Giggs, he credits the longevity to yoga and discipline.)    

Rivaldo One of the great Brazilian ballers of all time, Rivaldo collected plenty of brass over his 20-plus-year career, including back-to-back La Liga championships with Barcelona in ’98 and ’99, and the World Cup title in 2002, when he played alongside Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. What I like most about his story, though, is the fact that he stayed in the game long enough to team up with his own son, Rivaldinho, on the Brazilian club Mogi Mirim. 

Rivaldo obviously kept in shape over the course of his long, storied career, but the prospect of sharing the pitch with his boy must have been a major motivator. I play with a few father/son combos in New York, and it's clear that the experience keeps the old men on their toes. 

Kazuyoshi Miura When I mentioned my interest in long-lasting ballers to a Japanese friend and teammate, he had one word: Kazu. At 51, Kazuyoshi Miura is officially the world’s oldest soccer player, after signing a contract extension for the 2018 season with Yokohama FC, a club in Japan’s second division. Kazu’s career began with the Brazilian club Santos in 1986. He would go on to play for 13 different teams on four continents and notch 55 goals in 89 appearances for Japan in international play. A tracker on his personal website puts his current minutes played at 36,932.

Kazu is clearly a freak of nature, the kind of athlete that comes along once in a generation. But it’s not without hard work. “He never skips training,” a teammate once told the Japan Times. “He’s there one hour before with his personal trainer doing core exercises and stuff. I’m coming in with my sandwich and he’s already been busy for 30 minutes.” Even more than discipline, though, it's Kazu's passion for the game. “I will always play my heart out and hope to continue to grow as a player,” he said after his latest contract extension.

For ballers looking to keep their game alive, myself included, those words might be the best of all.       
    

Looking for your next great soccer read? Pick up a copy of Sebastian Abbot’s The Away Game: The Epic Search for Soccer’s Next Superstars (W. W. Norton & Company; March 2018). Whether you’re a player, fan, or just interested in the elusive science of talent scouting at the sport’s highest level, the story is sure to inspire and illuminate.

The Away Game opens on Josep Colomer, the Spanish scout who helped launch Lionel Messi, standing on a dilapidated dock in the Niger Delta. He is surrounded by militants, there to provide escort to dirt playing fields in remote fishing villages and other far reaches of west Africa, as he searches for soccer’s version of the diamond in the rough—that teenage baller with enough talent, intelligence, and grit to maybe, just maybe, become the next Messi.

Colomer’s search soon gets a massive cash infusion from Qatar, the desert kingdom intent on punching a gilded (some would say ill-gotten) ticket onto soccer’s international stage. The result is Football Dreams, a gleaming academy located in the capital city of Doha, with air-conditioned training facilities and the best sports medicine money can buy. It’s all as far from the sunbaked pitches of Senegal and Ghana as Colomer’s hand-picked prodigies could ever imagine.       

Of course, even the deepest, petrol-lined pockets can’t guarantee passage to Europe’s top clubs, which is what makes the search in The Away Game so epic, and at times heartbreaking. Abbot, through meticulous reporting and an insider’s understanding of the game (he played at Princeton under former U.S. national coach Bob Bradley and is still a fixture on New York City’s pickup scene), does a masterful job of unpacking the myriad forces at play in the making of a superstar.

I have many favorite passages, but as someone who also plays a lot of pickup ball, I most love those moments where Abbot describes the impact of unstructured play on game intelligence. For example, he references a 2012 study of the English Premiere League which found that the players with the highest soccer IQs played one and a half times more pickup as kids. This type of training, Abbot writes, “creates the opportunity for players to experiment with different skills and tactics in an unstructured environment, leading to better anticipation and decision making.”

In addition to writing the book, Abbot shot all the photography, including this image of a Messi-topped keeper making a diving stab on a sandy pitch in Senegal. For more photos and videos, check out Abbot's website.  

At the launch party for The Away Game, appropriately housed at Smithfield Hall, one of the New York’s biggest soccer bars, I asked Abbot more about the transition from pickup to organized play. In my own experience, the ease and confidence I feel in the unstructured setting doesn’t always cross over. Is it the same for some kids of Africa?         

“It’s more that they have great technical ability from years of street soccer, but need to learn the tactical side of the game,” Abbot said. He added that there are times when the pace and skill level of organized play is so much greater than the street or sandlot, and players simply can’t keep up.

