Performance Psychology - THE MASTER STORYTELLER

Sourced from ACTAS E-News - authored by Sarah Jack

This is a terrific article that makes good reading for players and parents of young players. It goes beyond Football!

Our mind is like the world’s greatest storyteller. It NEVER shuts up. It’s always got a story to tell and guess what it wants more than anything else? It ants what any good storyteller wants. It wants us to listen; it wants to grab our attention and pull us away from what we are doing.

Even if it’s painful, nasty or scary. And some of the stories it tells us are true. We call those ‘facts’. But most of the stories it tells us, we can’t really call ‘facts’. They’re more like opinions, beliefs, ideas, attitudes, assumptions, judgements, predictions etcetera. They’re stories about how we see the world, and what we want to do, and what we think is right and wrong or fair and unfair and so on.

So if you’re willing, sit back, get comfortable and do this exercise – close your eyes; don’t say anything for about thirty seconds – and just listen to the story your mind is telling you right now.

One of the key insights to learn is that our thoughts do not control our actions.

Thoughts have a lot of influence on our actions when we hold on too tightly to them, but they have much less influence when we take a step back from our thoughts and look at them for what they really are ... nothing more or less than a bunch of words or picture ‘inside your head’.

When you have this insight you begin to recognise that a thought; may or may not be true; is definitely not a command you have to obey or a rule to have to follow; is definitely not a threat to you; is not something happening in the physical world; may or may not be important to you – you have a choice as to how much attention you pay it; and can be allowed to come and go of its own accord without any need for you to hold on to it or push it away.

It’s not important if a thought is true or false; positive or negative; right or wrong.

One of the things we do want to learn is how to recognise when a thought is helpful, and when it isn’t.

The question here is; ‘If you let this thought and/or feeling guide your behaviour, will it help you achieve what you want to achieve, to do the things you want to do; to be the person you want to be?’

So ... just listen ... what is your mind telling you right now?

Pre-Game Psychological Preparation

Sourced from http://www.scysa.net/sportspsychology.htm

I came across a Football Club in the USA called the Schuylkill County Youth Soccer Association


The preparation time near to the start of the game is very important to a coach and players. It's always important to get the players focussed on the game. Players should develop routines to get them in the best state of mind for the game and some certainly have their particular routine before match start.


I found this this Club's website contained a very useful summary of the techniques I have observed used by players over the years. It doesn't include a couple of serious young players I dealt with as Manager of a PL Pathways team, who immediately come to mind:
 - the Premier League player who discovered to his horror that he had left his lucky jocks at home. To be precise, this turned out to be Speedo swimming costumes. He had stopped changing into his playing strip. He looked around the dressing room. This was serious stuff. I could see the question coming and said "just ask yourself, who in our club is likely to have a pair of jocks that you would classify as "lucky". That deeped his despair and the coach said to me _ 'well that's stuffed it mate". I thought so too, but then, we had no idea whether he had arrived with his best game in mind or not and nor did he, lucky jocks or no lucky bloody jocks. He played in something under the shorts and yes he had a rubbish game! The player blamed everyone else, the coach blamed me (which was not entirely unreasonable, as my comments to the player were calculated to bring the impending disaster to a head earlier than kickoff), and I blamed Speedo!
- Or the player that had to wear three sets of football strip in order to play. He used to ask for three club jersies. I made him wear two of the alternate strip tops underneath, which he wasn't entirely happy about, but I explained the match card I had to fill out only had space for one number. That seemed to satisy him. He complained that it was too hot! Took him three years and careful management to get down to just the playing strip. He still wears two sets of socks. Same lad got a sprained ankle and arrived at training, saying that he had got on the interenet and found a picture of how to tape his ankle. I looked at him and thought it was marvel he hadn't hung himself. He went on complaining that he had to use an entire roll of strapping tape  and now he couldn't fit his foot into his boot. Same player  had trouble telling you whether he was left or right footed., because he was as good with one as the other. It gave him no comfort. All that said, a terrific young fellow and he can really play, when mood takes him or Jupiter passed Venus or whatever?. Ah well!

PSYCHING UP - Pre-Game Psychological Preparation

All great athletes prepare psychologically for competition. They Psych-Up.

