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Today we have an amazing surprise for the whole FTT community.
A certified sports psychologist and football agent, Mrs. Radoslava Trifonova, agreed to write, especially for you, a community of ambitious footballers who work hard to become professional footballers in the future, an article about the importance of psychology in modern football.
Due to the fact that this topic is very wide, there will be a second part soon.
I recommend that you carefully study the article and if you have any questions about your mental attitude or sports psychology, write them in the comment and we will pass on the most interesting to Mrs.Radoslava.
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WHY’S FOOTBALL PSYCHOLOGY SO IMPORTANT?
The best of the best work on their football psychology because they know this simple fact about football: The difference between success and failure is measured in inches.
In recent years, it wasn't seen as something normal to see a psychologist.
But inevitably, it has to be something normal. Today it is more common and there will be a day when it will be compulsory. There are people that go through difficult times...
As we know Alvaro Morata has revealed he came close to suffering depression during his first season at Chelsea and has seen a psychologist to help him cope with the day-to-day pressure ever since. "When your head doesn't work well, you are your worst enemy. During those times, it doesn't matter what you do, you are always fighting against yourself.” "Depression is an illness just like breaking your ankle." "Just as we train in the gym or on the pitch to improve our technique and our tactical abilities, I believe the mind is something you also have to train," he said. "You have to be ready and that (seeing a psychologist) helps you a lot.
I’m going to roll out the “if I had a pound” cliché now, but if I had a pound for every player who has told me about how passionate they’re about winning then I’d have a lot more money than I do now. And of course it’s vital that anyone competing at any level has a will to win. But they often overlook a vital fact about winning. It’s not the will to win that is important. It’s the will to prepare to win. It’s safe to say that everyone wants to win. But the reality is it’s the person who is the most prepared who gives himself the best opportunity to win.
Your brain works in milliseconds Yes, whilst the game works on seconds, the brain works in milliseconds. What scientists have found is that the brain make sure people feel emotions in 10-20 milliseconds and think consciously 500 milliseconds later. It’s mind blowing stuff. And it means a footballer has to be fantastic at dealing with his emotions and managing his thought processes every single second of every single match. A feeling or thought that rises to the surface happens in a blink of an eye. And these feelings and thoughts affect your performance. They affect your technique, your anticipation, awareness and decision making. They affect your all round game. Football is a game of psychology and you must improve your mindset to become the best player you can be.
In my opinion the best player in the world is Lionel Messi. He’s really outstanding. People see him play and watch his silly skills, his ability to go on long mazy runs, his incredible eye for goal. And it’s fair to say that he has enormous technical ability. No one can dispute that. But there’s a famous advert that you can view on YouTube that highlights a talent Messi has that might be the talent that has more impact on his game than his physical skills. This is what Messi says on this advert: “When I was 11 I had a growth hormone problem. But being smaller I was more agile. And I learnt to play with the ball on the ground because that’s where it felt more comfortable. Now I realise sometimes bad things can turn out good.” - he said this one the iconic Adidas “Impossible is nothing” adverts and it gives us a great insight into his mindset.
Champions find the positive in everything they do It’s a simple statement but very difficult to be able to achieve. Champions are brilliant at being able to see the solution in a problem. They are able to draw positives from a negative event.
Let’s break this down. Can you draw positives from: * A defeat * A personally poor game * Criticism from a coach, manager or teammate * A poor training session * An injury The fact is Lionel Messi’s biggest talent was to turn something that was a negative into something that worked for him and helped him become the best player in the world. His biggest talent was this: Confident thinking
Let’s think about the areas that impact our self image:
Perception
Memory
Thinking
Imagination
Lionel Messi is brilliant at perceiving things in a positive way and then thinking confidently about the situation. He refused to let his physical size handicap him. In fact he used it to his advantage. “I’m more agile” he said. “I can learn to play with the ball on the ground better than everyone else” he said.
Can you start seeing everything in a positive light? Can you start seeing every situation as a challenge rather than a problem? Think about some of the problems you face. Can you see these situations as challenges? Can you see them in a positive light?
I’ll give you some specific techniques to build your soccer image in a minute very soon.
To be continued ...