I told him that in my case, it’s definitely the latter—which at the age of 43 is just fine. For the teenage ballers of Africa, however, who see soccer as their only ticket out, not being able to compete at the next level can be life-shattering. It’s these stories of hope and desperation that fill The Away Game with such empathy, making it not just an engaging soccer book, but a hugely important one as well. “For every player who makes it, there are literally millions whose name you will never hear,” Abbot said. “I wanted those kids to have a voice, too.”

Photo credit: Shahar Azran

There’s a ton of love for soccer at my kids’ public school in Brooklyn. Students are often bounding down the halls with a ball cradled under one arm, and there’s always a game going on the blacktop out back before the morning bell. Looking to harness that passion, I’ve been working this year on starting an official soccer program at the school. The afterschool clinic for second through fourth graders is going strong. Getting a middle school team started is proving to be more of a challenge, in part because of the money.

I thought of this as I listened to Kyle Martino (above), former MLS Rookie of the Year and USMNT midfielder, speak at the first annual NYC breakfast fundraiser of Street Soccer USA, whose mission is fighting poverty and empowering underserved communities through the game of soccer. “We’ve turned it into a rich kid’s game,” he said at one point, reiterating a key plank from his longshot bid for the presidency of the U.S. Soccer Federation (to little surprise, the establishment candidate Carlos Cordeiro wound up winning last month’s election).

Martino, along with Roger Bennett, host of the soccer podcast Men in Blazers, who moderated the talk, went on to discuss how the system ends up excluding people from the game. “Kids aren’t having fun anymore,” he said, adding that “we need to create a culture that invites people into the game and keep them playing for life.” He then made the argument that resonated the loudest with me, which is that soccer is ultimately about health and wellness and personal fulfillment. “Those values are more important than any trophy or tournament,” he said.

Filmmaker Tom McCabe discusses his documentary Soccertown, USA, about the New Jersey community that produced a trio of soccer greats in the 1980s. (Photo credit: Shahar Azran)

Martino’s talk was followed by filmmaker and historian named Tom McCabe, who shared the trailer for his forthcoming documentary Soccertown, USA. It’s the story of Kearny, New Jersey, a working-class community that produced a trio of players—John Harkes, Tony Meola, and Tab Ramos—that helped the USMNT qualify for its first World Cup in forty years back in 1989. The trailer included snippets of Team USA’s stunning win over Trinidad and Tobago, including Paul Caligiuri's famous shot heard ‘round the world. It was that same twin-island nation, of course, which returned the favor last November, eliminating the U.S. from World Cup 2018 contention.

Chatting later with McCabe, he talked about the epic pickup games that happened back in the day in Kearny at The Courts, a pair of tennis courts the kids had converted into a soccer pitch by pulling out the stanchions for the nets. “It was winner stays on, players from the age of ten through fifty, going at it all day long,” he said.

It reminded me of the scene outside my kids’ school, where grownups sometimes mix in with the grade schoolers. I still want to make the middle school team happen, because it’s a special experience playing for your school alongside classmates. But most of all, I want to see the playground pickup continue. As Martino put it, we have to make kids fall in love with soccer again. “Go find yourself,” he tells them. “Find the player you’re going to be. Find the game.” 

Every pickup soccer game is unique, in the players who play, the rules they follow, the shape and surface of the pitch, the post-match rituals, and so on. One more defining feature is the game goals themselves, which run the gamut from wholly improvised to the best money can buy. 

I pulled together a gallery of goals from some of the games I play in regularly in and around New York, starting with the one above, a cone-and-crossbar contraption used by Fort Greene Soccer Club. The orange traffic cones are just the right height, while the telescoping bar makes it easy to adjust the goal width depending on the size of the game. The long-standing rule is that if any part of the goal is knocked over as the ball passes through, it’s no goal. That’s made for some fiery disputes over the years ("the ball hit the bar!" "no way, it was the defender's foot!") in keeping with the competitive spirit of the game. And the fact that the goals consist of, ahem, found objects is an apt reflection of FGFC’s rebel spirit. Here are five more favorites: 

CONE ROWS Sunday 3-touch, a game in Fairfield, New Jersey that I get out to as often as possible, demonstrates another inventive use of cones. A sextet of 16-inch-tall plastic training markers are huddled together to form a tight rectangular; if the ball touches any part of any cone, it's a score. The tidy symmetry of the goals matches the game’s clean, quick play. The cones are made out lightweight plastic, with holes designed for training bars making them lighter still. That means they really fly when a well-struck ball crashes into them. 