Why?

Psyching up clearly marks the change from daily routine to the game situation. It fosters the important process of focusing on playing and heightens concentration for doing so. Psyching does not always mean getting pumped; it can also mean getting relaxed to get in a flow or zone.

Athletes Psych-Up in many different ways.

PHYSICAL WARM-UPS certainly can begin to focus your mind and especially if you pay attention to mental focus as well during them..

MUSIC is another common way to psych. If you need to calm down and relax before playing, then you need mellow music. If you need to get pumped, then listen to rap, heavy metal or other hard-driving music. It is best to make a pre-game tape so that the music you listen to is stuff you like and that moves you; either pumping or relaxing.

CUE WORDS are single words you say to yourself that suggest readiness, confidence and skill: Words like power, speed, touch, smooth, fly, strong, focused, teamwork.

CUE IMAGES are mental pictures that suggest readiness, confidence and skill. Imaging yourself executing your skills, scoring a goal, making a block, executing a cross or assist.Images may also be anatomical; like seeing your muscles bulge with strength or power, or feeling the wind as you speed down the sideline.

LIKE-PSYCHS means hanging out with teammates who have the level of energy you need to play your best. If you need to relax, hang out with the quiet guys, the thinkers or contemplators. If you need pump, hang out with the back-slappers and jokers.

CONFIDENCE STATEMENTS are sentences you tell yourself which convey readiness, confidence, skills. Such as I’m ready. I’m feeling good. I’ve worked hard and I’m prepared. I can nail this.

Does psyching work? A study compared weightlifters on a strength task where one group psyched and the other didn’t. The non-psyching group averaged 49.12 kg in strength and the psyching group averaged 54.98 kg.

Doesn’t matter how you Psych - Just Do It!

Total fitness from the land of Total Football

This article was referred to me by Woden Valley FC senior statesman (he'll like that one), Alan Hinde.

There is a lot in this article that is directly transferable to our Premier League and high performance / development regimes. Football is covering a lot of the calender year these days, so we need to get a lot smarter about our training.

Sourced from http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/9239342.stm
By John Sinnott

Nearly 40 years after Netherlands legends Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff unleashed Total Football on an unexpecting world, along comes a Dutchman espousing a new philosophy - periodisation.

If it is a concept that is unlikely to ever acquire Total Football's sexy cache, Raymond Verheijen believes periodisation - in essence a less is more approach to training - is important in allowing clubs to protect their key asset - players.

The 39-year-old Verheijen has an impressive pedigree.

He worked with Guus Hiddink, Frank Rijkaard, Louis van Gaal and Dick Advocaat at three World Cups and three European Championships with Netherlands, Russia and Korea, as well as with the Korean national team at the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.

Rijkaard also used Verheijen when he coached Barcelona, as did Hiddink when he managed Chelsea, while Advocaat used the 39-year-old fitness expert when he was in charge of Zenit St Petersburg.

A lot of coaches treat players the same way, whatever their age, whatever their body composition, whatever their injury history, whatever their playing position

Former Manchester City boss Mark Hughes also turned to Verheijen at the start of the 2009-2010 season and Craig Bellamy has been so impressed by the Dutchman that he now pays to work with him at his own expense.

"The objective of periodisation is to play every game with your best 11 players," Verheijen told BBC Sport during an hour-long interview, following a presentation at the UKSEM sports medicine conference at the end of last month.
"First of all because you want to win and secondly because the fans deserve to see the best players."

The idea that you start every game with your best team sounds like common sense.

But a look at the statistics shows that it does not always happen, even though it is estimated that up to 70% of Premier League clubs are using computer and medical analysis to measure player performance and fatigue levels.

The website physioroom.com's Premier League injury table on the weekend of 4-5 December recorded there were 108 top-flight players out of action.

On average, that is 5.4 players for each Premier League team or a fifth of each club's designated 25-man squad, with Aston Villa and Tottenham each having as many as 11 players on the treatment table over the weekend.
Verheijen has worked extensively with Guus Hiddink

It is not just in England that clubs are having to juggle their resources due to injury. On the weekend of 20-21 November, 124 players were unavailable to play in Italy's Serie A due to injury.

