Football, like any competitive sport, requires you to put in hours of preparation on the training pitch in order to perform on the big stage. Most of this is physical preparation, as you need to ensure that you are fit and strong enough to perform to your best, while you also need to ensure you have the skill to pass the ball, put in an important tackle or make that last minute catch. However, your mental preparation is also an important aspect that should not be neglected if you want to perform at your best as often as possible.
Step 1
Build your confidence gradually. Unless you have incredible natural self confidence, you need to increase your confidence in your playing ability naturally until you feel that you are capable of competing at the level you are playing at. Remember that any mistakes you make, whether in practice or in matches, help you learn and become a better player: as Michael Jordan said, it's not failing that matters, it's not trying.
Step 2
Begin your preparation by focusing your mind on the upcoming game. You cannot perform to your best if you are constantly distracted by external factors, such as what is going on in your family life or social life. If you can eliminate distractions you will be able to concentrate fully on your preparations.
Step 3
Familiarize yourself with the tactical and strategic requirements of your upcoming game. Mental preparation has two components when preparing for football, which must be mastered along with your physical and mental preparation. First, you will need to know your tactical obligations and the strategic plays you will be implementing during the game, as the more you need to think about them consciously, the less likely you are to be able to pull them off.
Step 4
Develop a routine to get yourself into a mental state that is best suited to peak performance. Chess and martial arts world champion Josh Waitzkin describes a state of mental flow that he believes enables all athletes to achieve their best performances, where mind and body work effortlessly together using an activity that always makes you feel mentally secure and confident. You can achieve this by developing a ritual, such as meditation, listening to music or even eating a specific meal that you go through before every time you perform this mentally relaxing activity, before performing the same ritual before your game to evoke the same feelings of relaxation and confidence.
Step 5
Visualize success. If you can see yourself going through the actions needed to succeed in your mind, then you will increase your ability to do it on the field. Mentally rehearsing what you need to be doing, what it feels like to win, what it feels like to throw that successful pass or make that successful block when the pressure is on will help you to perform when you are in that situation.
References
- "The Art of Learning"; Josh Waitzkin; 2008
- "The New Psycho-Cybernetics"; Maxwell Maltz, M.D., F.I.C.S.; 2001
- "Mastery"; George Leonard; 1992
- "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience"; Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi; 1990
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