Hello everybody ! My interests are in mental training. I do it here in Finland. I think there is no one else at this time who is doing it. I had been talking old national team coach and old player of national team, they did not had mental training. I had seen papers, what they teach coaches in finish football association, they have only one day session on mental side of soccer. I had talking with some professional coaches, who coach children and youth, there are no regular mental training in soccer. Only one of our rich soccer club have mental trainer, but only words on web page. They do it old fashion way, personal trainer type, not group sessions. They have psychologist on their club who see academy teams ones in a year or player if he/she have some bad problems. So I can say, they don´t have mental training. I think mental training is lot more than that. There are lots of problems why we don´t have mental training here. It is hard to measure results of mental training or show that was the thing which helps team to come better. Other thing is coaches, they think mental trainer in team makes them look bad coach, non skilled. Mental is also word that makes people think mental trainer is kind of shrink and if you use mental trainer you are mentally ill, lunatic. If you don´t need mental trainer you don´t pay them. If there is no need for mental trainer, there is no doer. Skills on this area won´t develop in Finland. I like to know, do you have mental training/trainers in your country, working in soccer? I mean regular training sessions in your teams? Or do you know some club what have that? If you have, how you do it, how often and how long at the time? Do you do it by yourself or do you have mental trainer to do it? If you have mental trainer on your club / team, how young you start working with? I would be very happy if you can tell me how things are in your country. Thanks !! -Sami
There is mental skills training at the highest levels (professional and international) here in the US, but that is a very small percentage of clubs. Generally speaking we are in a long-term trend of over-coaching, even at the youngest levels. Coaches want players to follow the coaches instructions rather than make decisions within a system of play. It has gotten to the point that some coaches don't understand the difference between a system of play and the team's shape on the field. This has produced too many high school aged players who have played soccer for 8 or more years, but didn't develop a soccer brain.
Welcome, sami. "mental training" is a very broad term, can you give an example of what you are referring to?
The head coach of the Norwegian national team wrote a book about "mental training" while he coached the club Tromsø. It is a big subject in Norwegian sports in general. The mental coach of biathlon star (most winning in history) has gotten a lot of media exposure. I am not sure how widespread it is, but there is bound to be more than a few taking this very seriously.
Hello, and thank you for let me know how thing are in your country ! My way to work is opposite of that over-coaching. I have been working in a psychiatric ward (mostly with children) many years and study children´s group psychotherapy over three year´s. In that time, this analytic training, we were learning how to help people to use their own brains. I think this mental training should start for kids, so they could learn to control they emotions better. If they can understand emotions, emotions won´t control them in a bad way. Don´t get me wrong, I think emotions are good thing ! Do they see that problem widely in your country, and try to do something to change that? -Sami
True, term is very broad. I think good mental training is talking different issues, what players disclose (is this right word?). They feel lots of difficult emotions on their team, sometimes it´s the coach who is that pain in the ass, sometimes it´s a teammate. Sometimes group has pig dynamic problems and I try to figure out with to group, how that problem forms. I teach them simple group dynamics and lift their self-esteem. I think my work is done, when they can talk everything without too much pressure in their team. I can tell you my way to do this mental training, maybe it will help you guys to see better how I do it. And maybe you can use some of my methods in your practice. It takes time to write everything in English. So I get back to this issue later. It is very interesting to hear mental thing in different country ! -Sami
We have mental trainers in individual sports. Usually they are sports psychologist. There is lot of that in Finland, but not in soccer there is no one else than me (so far i don´t know anybody else). I think I have read about that book you mention. I think there were no translation to English.. I have read lots of books about mental training and see lots of web sites, where someone tell how they do mental training. I think only few know how to do this.. many professionals take all credit to themselves.. I think best mental training is kind of training, that player do the job by him self and then he can feel that he did the job and lift his self-esteem. Many times professional prop up their own skills. I feel successful if player just keep living and not feel that I am some kind of professional. Lots of mental trainers around world (who I have seen on web) give solutions for players problems. I think best way is for player to find that by himself, just use my thoughts to help to reflect his own.. Hard to explain in English Like team where I do mental training right now, they thought that I have some solutions their problems on their team. I just laugh and say: "I have seen you guys only five hours and you think I can solve your teams problems like a snap. You know lot more of your own team, you have been playing together for year. Lets talk about your problems !". They try to give me their own responsibility to talk thru their team problems.. When I point this out, they start talking about their team problems and really took responsibility by them self ! Can you understand what I try to tell you?? This kind of working is fun ! -Sami