IN THE BAG The classic pop-up might be the most common type of pickup goal in the city. The compact design and handy carrier makes for easy transport, plus they're fairly affordable (though the super cheap models tend to break easily). The pop-up shown here is from First Touch FC in Williamsburg, which is one of the city’s most efficient games, thanks to the reliable turnout, solid skill set, and prompt start and finish times. Pop-ups are the perfect fit.

HEAVY METAL The knock against pop-ups is that even well-made models can be a little flimsy, plus they don’t stay put on a windy day unless you anchor them down (tough to do on turf). That’s where metal goals have the edge. This beauty here, shown before kickoff of a Bed-Stuy Football Club game in Cadman Plaza, is from Farpost Soccer Company. Patrick, the game’s organizer, is a thorough and methodical guy, so he did his homework finding a top-quality goal. The all-aluminum construction with powder finish stand up the elements, as well as hard-hit shots. The goals width adjust from 4 to 8 feet to accommodate expanding numbers of players on the pitch.

STEEL CAGE MATCH Here’s another metal-frame goal from a different pickup game at Cadman Plaza. This game tends to be smaller sides, 5-v-5 often, so the squat goal is a nice fit. Made by Samba, it measures 5-by-3-foot with a fitted mesh net. The goal is extremely solid, like a steel cage, making it well-matched to the fast, hard-charging play that defines this weekly contest.         

GETTIN’ TRASHED Four metal trashcans and a wide open space are enough to play ball. That’s the approach shown here, at one of several Sunday morning matches played in Brooklyn’s Parade Grounds. It’s a reliable solution, since trashcans are readily available. Just don't go crashing too hard into them or you'll end up on the injured reserve for sure. And it’s always good policy to drag the cans back to the perimeter of the field—or they might be locked up by an ornery parks worker the next time you come out to play.

Nothing beats a really excellent T-shirt, especially when it has special meaning. One of my all-time favorites was the “Evolution of Man” tee, with an ape morphing into a soccer player on the front, that I picked up as a kid at some tournament or camp (or, more likely, the Wojcik’s basement, for those who remember that never-ending stash). I must have worn that shirt thousands of times, deep into my twenties, until it was literally falling apart at the seams.

To celebrate the six-month mark of the Second Half, I wanted to create a T-shirt that might achieve that level of specialness, at least for me. Full credit for the idea goes to my daughter, Emmy, who gave me a handmade Second Half shirt for Christmas. That will always be the original, and most beloved, but I’m not about to soil it on the field of play. 

Christmas morning, wearing the original Second Half T-shirt, given to me by my daughter. 

My first stop in creating a batch of Second Half tees to knock around in was Google, where a keyword search yielded thousands of T-shirt companies. Screw this, I thought, and tapped a quick email to my website guy, Scott Moe, to see if he knew anyone. Sure enough, a buddy of his, Kaleb Hunkele, runs a screen printing business out of Ithaca.  

I’m pretty particular about my T-shirts. They need to be tight but not too tight, soft but not so soft that they lose their shape after a few washes, and with just the right length and tension in the sleeve. After a bit of back and forth, Kaleb and I settled on the company Anvil, which supplies shirts for American Apparel, among other clothing retailers.

Anvil’s semi-fitted lightweight tee promised the best cut. As for color, I wanted to riff on the light blue filter on the homepage of the Second Half site. We decided Heather Royal Blue was the closest match, and Kaleb assured me that screen printing takes well to heather fabric. A week or so later, the shirts were delivered to my front door.

First time out in the new shirt, on a brisk February afternoon. The top should feel even better when the weather warms. 

It was a fun unboxing—not quite Christmas morning but close. The color is just as I imagined and the fabric, a cotton/poly blend, has a soft but durable hand, and it should hold its shape nicely over time. As for the fit, it’s comfortably snug, enough to help keep the lovehandles at bay (vanity is the surest form of motivation!). All in all, I think we nailed it.

