Mental Preparation

As a coach, you will find a lot of material that helps give you information on improving the physical and tactical aspects of soccer. There are literally hundreds of drills that you can use to make each player and group of players better. However, there is very little information that deals with proper mental preparation for practices and games. In my view, a player's mental approach to practices and games will make a huge difference in their physical performance. I have heard a quote in this area, but can't remember where I heard it. "The difference between a good soccer player and a great soccer player is their mental approach to the game". I try to have a good balance between physical and mental aspects of the game of soccer for the players and teams that I coach, and I think it makes a big difference.

Often, when I watch or work with players and teams, I can pretty quickly determine the ones that need a better mental approach to their game. What I have found is that players that don't have the best physical skills are often the players that have the best mental approach to the game. When a player has limited physical skills, they compensate for that by being focused and trying to do everything you ask with accuracy and precision. Players that are more physically gifted have an easier time being able to do what you ask, so their concentration level and mental approach are often not at the level that they need to be.

Probably the quickest way to determine the mental state of the players you are coaching is to start a practice or warmup for the game with very simple exercises. I will often start off with simple two touch passing (receive and pass). This may be the simplest exercise, but can tell you the most. I am adamant with all of my players about two things when I'm starting off with basic skills. All skills (passing, trapping, volleys, etc.) are done with the inside of the foot. And, everything is two touch. I even emphasize those things during games. If players are not mentally prepared, they will often make mistakes during this simple drill. For example, you have players that touch the ball with the outside of their foot because it's easier than doing it the way I want. You will also find players that do one touch passing instead of two touch. Usually, this is accompanied with inacurate passing, and soccer balls going everywhere but where they were intended to go. As soon as I see this, I stop the exercise, and talk to the players about getting mentally focused. If it continues, I will then start counting bad passes, and then make them do a fitness exercise for every 5 bad passes that I count. After a couple of times that they do the excercise, it starts to click that with a little bit of mental focus, their skills improve dramatically.

When it comes to games, many players believe that you can just show up, go through the motions of warming up, and then step onto the field and have a good game. Players these days have very busy schedules, and so they often arrive at the field rushed and with other things on their mind. Plus, they often have never been taught how to mentally prepare for a game. This is especially true for players coming out of rec soccer into competitive soccer. In rec soccer, there is more of a focus on having fun, so showing up for a practice or a game without the proper mental focus is ok. So, when they use the same approach when they first start playing competitive soccer where the competition is a lot harder, they don't know why they can't accomplish the same things on the field using the same techniques to get ready for the game.

At the beginning of the season, I will often talk to both the parents and the players about both the physical and mental expectations for the players for practices and games. Usually, the physical aspects are pretty well known. However, I am continually amazed at how many players and parents are unaware of the importance of mental preparation. Once we talk about mental preparation, it's pretty obvious to everyone why I talk about it. However, if you don't explicitly talk about it, most people won't think about it.

As far as what you, as a coach, can do to help your players and teams in this area, here are some suggestions that I have as far as things I have done that seem to have worked.

1. Allocate the first fifteen minutes of each practice and warm up for the game as "social time" where the players can catch up with each other on the day and things that are going on. This is especially important for girls teams. Yes, you give up fifteen minutes, but it will often be worth it as there is more focus in the rest of the practice or warmup.

2. Have the players sit in a circle, and they each have to take a turn to say either what they plan to do to help the team, or what they think the team needs to improve on or focus on. Use a soccer ball where the player holding the ball is the only one talking and everyone else has to listen.

3. In tournament situation, where you have multiple games in a day, it can often be helpful to have the players sit in a circle, pick a non-soccer related topic, and each of them has to talk about that topic. This can help with team building as much as get them all thinking the same way.

4. Before the game starts, get them together in a group, have them close their eyes, and then you (the coach) tell them to think about what they have to do in a game, and how they have to work with their teammates to be successful.

5. In special situations like tournament championships, an inspirational story can help. I will sometimes talk about a movie like Remember the Titans or Miracle where players that were supposed to have inferior talent triumph because of superior attitude. I also have worked with an assistant that tells personal stories about people in difficult situations that overcome the odds because of superior attitude.

There are many other similar things you can try. Sometimes I will try new things that don't work, and that's ok. You have to try things and evolve what works for each team you coach. Each one is going to be different and have different ways to be motivated, so what works for one may not work for another.

As far as individual players go, you can often tell a player that is struggling mentally because they just aren't performing well as normal. Quite often, this will be because of something that happened in another aspect of their life. As a coach, when you see them a bit "off", I usually pull them to the side and ask them if there's anything going on. Don't pressure them to share anything other than acknowledge that something is wrong if that's the case. Often, they will tell you what's going on, and simply by saying it, it puts their mind at ease for the game. It doesn't always work, and each player is different, so you have to adapt based on that.

Finally, here is one suggestion that is specific to girls teams. There will be games when the entire team seems to be having a bad game. For some reason I have yet to figure out, there are games when all of them are a bit "off" even though there is not a common reason for that to happen. In those situations, all of the motivational techniques and discussions in the world won't help the situation. Putting more pressure on them will only make it worse. The best you can do is encourage them and hope that the game clock goes fast. This doesn't happen very often, but know that it's bound to happen once in a while.

You can read a lot of different books that are biographies of coaches where they share their personal experiences with the players and teams they have coached. You can sometimes use the same techniques or a variation of those techniques with your own teams. Again, all of the suggestions are not going to work for every player and team you coach, but you can use the information to fill out your arsenal of techniques to help players and teams have a better mental approach to the game.

There is not magic or secret to this. You just have to keep working at it. Know that you will make mistakes and not everything you try will work. That's ok. Keep trying.