Since former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez took charge at Inter Milan, the Italian champions have come under particular scrutiny. Up to 28 November, Inter had 37 injuries this season, it meant that those injured players missed a total of 68 games. Before Inter played Spurs in the Champions League on 2 November, Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport identified 15 muscle-related injuries that had affected Inter players since the start of the 2009-10 campaign.

"All teams have injuries," Benitez said. "We have a certain amount of muscle-related injuries but 40% of them were picked up on national team duty. Also, 85% of them are recurring from last year."
But for Verheijen, injury clusters demand closer analysis.

Take the pressure off

Sourced from http://www.footy4kids.co.uk/

There is a direct relationship between pressure, anxiety and performance. Pressure increases anxiety and heightened anxiety lowers performance. The more pressure, the more anxious your players become and the more their performance suffers.

This scenario is known as "choking" and it affects everyone involved in sport, not just youngsters – we've all seen great golfers miss the 3ft putt they need to win a tournament and top soccer players blast a vital penalty over the bar.

How much harder, then, is it for young children to perform to their potential when they are put under pressure?

There are four types of pressure your players have to deal with on match days:

1) Peer pressure

Children can be less than supportive of team mates who make mistakes. Very often, quite cutting remarks are made after an attacker misses an open goal or a goalkeeper fumbles a simple catch.
The knowledge that there are players in the team (I call them "snipers") who are quick to criticise mistakes will raise anxiety levels among the rest of the players significantly.
If you have "snipers" in your team you have to take action. Stress to your players everyone makes mistakes. The best soccer players in the world, their parents and even you, the coach, don't always get it right and team players never criticise a team mate.
Lead by example: don't criticise a player who makes a mistake in training or in a match. Publicly congratulate them for trying to do whatever it was they were attempting and privately ask them if they can think of a way they could have done it better.
Making mistakes is part of the learning process. No mistakes = no learning.

2) Parental pressure

Parental expectation is a huge influence on a child's performance. I've seen talented players freeze up completely when their dad or mum is on the touch line, even if they are only watching quietly.
While it's not easy for a coach to remove the pressure some parents put on their children to perform, we can explain to parents they should support their child regardless of how well they perform and that all you expect (and all they should expect) is that their child tries their best.
Win or lose, parents should give their child a big hug, lots of praise and let them know how much they appreciate their hard work and sportsmanship.

3) Coach pressure

The pressure a coach can unconsciously exert on a child should not be underestimated.
Your players know that you want the team to do well, they have a part to play and you are watching them. What they also have to know is that you want players to take risks and you will praise them in front of their friends if they try something new or difficult.
And remember to smile! A coach who smiles a lot and has fun with their players will get the best out of them by generating a pressure-free environment for them to play in.

4) Internal pressure

We all have a "little voice" in our heads that berates us (often very harshly) when we make a mistake or do something wrong.
For our players, fear of the little voice in their head saying "you're stupid" or "you're useless at shooting" is enough to stop them from even trying to use their skills on match day.
Also, a child's internal dialogue can set them unachievable goals. Pressure from a child's peers, parents and coaches to do well can result in their little voice telling them: "I have to be good at everything, I mustn't let my friends/parents/coach down, I must not fail."
Not surprisingly, a child who has this sort of faulty internal dialogue going on in her head is not going to risk trying anything that could set it off.
So we have to change this dialogue to a more reasonable: "I am allowed to fail. My friends/coach/parents just want me to try my best, that's all."
We can do this by consistently reinforcing the fact that they are not stupid, that they are not useless at shooting (or anything else) and that we really only want them to try hard.
If you can influence a child's internal dialogue in this way it will have a really positive impact on many aspects of their life, not just on the pitch.

Conclusion

An understanding of the way pressure can affect performance is vital if you are going to get the best out of your players.
Deal with the "snipers" and educate your parents. Remain positive and cheerful in all your dealings with your players – no matter what the situation – and you will stop your players choking on match days.

Timely Grand Final Advice - How to Take A Penalty Kick!!!

Sourced from http://www.footy4kids.co.uk/


Given the number of penalty shoot outs lately, this might be useful before this weekend.

