If you’re struggling with confidence, bouncing back from injuries, or adapting to a new environment after changing teams, This episode is for you. Adam Webster speaks about how you can handle all of these situations while still keeping your focus.


After being rejected by Southampton and Chelsea at a young age, Adam Webster joined Portsmouth, where he had also been once rejected. People often see players in the premier league and assume they have had the perfect development pathway to the top flight, it is often not the case.


In this episode, we shed light on football development, showing that every player has their own journey and to never give up on your dream.


Adam gives some of the best pieces of advice that helped him climb the ladder and maintain top-level performance.


Adam’s rocky start was actually the beginning of a brilliantly successful career that saw him play in the Conference and right through to where he plays now, the Premier League with his current team, Brighton and Hove.


Before getting signed by Brighton, Adam Webster also played for Ipswich Town and Bristol City at the Championship level. He has so far made over 60 appearances in the Premier League after joining the side in 2019. 

Adam has represented England U18 and U19s and hopes to one day represent the nation at the senior level.


Adam’s future looks bright and we can’t wait to share this episode with you to help develop your game and learn his lessons.

Adam Webster: Moving Through The Ranks

Adam Webster did not experience success overnight.


He’s a player who has known the process of working hard to achieve what you want. From playing to Aldershot in the Conference League to gracing the top of English Football 6 years later, his star has risen to the top due to his hard work and commitment.


In fact, Adam says the three most important attributes a player must have to become a professional footballer are hard work, confidence, and adapting to the game. 

“If you are the hardest worker in the team, you’ve always got a chance,” he says.

Adam Webster

No wonder he joined the first team at only 16 and made his debut at 17.


Although he struggled with confidence at a young age, he says he had to prove to people that he deserves the chance to play at the level. This helped him get over the worries of what people are saying about him and just focus on improving his game. 

“When you go off with the first team, you need to show that you’ve got a bit of character and not scared to be how you would be if you’re 16.”

Adam Webster

Adam Webster: Attaining Top-Level Performance

More lessons! In the Adam Webster Interview, he advises those who are trying to get into the first team to keep training every day, change their mentality, and training habits, and even work on nutrition. 

As a player, you have to take responsibility for what you eat, how you exercise, and how you sleep.


These aspects will help you improve your game and perform at an optimum level. Webster acknowledges that he knew all these only after joining Bristol City where the training coach helped them focus on them.


He says it helped him overcome injuries, keep lower body fat, do the right exercises, and take the right meals which really helped with his performance. 

Adam Webster Building confidence

After Joining Portsmouth at the age of 12, Adam made his first appearance for the side at 17 in a Championship match against West Ham United. Although this came early for him, he says he really struggled with confidence, especially when he spent 2 years without playing. However, the new manager gave him more opportunities to play as a Center Back. This made him grow his confidence after every matchday. 

“I didn’t feel nervous going out to play. I was just playing my own game. I wasn’t worried about what someone was saying.”

Adam advises those suffering from a lack of confidence to “be selfish and think about yourself” because no one else will come to their rescue. He says you have to believe in yourself and do it for yourself because if you don’t. Someone else will do it and eventually take your place. 

Finding the right position to play and Growing Your Game

Adam played as a Center Back until when he was 15 when he shifted to playing as a fullback. At the time he was skinny and thought he couldn’t handle playing as a Center Back. He has always thought of being a defender and has never had a rough time making the decision. His playing position was even cemented after he moved to Ipswich where he spent 2 years learning how to defend. Adam advises those playing in a position not suiting them just to try to adapt and learn. He also says training every day like it’s your last day can make a huge improvement on your game.

Webster says becoming a first-team player requires taking responsibility and learning about things such as nutrition, sleep, mental being, and developing training habits. 

“My knowledge of stuff like nutrition and what’s right wasn’t good. I used to eat chocolate and squashes every day.”

It’s not just about keeping fit, it’s about having the right mindset when going to the weekend. This can help you deal with pressure from people and social media. Understanding that someone’s opinion doesn’t matter can help you overcome self-doubt.

Aam also says that anyone can learn how to eat and train properly in order to become an elite footballer. You just need to know how to take care of yourself, sleep, and nutrition.

Webster also touches on adapting to a new environment, dealing with nervousness, and mistakes made during the game, and how to bounce back from injuries. He also shares some of his best and low moments in his career in the Quickfire section, including some of the toughest opponents he has faced and why. 

Adam Webster: Adapting To Transfers and Loan Clubs

After joining Portsmouth, Webster later went to Aldershot Town on loan in 2013, making 21 appearances before returning to Portsmouth. In 2016, he transferred to Ipswich Town making his debut in a 4-2 home win against Barnsley.


During the season, he scored once and made 24 appearances for the side. In his second season at the club, he made 29 appearances before moving to Bristol City on June 28, 2018.

A season later, Brighton & Hove Albion showed interest in the centre-back in August. His move was completed on 3rd August. He made his debut for Brighton on August 27 against Bristol Rovers in an EFL Cup match where they won 2-1. His Premier League debut was against Manchester City where they lost 4-0. 

Adam says while changing teams, his success was about establishing himself. He wanted to play well and show that he deserves to be at the level that he was moving to. 

The team also helped him settle in the Championship after signing from League One. He says the fitness coach was ruthless and wanted everything done right. 

