The Importance Of Psychology When Coaching Soccer
Click Here To Get 4 of My Best Selling Soccer Coaching Programs For Only $1
This is really important. Do you want to have the life of your dreams (including being a great soccer coach – if that’s what you want?) Do you want to provide a fantastic and enjoyable experience for your players? Let me share with you a couple of powerful things that worked for me…
1. Set a Goal (What is it that you want to achieve? Sit down and write it down in a piece of paper).
2. Believe you can achieve it and that you deserve it.
3. Start feeling like you have already achieved it and make a step by step plan to get there.
4. Do it NOW! Take action and start implementing the plan.
Nothing happens until something moves. Action is the real measure of intelligence. Edison failed 10,000 times before he made the electric light. Don’t let yourself or your players be discouraged if they fail a couple of times. TRY AGAIN! Make another plan.
“Victory is always possible for the person that refuses to stop fighting”. Teach your players to NEVER GIVE UP!
A quitter never wins and a winner never gives up (here’s a great motivational video…)
Psychology has always been a rather complex subject. Not just in soccer but also in life, we come across several situations where human psychology plays a huge role in how we react to different situations. However, for now, let’s limit our discussion to the importance of psychology in soccer.
All the material available on soccer will tell you that psychology is at the heart of being a great soccer player. Psychology determines how confident players are about their abilities as also whether they will be able to perform as well in an actual match as they do in a practice session.
Over the last few years, the soccer clubs have been laying a lot of emphasis on psychology training as well and such training has shown encouraging results too. The effect has been rather visible in areas like mental and emotional health, anger management, attention to detail, focus, and alertness.
There cannot be two opinions about the fact that keeping the players inspired and preventing a feeling of dejection and losing out should be the major focus of the coach. Here’s what you can do to achieve this. Help the players set about realistic goals for themselves. When they have objectives to work upon, they are able to focus better on their game. Plan games and drills that not only bring out the best in kids but are also fun to do. Instill in them a feeling of belongingness towards the club and the team. When they feel that they are an important and inherent part of the team, they endeavor to do well.
It has been conclusively proven that the players who rely on both their physical as well as mental shape have a better chance of winning than those who just concentrate on their physical fitness. No wonder then that most soccer clubs do not hesitate in hiring qualified sports psychologists.
Following are a few things that you can do as a coach to help the kids work against negative emotions and be in top physical and mental shape.
Help them relax, unwind, and take things easy : After every practice session, keep little room for relaxing during which the players can rest, have a casual chat, or simply break away from the game for a while. Such a session will help them rejuvenate for the next day. If there are no such sessions, it is likely that the players get so exhausted mentally and physically that they will hardly be in a shape to perform in the tournament.
Help them focus on the ball : A very handy technique is to make them visualize. There are two forms: external visualization and internal visualization. In the external visualization, the kids visualize watching a movie of themselves playing soccer. In the internal process, they see themselves doing it in reality.
Help them make goals and achieve them : This has been discussed already. Ask each of them to have some sort of individual goals and also devise ways of achieving them. In the absence of any goals, it is very likely that they will lose interest in the game or get distracted. However, ensure that the goals are realistic and positively challenge each player’s abilities. Unrealistic goals shall lead to even more frustration.
Plan concentration drills : This is tough but such drills can easily give your players a winning edge. When kids learn to focus on their goals and eventually winning matches, they become so good in their skills that it is impossible to distract them. It takes time and ingenuity on your part but there are number of psychological drills that can be developed to help the kids increase their power of concentration.
Finally, a few quick tips that will help to keep your kid’s interest alive in the game:
Keep the soccer balls in abundance so that every player has one of them. The players get involved only when they have a ball to try out different things.
Keep the kids moving all the time. Keep giving them tasks and exercises so that they are constantly thinking and are engaged. Just making them stand in a line even for a few minutes can make them feel bored or aloof.
Keep their attention engaged. You can do this by changing the flow of drills every now and then. If the kids are able to achieve results easily, make the tasks difficult instead.
Keep altering the pace of the activities. The kids get tired easily and so the best way to keep the pace consistent is to make them run, walk, sprint, and jog at lesser intervals. This way, they won’t feel fatigued.
To conclude, do not lecture a lot on the field. Keep your instructions simple and short. Let the kids have more fun on the ground that sitting in a line listening to you. It is better not to give their young minds too much to think about. It is also a good idea to give short demonstrations during the sessions so that they get to learn by seeing you.
Soccer psychology is a vast and evolving subject. However, if you keep your eyes and ears open and adhere to these tips, your players are likely to have a better balance of mind than their competition.
Leave your feedback below!
Yours in soccer,
Andre Botelho
Click Here To Get 4 of My Best Selling Soccer Coaching Programs For Only $1
Get The Free Report "Youth Soccer
Coaching Manifesto" from Andre Botelho
and transform your coaching.
I have used the above technicques and have had much success. A good coach will have the patience to apply the phsychological part of their training. Mental Toughness and Positive Affirmations are the key to such success. It takes time and patience, but the rewards are great!
Coach Daniel Monge
Scorpions SC
Menifee, Ca
Where are you from? i like this topic ? i wish you can hepl me to john some of your coaching courses? am from Ghana but now am in China I’d like to build up a team in China and the aim is to develop soccer in China. do you have some idaer for me?
some very good points made there. to get kids into sport they have to want to do it. I do understand it is hard to keep them engaged with the sport at all time. Some very good coaching tips here