How to take the perfect penalty

Whether playing in the park with jumpers for goalposts or at the end of a tense cup final, your players need to know how to take penalties.
Successful penalty taking is not simply a case of running up and shooting. There are a number of techniques that can be taught to even very young soccer players that will dramatically improve their chances of coping with the pressure and help them convert spot kick into goals.

A study by the University of Exeter found that penalty takers who looked at the goalkeeper during their run up often ended up shooting straight at the goalkeeper. Their advice to penalty takers was to try to blot the goalkeeper out to the point where he or she is not there at all.

Another study by the boffins at John Moores University in Liverpool offered a more scientific approach to scoring from the penalty spot. They suggested that:

• The perfect penalty is struck at 65mph from a run up of no more than six paces.
• The taker should strike the ball less than three seconds after the referee has blown the whistle.
• The taker should approach the ball from an angle of 20-30 degrees and aim high to the goalkeeper's left or right side.

An interesting study by Anna Stodter & Matt Pain of Loughborough University suggests that penalty takers can overcome the pressure of the situation and score more goals if they use cue words such as 'head' (for head down over the ball), 'centre' (strike through the centre of the ball) or 'easy' (effortless).
This study did find that while using cue words was off putting for some players in a practice situation, they did help when the pressure was on by keeping a players' mind 'on the job' and stopping their thoughts from wandering or becoming negative.

The penalty king - how did he take spot kicks?
Alan Shearer scored 54 times from the penalty spot during his league career and scored a dozen for England.
The majority of his penalties were scored in exactly the same way – he ignored the goalkeeper, took a short run and smashed the ball into the top left of the goal as hard as he could. Even though goalkeepers knew how he would take a penalty, they couldn't save them.
The lesson?

• Having a set routine helps when you're under pressure.
• Confidence and focus is the key. Don't try to deceive the goalkeeper.

 References [1] Brian Quarstad, How to Take the Perfect Penalty Kick?, http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2010/05/16/how-to-take-the-perfect-penalty-kick/
[2] http://www.teachpe.com/soccer_football/penalty.php
[3] Anna Stodter & Matt Pain, Taking penalty kicks under pressure - think about It!, Loughborough University

Overuse injuries - what they are, why they occur and how to stop them

This artile is sourced from http://www.footy4kids.co.uk/

Overuse injuries - what they are, why they occur and how to stop them
Dr. Michael Busch, Orthopedic Surgeon, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
The [child's] body [is] a lot like a paperclip. If you just keep bending it over and over and over again, eventually that paperclip is going to break".

What are overuse injuries?

Overuse injuries in youth soccer usually result from repetitive forces that cause 'micro trauma'. Damaged tissues become inflamed, causing swelling and a loss of function. Continuing to exercise leads to a vicious cycle and the injury becomes chronic.

Occasionally, children can suffer even more serious injuries (such as fractures) as a direct result of too much coaching. Especially if it is combined with a punishing programme of match play.

Too much soccer coaching and match play (and, more importantly, the wrong type of coaching) can cause serious, long-lasting injuries to children. This is simply because a child's body is not fully developed and is unable to withstand repeated impact, even if that impact is simply from running for a long time on hard or uneven ground.

Science Gives Clues To World Cup Success

Science gives clues to World Cup success


Updated Mon May 10, 2010 3:57pm AEST
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/10/2895277.htm

Penalty kicks, such as Francesco Totti's in the 2006 World Cup, can make or break a team (Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)
Few moments in soccer are as extraordinary as the penalty, the moment when a dream can crumble or glory is made - and a player is either cursed as a choker or enters the pantheon of legends.
In the nearly 119 years since the very first penalty kick, in a match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Accrington Stanley, the 11-metre spot determines more and more tournaments, including the 2006 World Cup final.
As the importance of the penalty has grown, so has research. Scientists see it as a duel between shooter and goalkeeper where biomechanics and psychology can give either side a critical edge.
A mathematical study of penalties at Liverpool's John Moores University puts the death nail into the "blast it and hope" approach.

The Craft of Coaching

This is an excellent article by the National Coaches Assocition of America.
If you Coach, use the article as a template for self reflection. If you are a supporter or parent of a player who goes to games, use it too reflect upon your team's Coach, then figure out a way to help the Coach. But don't dump on the Coach becuase things may not being going well.