So what’s next? The Second Half bumper stickers and water bottles? Maybe a little blue pill (hehe)? It’s true, a branded T-shirt is straight out of the Marketing 101 handbook, along with launching a website and printing up business cards. From the get go, though, I’ve insisted that this project is about nothing more entrepreneurial than unlocking my best self through the game of soccer. That said, I’ve been inspired by the community of likeminded Second Halfers I’ve come to know. If a T-shirt helps make the community a little wider, so be it. To reference that other favorite shirt from long ago, it’s an evolution. I’m here to roll with it.

Want in on The Second Half journey? Twenty bucks gets you the T-shirt and non-stop words of encouragement. Hit me up here or on Facebook and Instagram. Proceeds go toward the ordering of more shirts to keep the community growing. 

The six o’clock Greyhound out of New York rolled into Philadelphia just after 8pm. I made a beeline for the Field House, a cavernous sports bar located a few blocks away, where the New York Red Bulls were hosting a meet-and-greet for attendees of the 2018 United Soccer Coaches Convention, billed as "the world's largest annual gathering of soccer coaches and administrators."   

While immersing myself in the game of soccer over the last six months, I’d heard a lot about this convention. The editor of MLSsoccer.com suggested I check it out when we met for coffee back in December. A few guys I play ball with out in Jersey, who all coach for a living, also had good things to say. And the convention’s hashtag, #PHI18, had been popping up on my social media feeds more frequently as the January 17th start date approached.

As I made my way along Filbert Street, the soccer people were easy to spot, with their trim builds and telltale attire. The Eagles NFC Championship game against the Vikings was just a few days away, but for the moment at least, the City of Brotherly Love was a different kind of football town. Inside the bar, it was teeming with more futbolistas, and every snippet of conversation caught through the din had to do with the game. 

The same was true at the Irish pub I hit next, to hook up with friends who were also in town for the convention. Over pints of Guinness and platters of wings, the conversation bounced from one soccer topic to the next—the challenges of coaching in the city, differences between the men’s and women’s leagues, my half-baked concept for a soccer-tourism company, and on and on.

The first official press pass for The Second Half.  

We eventually called it a night and piled into a room at the nearby Sheraton. It was reminiscent of old-school playing days, when teams had to operate on shoestring travel budgets. When my alarm sounded at six a.m. the next morning, one guy was asleep under the desk. Another was huddled against the heater, wearing a ski hat and a winter coat. I showered and headed to the convention center. 

I’ve been around soccer players all my life, and I attend a lot of conferences in my work as a home editor. Nevertheless, I felt myself moving beyond my comfort zone as I made my way to the main hall. Part of it was the sheer newness of it all. But there was also the feeling that the 11,000 or so attendees all knew more about the game than I did.          

During an interview between Alexi Lalas and U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) presidential hopeful Eric Wynalda, a latecomer to the session turned to me and asked, “Has he talked about training fees yet?” I had no idea what he was referring to, so I took a chance and said “No, not yet.” A while later, during the audience Q&A, when the guy got his turn at the mike, I learned that the fees are paid around the world to youth clubs that develop professional-level players, but not in this country because U.S. Soccer doesn’t recognize the FIFA-recommended policy.

There were other moments like that, but I eventually got over myself, realizing I was in the same negative headspace I sometimes fall into when playing soccer. I stopped worrying about how much I didn’t know, and instead focused on how much there was to learn.

Hanging with Hope Solo, former keeper for the U.S. Women's National Team, now looking to lead U.S. Soccer as president of the federation. 

There were the education seminars on topics I'd apply to my own coaching, like psychological player development and the benefits of the whole-part-whole method. There was the sprawling exhibit hall, with hundreds of vendors showing off their latest soccer goods; as someone who writes a lot about technology, I was particularly enthralled by the high-tech accoutrements, from smart soccer balls to virtual reality training software. And there was the general sense of camaraderie around taking soccer in the U.S. to the elusive next level. 

At one point, as I wandered through the exhibit hall, I spotted Hope Solo, another USSF presidential candidate. We chatted about the importance of adult league play to the creation of a vibrant soccer culture. “For soccer to become the preeminent sport in the country, it needs to be accessible to everyone,” she said. “That includes more and better options for adults who want to keep playing beyond the youth or professional level.”

It was a good observation and, if you will, a hopeful one too.

