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The Mental Game Of Soccer
Are You A Mentally Tough Athlete?
Bill Cole, MS, MA
What are your mental strengths as a soccer player? Do you
have mental toughness, particularly under pressure? Do you
have the ability to let go of mistakes in a contest? Can you
maintain confidence in the face of setbacks? All of these
skills are needed to be able to compete at a high level, and
I have taught all of this to athletes in over 75 sports so
far.
I am also a mental game coach to many soccer players, many
at the national level. I work with a number of athletes at
Stanford University. One of my soccer players helped win the
Division I NCAA National Women's Soccer Championships for
Stanford. I also coached a player who was picked in the first
round of the Women's Professional Soccer Draft. I have been
mental game coach to many players on the national teams of
the US and other countries, as well as FIFA World Cup competitors.
I have a number of high school and collegiate soccer players
I work with. All of these athletes were successful before
they called me. But they all hit mental bumps in the road
that they could not navigate by themselves. Even their soccer
coaches could not help them out of the rut. They needed special
assistance. This confuses many athletes. They ask themselves,
"What has happened to me? I used to be confident, and mentally
tough. Did I suddenly forget how to do all this?" In a
way, they did forget. They lost their way. They usually have
entered a transition period in their sport—moving up
in age, weight, grade, league, out of the house, etc., and
this change threw them off where they couldn't regain their
balance. They were the same person, but once they started
to doubt themselves, they also began to over-think. They started
wondering how this could have happened, and what they needed
to do to get out of it. Slumps like this are entirely natural
and common.
That's where I come in. As a mental game coach I help athletes
at all levels reconnect with their confidence. I help them
reignite their passion for the game, and I assist them in
finding their mental focus and calmness again. These are all
learnable skills. For the experienced soccer player, these
skills are still there, but they are lurking under the surface.
What I help them do is to find, sharpen and master these mental
skills so they rarely have another bout of self-doubt.
Here are four mental strategies you can use to boost your
mental soccer skills back into overdrive.
- Stop Trying To Figure Out Why You Make Errors:
My offices are located about 20 minutes south of Stanford
University, near Fremont, in northern California. This
is the heart of Silicon Valley, and anyone living here who
works in high tech has very smart kids, and many of these
kids play soccer. So I coach many highly intelligent soccer
players, and the biggest problem they have with their mind
is they attempt to figure out the reasons for their mistakes
in the actual game, while the ball is live. Of course when
they do this, they are busy thinking and they miss the next
play, and the next. My advice is to stop thinking. Stop
analyzing what went wrong and just keep playing. Don't be
a scientist and mentally pause to look at the reasons for
your poor play. Just dig in, compete strongly and shrug
off any errors as normal. Making a big deal of mistakes
is a sure-fire performance killer.
- To Focus Better, Clear Out Your Mind: Before a
game, do you have a system or process you use to mentally
transition away from your "normal life" and into your "special
sports world"? You should. You need a mind bridge that helps
you leave the worries, concerns and focus in your family,
school and social worlds so you can focus on your soccer
world. An easy way to do this is to use good time management.
Create a buffer after your last activity before you leave
to go play soccer. Don't just rush out of the house. Sit
quietly for 10-15 minutes and clear your mind out. Visualize
how you want to play in the upcoming practice or game. Set
some goals for that day. You'll feel the calming effect
this has on your mind, and you'll play better.
- Use The Inverse Relationship Formula: If you have
ever noticed in a game that your energy has become flat
and your feet have stopped moving, you have probably begun
to think too much. This can happen for various reasons,
but the key is to become aware of it in the moment. Then
use the inverse relationship formula to counteract this.
Begin moving your feet much faster and more intensely than
normal, where you even feel like you are "over-doing things".
That's the whole idea. As you throw yourself into more physicality,
your mind will stop thinking and your body will start acting.
You'll instantly become more athletic. Hence the term inverse.
As one side of the equation goes up (your physical activity),
the other side goes down (your over-thinking).
- Take All Opponents Seriously: The moment you think
to yourself, "This opposing team is weak. This'll be
a simple, easy win.", you're done mentally. Or at least
you put yourself into a mental hole that will take some
digging to get out of. That's because you just told yourself
that this will be a boring game, that it will barely be
a challenge, and hardly worth your effort and focus. That's
where the danger comes in. Now your mind has signaled to
your body, "You can take a break. This is in the bag!".
But it won't be with that attitude. Now you need to change
the game into a challenge so your mind and body "gets up
for the game." You can do this by setting interesting
goals that create curiosity. For example, how many steals
can you make? How many people can you stop? Can you shut
out the other team or severely limit their scoring? Goals
like this create intrigue and help you play your best.
Now you have some new mental insights into what makes you
tick as a soccer player. And now you know more about the mental
game of soccer, and of how to manage your own mental approach.
Take these out on the field and put them to good use. Good
luck!
For a comprehensive overview of your mental abilities you
need an assessment instrument that identifies your complete
mental strengths and weaknesses. Here is a free, easy-to-take
65-item sport
psychology assessment tool you can score right on the
spot. This assessment gives you a quick snapshot of your strengths
and weaknesses in your mental game. You can use this as a
guide in creating your own mental training program, or as
the basis for a program you undertake with mental coach Bill
Cole, MS, MA to improve your mental game. This assessment
would be an excellent first step to help you get the big picture
about your mental game.
Copyright © 2014 Bill Cole, MS, MA. All rights reserved.
This article covers only one small part of the mental game.
A complete mental training program includes motivation and
goal-setting, pre-event mental preparation, post-event review
and analysis, mental strengthening, self-regulation training,
breath control training, motor skill training, mental rehearsal,
concentration training, pressure-proofing, communication training,
confidence-building, breaking through mental barriers, slump
prevention, mental toughness training, flow training, relaxation
training, momentum training, psych-out proofing and media
training.
For a comprehensive overview of your mental abilities you
need an assessment instrument that identifies your complete
mental strengths and weaknesses. For a free, easy-to-take
65-item sport psychology assessment tool you can score right
on the spot, visit https://www.mentalgamecoach.com/Assessments/MentalGameOfSports.html.
This assessment gives you a quick snapshot of your strengths
and weaknesses in your mental game. You can use this as a
guide in creating your own mental training program, or as
the basis for a program you undertake with Bill Cole, MS,
MA to improve your mental game. This assessment would be an
excellent first step to help you get the big picture about
your mental game.
Bill Cole, MS, MA, a leading authority on peak performance, mental toughness
and coaching, is founder and President of the International Mental Game Coaching
Association, https://www.mentalgamecoaching.com.
Bill is also founder and CEO of William B. Cole Consultants, a consulting firm that helps
organizations and professionals achieve more success in business, life and sports.
He is a multiple Hall of Fame honoree, an award-winning scholar-athlete, published
book author and articles author, and has coached at the highest levels of major-league
pro sports, big-time college athletics and corporate America. For a free, extensive
article archive, or for questions and comments visit him at www.MentalGameCoach.com.
Article Source: SportsPsychologyCoaching.com
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