The Craft of Coaching

Many qualities and attributes are needed in moving players to new levels


Bill Beswick, renowned sports psychologist formerly of Manchester United and now with Middlesborough FC, has a saying which should inspire all coaches:

“A good coach is able to take a player where they have never been before and will not get to on their own.”


This in many ways gives meaning to what it is to coach and encapsulates the primary purpose of the coaching profession. This article explores coaching as a craft, a professional endeavor which requires pride of performance, acquisition of highly-valued skills and has an objective which is both enormously satisfying and develops an insatiable appetite for more.

At an NSCAA Academy a few years ago, a disgruntled graduate from a highly successful Division I college program said, “I didn’t learn one thing in four years of college; I haven’t improved since I left high school.” It was astonishing to discover how disenchanted this player had been with his college experience. He had played in several Final Fours, one of which his team won. It is clear that serious players want more from a coach than winning trophies. They want to prepare for the next level. They want to get better.

Many would argue that the ultimate acid test of a player is “What impact did you have on the game?” Surely the ultimate acid test of a coach is “What impact did you have on your players?”

The Feelgood Paradox - Can Camaraderie And Competitiveness Coexist?

We stress the importance of "development" over "winning" when bringing our junior  / youth players through their Football experience. And we do so for very good reasons. This notion sits at the very heart of the FFA's National Football Curriculum. The upcoming NJC is a case in point. Our coach education philosophy emphasises a much more hands off approach on game day - let the game be the teacher! It's all  much better than what went before it.
But at some point our players move into a Club environment that is more "competition outcome" orientented than it is "develop". Our local Preimier League is a  good example. Coaches and Clubs and players want to win! The game changes!

The following article exlores this thorny problem. Take the time to read and give it some thought.

The Feelgood Paradox - Can Camaraderie And Competitiveness Coexist? Can camaraderie and competitiveness coexist in sports?


http://www.psychologytoday.com/, published on May 14, 2009
 
"A generation ago teaching athletes to have competitive fire when they played would have been viewed as laughably redundant, but this is an age where social and emotional well-being matters a great deal more than in times past. As a consequence athletes are routinely faced with the challenge of smoothly transitioning between distinctly different on and off field personas. Coaches are required to fashion teaching environments that can make sense of these opposing forces and often find themselves undertaking a challenge akin to walking a season-long tightrope with uneven weights in either hand where equilibrium is elusive and constantly changing."

Girls and Boys? or Girls v Boys?

There is playing in mixed teams at age and there is playing - up an age(s) in a mixed team. Not always, but often, the same thing.

I watched my young son play in a mixed team last season. He's played in a mixed team most seasons. He just sees the girls as "players". The girls on his team last season were in his opinion, the two best in the team. I had to agree. They were at the right level at the time - but then, they had parents that really though it through carefully and were informed of the game at these age groups (both fathers coached in junior football). They made informed decisions and always on the basis of what is best for their daughter at age. Its a tricky business. So you should procede with caution.
One of my son's friends played up an age in another Club for reasons not known to me and the boy had misreable season - the extra year made too much difference - someone forgot that he was late year birthday! The gap was closer to two years against many that he played against.

Our children often start in mixed teams at club level and mixed teams continue (in the Boys Competition or Open as it is called) with less frequency through the teens. The girls in the boy's teams tend to be those that take their football seriosuly and seek to play at a higher standard for age than is available at the same age in the girls competition. The idea is simple enough - the girls improve as a result of the increased level of resistance experienced in the boy's competition at age (sometimes higher). At Club level its pretty much decided by parents of the children involved and Club officials who are usually parents (well, who else would do the job?) - and too often there's no great analysis involved. And that's where the problems begin and parental expectations begin to run riot.

Trust Your Technique and Practice, Practice, Practice!

This article from Psychology Today is something we all know about in Football. Read on...

"The researchers found that in the high-pressure situation, the kickers tended to fixate on the goalie, looking at them earlier in the kicking process and keeping their eyes on him longer. As a result, they subsequently tended to kick their shots toward him more often as well, making their shots easier to block."