However, Adam admits that his mentality was shakeable at some points, and he would doubted himself and his ability.


He says it even took him so long to overcome nervousness when he joined Ipswich. But his move to Bristol was quite better as he had already proven that he deserves to play in the Championship.


He advises players facing nervousness after changing teams to just give it time. He also says that although it’s hard to adapt to the new environment, you don’t have to sit on the sidelines but instead get involved.

“Time is like the best healer. Because when you are driving into training every day, you get more comfortable.”

Adam Webster

Training and Avoiding Injuries

When faced with injuries, it’s difficult to bounce back to the form that you were in right after the injury. But with some things done right, you can increase your chances of attaining the fitness and form that you desire. Again it is all about effort and learning to manage your body like a professional every day.

Webster says it begins with working on your nutrition and individual programs. He says doing isometric exercises at the gym after training, top speed sprints, leg weights, and squats really helped him prevent injuries as a whole.

Adam firmly believes anyone can attain top-level training even in a lower division. Anyone can learn how to eat right and train properly. 

Adam says he’s now more aware of how to look after his body a lot more and what to do to be ready for the weekend. 

Quickfire Questions

Adam Webster’s best-ever performance

Winning 1-0 against Liverpool at Anfield and received the Man of The Match Award.

Most difficult moment

Losing 2-0 against FC Wimbledon on Boxing Day and even booed off the pitch.

Best advice received

Jon Parkin: It’s hard to stay in the game at high levels.

Top 3 things to do to play in the English Premier League

• Have a fast pace and if you don’t, work on it
• Technical ability – work hard at the things you aren’t good at to develop them
• Cope with everyone and don’t be phased by big-name players

Toughest opponent faced

Raul Gimenez. Holds the ball, wins headers, and doesn’t stop working.

Advice to young Adam Webster

Believe more. Don’t be too hard on yourself. 

Current career ambition

Play for England National Team.

Manager with the biggest influence

Graham Potter: Made him understand the game with a lot more mental preparations.

Advice to young players

You’ve got to be different. Work harder than everyone else because there’s no shortcut to the top.

In This Episode:

[01:00] Introducing Adam Webster

[01:53] 3 most important attributes needed to become a professional footballer

[03:35] Suffering from lack of confidence 

[07:32] Advice for people suffering from lack of confidence

[08:32] First team training and matchday experiences at 16

[12:50] Deciding on positions to play

[17:34] Building a philosophy 

[20:41] How to move from squad player to first-team player

[25:08] Taking responsibility

[30:23] Playing at Portsmouth

[39:05] Transfer process

[45:34] Joining Ipswich Town

[51:34] Getting over nervousness

[54:26] Getting back to fitness after injuries

[58:36] Playing at Bristol

[01:02:11] How lower-level players can attain top-level training

[01:04:59] Adam Webster’s growth and change

[01:06:55] Adapting to a new environment

[01:08:22] Moving to Brighton

[01:13:32] Losing at Bournemouth

[01:16:27] Dealing with mistakes during the game

[01:18:50 Quickfire questions 

E-Perform Adam Webster Action Points

• Work hard during training, build your confidence, and adapt to the game and environments you are in. These are the three most important attributes of becoming a professional footballer.
• Working on your nutrition and understanding how important aspects like body fat is to your performance can help you keep your body fit by understanding what is right to eat.
• Little things like getting enough sleep are key to preparing for the next day and improving your game. Enough sleep helps the body to get the required amount of rest and rebuild for the next day.
• Abiding injuries and bouncing back from bad injuries begin with doing the right exercises such as squats, sprints, isometric exercises, and more that can help strengthen your muscles and build energy.
• Sometimes you have to be selfish and just focus on improving yourself. If you don’t want to suffer from self-doubt or succumb to outside pressure, then you don’t have to listen to every opinion that people say about you. 

Resources

Important Articles

Football Confidence: 9 Powerful Ways To Master Your Game

Footballers Diet: Free 7 Day Meal Plan PDF & Ultimate Guide

Prevent Injuries with these Exercises – Thrive Football (thrive-football.com)

Building Football Confidence – Player Development Project

Guest Links

https://www.instagram.com/adamwebster04/

Notable Adam Webster Quotes

• 02:18  If you’re the hardest worker on the team, you’ve always got a chance.
• 06:37  I didn’t feel nervous going out to play. I was just playing my own game. I wasn’t worried about what someone was saying.
• 07:46  No one else is gonna do it for you. So, at the end of the day, you just have to be narrow-minded and just be selfish and think about yourself. If you’re not doing it, someone else will do it and take your place.
• 14:24   Obviously I wanted to play but my best position was centre half but I wasn’t ready to play centre half. So I had to learn the game and went back to fullback.
• 26:39   My knowledge of stuff like nutrition and what’s right wasn’t good. I used to eat chocolate and squashes every day.
• 53:56   Time is like the best healer because when you are driving into training every day, you get more comfortable.
• 01:02:38    Anyone can learn how to eat right and train properly.
• 01:06:08   I never realized how much sleep helps and how important it is. These are the little things I have changed along the way.
  

“No one else is gonna do it for you. So, at the end of the day, you just have to be narrow-minded and just be selfish and think about yourself.”