One thing I learned from a very good coach I had once a long time ago...he said that in order to play good soccer, you must maintain a positive attitude. Some times when stuff goes wrong in a game...like a bad trap or pass, missing a wide open net, or any other mishap that can have you second guessing yourself or worse, drawing the criticism of your mates. I learned that you have to let that negative moment go. Let it leave your mind. And make sure that you exercise positive self-talk and that your next touch is a better one. Because if you focus on the mistake, your next touch will be poor, and most likely the one after that...which may send you into a downward spiral and will ultimately lead to your butt getting pulled from the game.
So you say that it's tough sometimes to get past a blunder. Sure, that's true sometimes. But Coach had that answer for that as well. He said to "split your focus in game situations into two parts. It will be an 80/20 split. The 20% will be "living in the moment", allowing you to be aware of your surroundings and remembering to breathe and all that simple stuff." Coach stated that the 20% was comprised of the things that you worked on in practice. "In practice you develop your fitness, ball skills, passing ability, technique, and the muscle memory that will carry you through the match. These things are embedded within your subconscience.", Coach would say.
"The most important 80% is what is going to make you a winning member of a winning team. This portion of your focus is going to allow you to be the machine out there on the pitch. It is going to keep you from getting too emotional when times get tough." What he said next was that "Your mind has to be aware. You must be 2-Seconds ahead of the match at all times. You have to be alert to your options for ball distribution. You must know where your opponent's weaknesses are and exploit them. You need to be living in the future. And the future was always changing. You have to adapt constantly."
"Coach, I sorta get what your saying. But how does this all tie-in to the positive mentality thing you started talking about?"
"Well, when you make a mistake, your gut reaction is to feel bad. If you dwell on that moment, you are living in the past. If you are living in the past, the game runs away from you for a little bit. You will have to play catch-up. If you linger too long in the past, the game will run away from you entirely. So it is simple. You always live 2-seconds ahead of the game. If you do so, you will stay mentally strong. Your body will do what it has practiced. It is okay for it to not work correctly sometimes, it is human. But your mind must work like a machine: Constantly working by always analyzing the field and opponent. And just to be clear, I don't mind at all (in fact I do encourage this) if you feel like a little bit of time travel is necessary in order to acknowledge your teammates' good plays or even their mistakes, as long as you are positive in doing so."
So as the no-see-ums and mosquitos descended upon our team during Coach's lecture, we got up to play our game. 11 machines on the field. Working hard together to win the game. Staying positive. Doing our best to heed his advice.
And I think his speech is WAAAAAAYYYYYY better than this guys speech. But who's judging?
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