After a packed day at the convention center, I reconnected with my crew at the Irish bar to swap experiences over a final pint or two, before heading to the station for the seven o’clock back to New York. The bus was delayed, so I ducked into a nearby diner for a cheesesteak. Having clocked 20,000 steps that day, I figured I’d earned it. Plus, next year’s conference will be in Chicago, so I knew it might be a while before I’d get another taste of Philly’s finest.            

Have you heard about the “Thing?” It’s that one negative behavior or habit that a person is completely blind to, but that’s keeping them from reaching their full potential. The New York Times wrote about it recently, and referenced this Hairpin essay, in which the author explains how focus (or the lack thereof) is her Thing. That and her bad hair. 

The Thing is often thought of in the context of work or relationships, the self-destructive trait that’s keeping one from finding love or moving forward in their career. As part of the Second Half, I wanted to apply it to soccer, and uncover my game’s single greatest weakness. I figured there might be some larger life lessons in there as well. 

Since we can’t see our own Thing, it’s necessary to turn to trusted, straight-talking friends for help. I’ve written elsewhere on the blog about how my playing career peaked early, sometime around my freshman year in high school. That made me wonder how my Thing from that time in life compares with my Thing today. 

With that in mind, I triangulated the feedback, reaching out to people who could comment on my game at various times in my life. Jay, a close friend who I played with from age 7 to 17, as well as my high school coach, George, weighed in on my early Thing. Stephen, my private trainer from the Second Half, whom I’ve also played ball with over the years in Brooklyn, talked about my Thing today. Lastly, for a forward-looking, post-Second Half perspective, I turned to Chris, a new friend with whom I’ve been playing only for the last couple months.       

The feedback wasn’t identical, but it lined up in some interesting ways. 

I’ll start with Jay. “First and foremost, you weren’t fit,” he said. “Not soccer fit, at least. You didn’t put in the work, throughout the year, to be at your fittest come the fall season. Second, you didn’t play enough soccer. The game demands that your foot is constantly on the ball. Soccer is so much about rhythm and confidence and flow. It’s not about athleticism. I don’t think you played enough, from age 14 through 18, to have that feel and that confidence.”

The senior class of Westfield High School's '91 state championship team. The core group had been playing together since around the age of 7. There's Jay, bottom row, front and center. I'm up top, farthest to the right. 

George, who took over the team our senior year, reflected on my conversion from striker to marking back that season. “My memory is that, although it took a while, you eventually dove in to the marking part of your job, but never with the zeal that you showed with the ball at your feet…You took to and performed well at what you loved, but spent less of yourself at that which you did not enjoy.” A little soft on defense, in other words.

Stephen, my current coach, offered insights into both my technical and tactical game. In terms of skills, he stressed the need to become proficient with both sides of the body. Tactically, he encouraged me to see and play more of the field, “pushing the game forward and pulling it back, changing fields, setting the tempo, improving that part of your game.”

Chris, my more recent teammate, talked about my need to play different positions within the game. “Total football is the key to development, regardless of outcome,” he said. “You like to be on the ball, which is great,” he said. “Other positions might not have as much influence on the match as you would like, but it’s the best way to learn about time and space.”

As I sorted through the feedback, synthesizing the various points of view, the Thing that emerged was a lack of completeness, or what Chris called “total football.” It started in my early teens, with my inability (unwillingness?) to get in shape and stay devoted to the game. Through the Second Half, I’ve been tackling the fitness and commitment head on. The work is ongoing, but I feel like I’m starting to attain some of the rhythm and flow Jay talked about. 

Becoming a total player on the field is more of a work in progress. In processing that response, especially around my reluctance to play solid defense, I thought about my senior year, and the switch from striker to right back. Over the years, I’ve turned the move into the ultimate demotion, a culmination of my years-long slide into soccer oblivion. In my current effort to discover my best soccer self, I’ve been overcompensating, trying to prove that I belong up front. 
 
In talking with George, however, I see how the move to marking back was more nuanced. “We were top heavy with strikers and offensive minded players, one of whom was Dan DiClerico,” he said. “We needed more solid play in both the midfield and the back line. I spoke with a number of players about filling other roles...some jumped at the opportunity, others not so much.”

Coach George Kapner (center), who turned over the boy's soccer program to Eric Shaw (far right) in 2013, delivering the sideline sermon at this year's alumni game at Kehler Stadium in Westfield.   

