How a Soccer Mindset CoachCan Help Players Maintain Focus During High-Pressure Matches
The ability to stay focused and relaxed in high-pressure situations is paramount for success in sports, or in any field for that matter. It’s especially important in soccer, where every single player has to make decisions and quickly react to uncertain situations.
Of course, an ability this valuable doesn’t come naturally to most people, athletes included. Countless hard-working, talented soccer players struggle to maintain their composure in big moments.
Today, there is an innovative solution to this extremely common dilemma: a mindset coach. This is a specialized professional who develops
mental routines and strategies to help athletes continuously perform at their best and overcome adversity.
Since mindset coaches are a fairly new resource, many people might be curious as to how their process actually works. To shed some light in this area, here are a few ways a mindset coach would help a soccer player stay focused and relaxed under pressure:
Mindset Coaching Helps You Find Your Motivation
You can’t relax in a soccer game if you don’t want to be there in the first place. One of the first things you’ll do with a mindset coach is look deep within yourself to discover what we call your “why” - or why you love playing soccer. Specifically, what is it about soccer you love? Is it the camaraderie with your teammates? The freedom of movement? Pushing yourself physically during training? The feeling of accomplishment after your whole team earns a beautiful goal?
When you clearly identify your “why,” you have the foundation to approach tough situations. It changes how you view the game when the pressure hits so that you stay relaxed when everyone else gets stressed.
Mindset Coaching Helps You Recover from Mistakes
Soccer is a game of mistakes. Players are constantly making decisions, at least one every two or three seconds, and it’s impossible to make the right decision every single time. However, it’s only natural for a young athlete to get upset and lose focus when something doesn’t go their way.
Mindset coaches help soccer players accept the inevitability of mistakes and unfavorable outcomes. When mistakes are no longer something to be feared, it’s much easier to control your emotions afterwards. This allows players to stay focused, view the situation objectively and figure out how to prevent the same outcome from happening again.
Mindset Coaching Builds Your Confidence
When players feel nervous and unfocused before games, it’s often because they’re not feeling confident in themselves. This tends to stem from the high degree of uncertainty in a soccer game. How can you feel confident about the future when you have no idea what’s about to happen?
Mindset coaches help players build confidence in several ways, and one of them encouraging players to take risks and bet on themselves in uncertain situations. Taking risks means putting your physical and technical abilities to the test, even if you’re not 100% sure the risk will pay off. Mindset coaches show athletes how to trust their abilities and take risks that could potentially move their team forward or shift the momentum of the game.
Every risk that pays off helps your confidence grow, little by little. And the more risks you take, the more comfortable you become in different situations because you’ve already seen the way they play out.
Do You Have the Right Mindset?
As you can see, a mindset coach’s top priority is showing players how to feel confident and relaxed so they can stay focused under pressure. At Beyond Goals Mentoring, we’ll also identify what’s stopping you from envisioning positive outcomes and help you develop a new narrative that actually aligns with your goals. A player who can continue envisioning positive outcomes in uncertain situations is unquestionably on the path to success.
So, if you are struggling with confidence, negative self-talk or pre-game jitters, let’s set up a mentoring session today.
