It's probably no secret that in soccer, you don't just have to train your muscles to be successful. Victories, ascents, trophies and championships require strong nerves.
The more important the game and the more decisive the character of the situation, the stronger you also have to be in your head. Two examples:
In today's blog post, we'll show you tips and tricks that you too can address in your game in the future so that you can keep cool in dicey situations.
In a sport where pressure to perform and succeed dominate, mentally strong players have a clear advantage. And through suitable training methods, so-called sports mental training, players can get even more out of themselves and their game.
This applies not only to professional athletes. Amateurs are also plagued with problems that can be solved through mental training: Bad form of the day, nervousness, lack of motivation, self-doubt, fears and other problems that distract or block us.
Sports mental training is not the laying on of hands: It means hard, intensive and continuous work.
BE THE BOSS ON THE PITCH!
Used right after waking up in the morning or just before falling asleep in the evening, you can counteract self-doubt and actually improve physical processes.
With a little practice (e.g. yoga or special breathing techniques), the autonomic nervous system can be controlled. Depending on your needs, you can put yourself in a more relaxed or excited state.
If failure is expected on game day, it is likely that it is already heading in this direction. That is why our tip is to train with promising expectations: “If I give everything, I have a good chance of success”
If you let yourself be distracted, you lose. This applies to your own “ricochet” ideas as well as to external disturbances. Practice keeping focus in all game situations, whether ricochets or provocative spectators.
Failure is part of sport. Learn from this and draw appropriate conclusions. It is also particularly important that you do not evaluate defeats and setbacks and that you infer your overall abilities from a bad game.
With all this knowledge about the potential of psychological effects, the following is all the more astonishing:
Only five Bundesliga clubs have permanently employed a psychologist for their professional teams. Namely RB Leipzig, 1899 Hoffenheim, Bayer Leverkusen, Fortuna Düsseldorf and Mainz 05.
Elsewhere, however, psychologists are usually only used as a lifeline — on a freelance basis, of course. Because if things don't go as desired and a few games are lost, a psychologist should suddenly answer.
Magically clear the “players' heads” — just like that, as you pass by. In soccer, however, you are dealing with people who all have their strengths and weaknesses. Who — especially when they learn how to deal with their own fears or deficiencies correctly — can perform very well.
Sports psychology should therefore be just as integral part of training as physiotherapy, athletic, technical or tactical training.
It was now just over ten years ago when Robert Enke committed suicide. His suicide initially made soccer a bit more sensitive — but many things were also forgotten again. And much more is covered by a cloak of silence. Even today, depression, depressive moods or equivalents are barely pronounced.
Whether in professional or amateur soccer — the stigma of the weak, the resilient would stick to a player for far too long.
The only question is whether it is really weak or perhaps not rather brave when a player positions himself in public with his illness? A disease that, by the way, can affect any of us.
Be fearless. Be focused. B42
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