I don’t know that I would have made the starting eleven had I insisted on staying upfront, given other deficiencies in my game. Nevertheless, the exchange with my coach helped me reframe the move from a straight-up demotion to an example of my willingness to do what was best for the good of a team in forging a winning formula. 

That’s liberating. And it’s made me wonder if my Thing (on the field and in life) might be a tendency to see abject failure where it doesn’t exist, a destructive mindset that started to take shape in early adolescence. Which lines up with something else Jay said, about the player I was before then:  

“Here’s the deal, Dan...at age 12...you were very skilled. You were smart about the game. You were an intelligent soccer player. You had an ease about you. An easy confidence. I, for one, trusted you completely on the field.”

I want to bring that kid back. To do so, I need to work hard and stay committed. But I also need to let go of the negative voice in my head, and just play the game—easily, confidently, and completely. If I can manage that, I’m sure every Thing will be just fine.  

With the most wonderful time of year behind us, it’s now time for the most blunderful—at least, that is, when it comes to sticking to those New Year’s resolutions. About a quarter of all perennial promises of self-improvement are broken within the first week, the New York Times recently reported. By the end of the year, less than 10 percent will still be going strong.

I started the Second Half on July 14th, so I’m about halfway to the one-year mark. I admit that six months of clean, healthy living doesn’t make me the next Jack Lalanne. Nevertheless, I thought I’d share what’s helped me stay the course. If you’re setting out on a self-help journey of your own, I hope you’ll find some value in what I like to call my Second Half manifesto. As always, if you have other pointers, let's chat about them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  

Keep it Light. Fitness and fun don’t always go hand in hand. It’s a workout, after all, not a playout. It’s true, getting in peak shape is a grind, requiring hours of exercise each week over the course of many months. That’s why it pays to spend all that time doing something you love. 

For me, soccer was the source. I’ve played the game my whole life, but because my career fizzled in college, I never trained that hard at it. So I decided to step up my commitment and make soccer the primary tool for reaching peak fitness. At the height of The Second Half, I was training twice a week with a personal coach and playing in another two to three pickup games. That’s the hardest I’ve ever trained, enough that I was dropping three pounds a week on average, but it didn’t feel like work because I was having such a good time.

Soccer also connects me to my childhood, which has the effect of making me feel younger. This is something I’ve actively nurtured, for example through conversations with old coaches and teammates, and by reflecting on my early playing days in my writing. To reference the Second Half tagline, it’s all about turning lost youth into full grown discovery. In my case, soccer was the vehicle for discovery. Whatever yours is, I encourage you to go after it hard.

Be Holistic. Soccer is the foundation of my Second Half, but I’ve built many other disciplines into the program. Yoga adds strength of body and mind. Acupuncture helps with pain relief and injury prevention. Meditation quiets any anxiety. Jogging increases stamina. And a commitment to healthy eating helps with weight control and nutrition recovery. 

It sounds overwhelming, but once I found a rhythm, the various elements of my program started to work together, plus the multitude of activities allowed me to shift around focus as needed. For example, when a nasty foot bruise kept me off the soccer field for several weeks, I doubled down on the strength training with more yoga classes and a 30-day core workout challenge.

One note: I’m a big believer in the value of expert guidance, which means I’ve had to spend some money on my holistic program. But having the right skin in the game has been another positive source of motivation. We’ve all heard stories of people spending big bucks on fancy exercise equipment that ends up collecting dust in the basement. Paying for quality training and instruction has the opposite effect, motivating you to want to work harder. 

With my "broga" instructor Kahlila Kramer in her Brooklyn studio, following our final class of 2017.  

Set Specific Goals. I knew I wanted to get into the best shape of my life. But what did that mean exactly? Weight is the most measureable metric, so I started there, working with my doctor and nutritionist to come up with a target optimal body weight of 180 pounds, down from 205. This very specific goal gave me something to work towards during the first phase of the Second Half. Now that I’ve reached it, the challenge is keeping the weight from coming back.

The lab work from my annual physical helped me establish other specific targets around internal body metrics, like cholesterol and liver health. Read “Four Months to a Clean Bill of Health” for more details.          