I don't know.The national organizations, particularly the US Youth Soccer Association, have the support of excellent experts in the appropriate fields including child development. My assumption is that they have seen the problem and have been trying to improve coaching practices for at least the last ten years. The national organizations have a difficult time managing soccer in the US. One challenge in the US is its large size and large population. In between the clubs and the national organizations are over 50 state organizations (some states are so large they have two), providing a state "middle management" layer on top of the lower club management level. Another challenge is a lack of power. The national organizations don't fund or employ the lower organizations, which are dependent on volunteers, so they lack power. For the most part, the money comes from the parents of the players so they have an undesirable amount of "consumer" influence over the clubs and a different agenda than the national organizations. Perhaps the biggest problem is that only about 1/5th of youth players are affiliated with USSF. So the majority of youth players are managed by other organizations, private and public. Lately the USSF has tried to solve the problem by creating its own nation-wide league over which it has direct control, and enticing some clubs away from existing leagues, eliminating middle management rather than attempting to improve management. This change is significant in the sense that the players involved are elite, but the change involves an insignificant number of players. The over-coaching trend is cultural and reflects our society at large, not just youth sports. I don't expect that managers, who micro manage their subordinates, are going to see over-coaching as a problem.
There is an article here saying that the Norwegian soccer national team is using a sports psychologist for mental training. http://m.fotball.no/?name=fotball&i=13818/1/0&artId=518989 (it's in Norwegian, but you'll maybe get some meaning from it by trying google translate) The article says the coach has worked with her before. I would guess at club level. The sports psychologist is likely working with athletes in individual sports as well, as she is attached to the competence center for elite sports in Norway (cross sport). As the national team is working with a sports psychologist you can be sure that other teams has at least considered it too, but I don't know elite soccer well enough to know what they actually do. On the grass root level the coaches are expected to teach kids fair play, social skills, etc, but they will rarely have specialist knowledge.
Hello again ! I have few relatives in US and have seen that cultural way to grow kids. Terrible sometimes That over-coaching is going to be a big problem here too. We are too scared to say what we think and set limits to kids or parents. Everybody is trying to be neutral or please others. It´s hard to think US is so big country, even I have visited there many times. We have under six million people living here in Finland and 350 000 soccer players. Small small. We have same problems here, lack of power and lack of money. Mainly soccer clubs are run by parents and few badly pay´d coaches, who have too many team to coach. Wrimle thanks for article ! This next text can be provocative, but I really believe my way to do mental training. Youth who I work with really like to talk with difficult issues. It seems that mental training in Norway is just as poor as it is here in Finland. Psychologist, who do mental training, teach in school to stare statistics and and think human as something manipulate unit to think otherwise (like in that article, positive thinking). She talks in that article straight from old mental training books Talking someones theory to players... boring. We should take mental training in a new level ! I would love to see, how she would work with players. Maybe I try to contact her and talk little bit of training what she does and how she do it. I read some other articles of hers and I don´t think she has effective way to work with players. "Wheel of excellence" and that kind of stuff. Players won´t like talking with some method or theory, or do you? People like action, players like to play. One finish guy who is famous financial adviser was talking to me. He was trying to talk me some seven point strategy, what is well known in his field and what he teach people. His own son was playing in the field. When we were talking about mental training I ask him, how he can get soccer players to get interested of that kind of theory.. He was quiet. He did not say anything after that. In my theory, what I have practice years, I never could not talk about that to players, they would get bored after few minutes. If you play soccer you don´t want to learn some large theory in your practice, no way. If there is something you like to talk it is what bothers you on the field or in the team. -Sami
Wrimle, I think thing are better in Norway, you have mental trainer in national team and we don´t Our coaches don´t understand how important thing is to have clear head and good feeling on the field. Flow is the best, but hard to get whole team in to that. And don´t get me wrong, I just work with youth, not with professional teams. I love this mental training and try to get it going in Finland. Next summer there is big children and youth tournament here (Helsinki Cup (over 1000 teams in it). I am going to put tent over there and try to have discussion with coaches and share some information to them, so they start talking more of this important issue here in Finland. -Sami
Wrimle, I read this article of your mental trainer: http://psykologisk.no/2014/02/hva-er-egentlig-mental-trening/ Positive thinking is so fast way and it is also gone so fast... Many times you think negative, but you get out of that if you can talk about it and get some one to get in to it with you, not trying to force it positive thinking (like many trainers and psychologist try to do). If you think negative, that is okay ! Sometimes you just do. Good example is aggression. When you get pissed of someone, you may wish she/he would get killed. That is only thought and not dangerous. Many times parents get scared if children say something like: "I wish you would be dead!" and then they say don´t think like that. Not good. I think it is really good to get know to you angry/aggression, you can learn to handle it. If you are not aloud to do so, aggression is controlling you, not other wise.. -Sami
Positive thinking has been done since Roman times. Did you see gladiator? I used it the night before I was to play in a pointy game. I would think about what I was going to do against my matchup. You can do it in soccer. But you better be good enough to actually beat your individual match up or it will never happen.
