What Do Mental Game Coaches Do For Athletes?
Is something lacking from your training that is holding you back from your potential?
Are you looking to jump start your play on the soccer field? Are you searching for some competitive edge over your competition?
In order for you (or your athletes) to play your best, you need to train your best.
It isn’t enough to play scrimmages, work a few drills, and condition your body.
If you are not conditioning your mind, in conjunction with your physical training, you will not be optimally trained and prepared to play your best.
How do you condition your mind?
Let’s flip that question and determine how do you get physically stronger?
Some soccer players hit the weight room with their strength coach, some players work with conditioning coaches to improve their aerobic capacity and some players train with speed and agility coaches to improve their quickness.
To gain mental toughness, many elite soccer players seek the help of Sport Psychologists and Mental Game Coaches.
Mental Game Coaches assist soccer players in all the mental facets of the game:
- Building confidence
- Managing of game-time emotions
- Focusing, goal-setting
- Developing effective practice habits
- Competing with a positive mindset
- Overcoming negativity
- Managing anxiety
- Pushing past comfort
- Playing at an overall higher level
A vast number of soccer players, both elite and professional, recognize the importance of a stronger mental game and devote a lot of time towards developing mental toughness.
Adam Bogdan is a goalkeeper for Liverpool FC goalkeeper. Bogdan knew it was critical to improve his mental toughness so he solicited the help of a Sports Psychologist.
BOGDAN: “For me, that [working with a Sport Psychologist] was a big step in my career. It’s made a huge difference to me. When I got relegated with Bolton (in 2012), there was so much going on in my mind, I needed to clear it up.”
For Bogdan distractions interfered with his play:
- Letting in a bad goal
- Criticism from the media
- Negative opinions of others,
- Opponents trying to knock him off his game
- All the daily hassles off the soccer field in his personal life
Working with a Sport Psychologist helped Bogdan improve his competitive focus by allowing him only to attend to those things he can control in the moment.
BOGDAN: “Speaking to someone just simplifies what I need to focus on and what I don’t need to focus on… there are so many other things going on that you can become distracted, especially if you’re like me, trying to be perfect all the time! That’s something the sports psychologist has helped a lot with, putting aside the things you can’t control and worrying about the things that you can.”
You should work on all the physical aspects of performance but soccer is also a mental game.
If you want to get to the next level, if you want an edge over the opposition, you need to train your mind.
Important tip for being mentally prepared on the pitch:
Research the importance on mental training. List 3-4 aspects of your game that could improve with mental training. Take some time imagining the difference a strong mental game would have on your play on the field.
If you are unsure about how to approach improving your mental game, start with downloading our free one-page mental game test. Here’s the the download page:
Download and complete the test. Email your results to us for a quick evaluation.
Related Sports Psychology Articles
- How to Develop a Competitive Mindset
- The Mindset for Playing from Behind in Soccer
- Mindset for High Pressure Games
- Subscribe to The Sports Psychology Podcast on iTunes
- Subscribe to The Sports Psychology Podcast on Spotify
Download a free sports psychology report to improve your mental game!
Learn more about our one-on-one mental game coaching.
Get the Mental Edge – With Mental Training
Do you perform well in practice, but find yourself under-performing in games? Do you doubt your skills and second-guess yourself under pressure? If so, mental training will help you reach your goals in soccer. Many soccer players have the skill but are held back by low confidence and lack of pregame mental preparation!
You can get expert mental coaching with us from anywhere. Meet with us via Zoom, Skype, FaceTime or phone call. With today’s video technology, we are able to connect with athletes and coaches all over the globe.
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