Make Yourself Accountable. Will power is not enough for me. I need to have the feeling that others are watching (and judging, even). This website is one part of my accountability plan. So is the extensive sharing I do on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Who knows how many of my friends and followers are paying attention to my fitness journey? But going public with the experience public has forced me to persevere. And all the likes and encouraging comments are a major motivator. With all the negatives around social media, the accountability it can afford is, in my mind, a major upside.   

Build Community. There’s no shortage of studies showing the benefits of social interaction on mental and physical well-being. When the socializing is fitness-based (as opposed to a book club or weekly poker game), the positive impact becomes that much greater. No wonder taking group exercise classes is the number two fitness trend for 2018, behind high-intensity interval training, according to a recent NPR segment.      

Team sports are a natural source of community. I don’t even know the last names of most of the guys I play pickup soccer with, but seeing them on a regular basis, chatting during warm ups, slapping hands after the match, those regular interactions help keep me centered. The same goes for my weekly “broga” class, with half a dozen middle-aged dudes coming together to unleash their inner warriors without pulling an oblique. 

As with soccer, yoga is good for the body, but in both cases the soul is also nourished through the group dynamic and communal bonding. Plus, being in it with others is another incentive for living the very best version of myself, now and forever.      

I write about technology for a living, mainly smart home technology and the Internet of things. My focus is on home improvement, but along the way I encounter a lot of gear aimed at personal wellness. And so, when the time came to “remodel” my life—mind, body, soul—I made technology part of the strategy. Here are five ways it paid off, helping with weight management, exercise, nutrition, mindfulness, and more.   

Digital Scale. I never thought I’d be one with a bathroom scale, but the QardioBase wireless smart scale (above) in our master bath truly has become a part of my every day. Especially during the early months of the Second Half, when I was in active weight-loss mode, I was on the scale every morning, checking not just my weight, but also metrics like body mass index, hydration, and heart rate.

All that data and more is sent to my Qardio app, where it’s easy to track progress over the week, month, quarter, or year. Accountability is a BIG part of my program, so I got into the habit of posting images of my weekly weigh-ins to Instagram for all the world to see (or at least my few hundred followers). The ritual was probably my biggest weight-loss motivator and now that I’ve reached my optimal weight, it’s helping me keep the pounds from reappearing. 

Smart Watch. My wife and kids got me an Apple smart watch on my birthday at the end of August, six weeks into the Second Half. It was a turning point in my program. For starters, the fitness tracking features, measuring steps, exercise, and stand time, have spurred a more active lifestyle; 10,000 steps is my bare minimum, with 20,000 being the preferred target.

I also use the watch’s tracking features to measure my activity during soccer matches. This has led to some interesting—and motivating—findings. For example, I’ve noticed that I score more goals in games when I average at least 105 steps per minute. I’ve always known that movement off the ball creates scoring opportunities, but seeing the hard data is incentive to make the extra runs. I also like seeing how much ground I cover in each match; 7.5 miles in a 90-minute match is my current distance to beat. 

There are more high-tech wearable trackers out there, including the Viper Pod, which many Premiere League and La Liga teams use to measure distance, speed, heart rate variability, accelerations, decelerations, and more. I might make that investment someday, but for now the smart watch is giving me all the metric-based motivation I need.   

Whipping up a little sous vide salmon. 

Sous Vide Machine. Let’s switch gears and talk cooking with technology. Most of my protein used to come from red meat, which was driving up my cholesterol levels. Fish is a great source of protein, but I don’t love making it at home, because it stinks up the house. Enter my sous vide machine, the Anova Precision Cooker. It solves the problem of smelly fish by cooking it in a vacuum-sealed plastic bad submerged in a temperature-controlled bath. Salmon is my go-to, but you can sous vide any fish, including halibut, swordfish, and tuna. I also do a lot of sous vide chicken and, yes, the occasional beef tenderloin or ribeye steak.                 

Smart Apps. In the age of digital overload, another smart phone app might seem like the last thing anyone needs. But some apps are true health aids. One of my favorites is Streaks. Super simple, it lets you choose up to twelve tasks that you want to turn into daily habits. Every time you complete the task, you tap the app to extend the streak. I’m finding it very helpful during my Thirty-Day Challenge, in which I begin each morning with a five-minute core workout. Even after the thirty days are over, my plan is to keep the streak going.

I also like apps that are designed to train the brain through guided meditation. Headspace is a freebie that’s good for beginners and experienced meditators alike. My wife is a big fan of 10% Happier, which was created with skeptics in mind. If you’re doubtful about the effects of meditation, or your ability to do it regularly, give this app a shot.         

Sleep Trackers. In recent years, sleep science has been embraced by professional trainers across all sports as another way to maximize performance. Good “sleep hygiene,” as it’s known, leads to improved decision-making and reaction time and it can even lessen the recovery period from injuries. It starts with common-sense practices, like avoiding alcohol and caffeine in the evening and getting on a regular sleep schedule.

Technology is mostly there to measure results. The Eight smart mattress, for example, collects sleep data from the night before, including hours slept and percentage of deep sleep. It also has built-in warmers for ideal temperature settings, and it can integrate with the rest of your smart home, for example telling the coffeemaker to brew a fresh pot when it senses you’re up. 

I haven’t made the major high-tech sleep investment yet, but I’ll be report back when I do. If you have any experience with these sleep aides, let me know about them on Facebook or Instagram.                    
      

Before I started the Second Half, I was in an epic food rut, from years of eating too much of the wrong types of food—simple carbs like pasta and bagels, processed foods likes cookies and chips, and lots and lots of cheeseburgers. My strategy for change involved trying at least one new healthy ingredient each week. It forced me to shake up my menu, without the pressures of "going on a diet." And as my nutritionist explained, taking in a wide range of whole foods would also supercharge my gut bacteria, helping my body absorb nutrients, protect against toxins, and regulate metabolism.

With an emphasis on plant-based ingredients, the experience has led to many new fruits, vegetables, and grains, though I’ve also been trying different fish and dairy. Here are five finds that are tasty and nutritious, making them staples of my new diet.       

Tatsoi. Shout out to my local CSA for this super food (above). There must be acres of the stuff on the farm upstate, because every week’s supply contains a few more heads, even into the winter share. Also called spoon mustard, thanks to its leaf shape and spicy kick, tatsoi is teeming with Vitamin C, more even than a juicy orange. It’s also high in immunity-boosting carotenoids. I use tatsoi to jazz up stir-fries and salads and I’ll add it to the morning smoothie when I need an extra zip to start the day.    

Farro. Grains can be an excellent source of protein, one that didn’t start life mooing in a field. Farro’s nutty flavor and crunchy texture make it a delicious base for grain bowls, and it has a ton of nutritional value, starting with a high fiber content. Compared with the white rice I'd been eating by the plateful, it’s a huge dietary upgrade. I like cooking farro in apple cider for a little added sweetness, following this recipe from Melissa Clark for Farro with Roasted Squash, Feta and Mint (below). Other protein-packed grains I’ve been digging into include freekeh and wheatberry (used similarly to farro), amaranth (cooked porridge-style for breakfast), and millet (a nice all-around base for grain bowls, pilafs, and more).

Sardines. This little fish punches way beyond its weight when it comes nutrition, including 15 grams of protein per serving. It’s also a rich source of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acid and is loaded with bone-building Vitamin D. Not for nothing, but sardines are also super cheap. I keep a few tins handy in the pantry to mix into salads or to eat straight out of the container for a healthy meal on the go. I love fresh sardines too (Pacific Sardines earn an eco-friendly best choice rating from the Environmental Defense Fund), brushed with olive oil, broiled, and served with an oil-and-lemon sauce.    

Dates. These sweet, fleshy fruits are loaded with nutrients, including Vitamin A, a strong antioxidant and fortifying iron and magnesium. And they pack a lot of dietary fiber, making them a sweet, belly-filling addition to smoothies. I also like dates chopped up and stirred into breakfast oatmeal or tossed with greens at lunch or dinner.

Alternative pastas. I grew up on traditional pasta—spaghetti, ziti, lasagna, you name it, all of it made from semolina, which is loaded with carbs and not much else. Alternative pastas, consisting of things like legumes, quinoa, and lentils, have similar carb counts, but also lots of protein and fiber. So they're improving my cardiovascular health and aiding in weight control—precisely the opposite impacts of traditional pasta. Do they taste the same as my mom’s rigatoni with meatballs? Not by a long shot. But by making alternative pastas a part of my everyday diet, I can still allow myself that favorite indulgence every now and then. As mom liked to say, all things in moderation, advice I’m finally taking to heart.  

Got some super foods of your own? Tell me about them on Facebook and Instagram!