Nick, I think its a language translation problem. I don't think he means just "positive thinking" as optimistic thinking, rather I suspect he is referring more broadly to the psychological value of the thinking. Good thoughts versus bad thoughts. Optimistic thoughts would be merely one type of good thoughts. I also suspect that he meant something like bad thinking can destroy focus and take the player out of "the zone" during performance. I suspect trying to translate the phrase "in the zone" is very difficult. Metaphors and slang don't translate well. Regarding his example of anger as negative thinking. He goes on to point out that expressing anger is a good practice as it lets the person get past the angry thoughts. (In performance we want players to stay mentally focused on the present, not distracted by worry over the past mistakes or the future result.) Repressing the anger is a bad practice. His comments bring to mind how anger is used in pointy football to drive performance and in soccer we use emotions to drive play too. I like the Hispanic phrase "playing with passion." Considering emotions gives an explanation of why so many goals are scored shortly after an opponent has scored or why a big play is often followed by a higher tempo of attacking play by team mates. The challenge is that we can't sustain peak emotional intensity for 90 minutes any more than we can sprint for 90 minutes. That is what makes a simple game so subtly complex.
Hello ! I know you can do positive thinking in soccer. That is different what I do. I just leave players to find their own way to win games. I just talk with players and many times they want to talk things which bothers them, like I say earlier. I don´t need to manipulate them to think anything. Self-esteem goes up better, if you can find things at your own. Not that over-coaching what rca2 was talking Do I remember correct, you have done some mental coaching with your team? I saw one video of coach who was talking with players in locker room? I have to see that video again, could not here what that coach were talking there. One thing I remember, what I wonder..players had papers on their hands. Why ? They can read it and it helps them to remember things? If there is something interesting, you will remember that. There has been done research with university students, what they could remember after one year they graduate and it was only peanuts, wonder why... Need something touchable? Usually men need some statistics or concrete stuff (paper ) what they can touch, they will trust on that. They don´t trust their feelings or their sens Like problem here in Finland, coach won´t need mental trainers on their team, we cant give them paper, which say mental training in soccer is normal and very effective. I have seen lots of funny situations, where parent act so weird. Once I was siting in a bus. Mother and her daughter came in. That girl was really happy and she was jumping on the lane, going back of the bus. Suddenly she was really scared, there was big dog front of her, just siting there. She starts to scream and walking backwards. Her mother came there and say to girl: "You are not afraid, you are not afraid". Everybody on that bus could see that girl was horrified and really scared. Her mother just keeps saying that same sentence. Not so funny.. When that girl grow up and feel that same feeling, fear, she wont recognize it or she will deny her own feeling like her mother did on her. Why I tell this? I think I would act different on that situation. It is good to hear players emotion and only listen, not trying to change that feeling to positive. I believe that player will find that positive thinking, when she/he is ready for that. There is proverb in Finland: "The water brought to the well doesn't stay in there". -Sami
With most players you get mad you play bad. But some actually play better when they get mad. Marco ethevary was like that.
Hello, Nice rca2 you get my point ! Negative destroy focus ect. and you can get over it by understanding it (kind of) ! -Sami
Aggression makes you think narrow and it can make your muscles "tight". When I play soccer and someone takes ball from me I get mad, but I use my aggression only to take ball back from enemy. After that I can come down and pass the ball. If I am aggressive all the time, not good..
Understanding your emotions is very, very important ! I think it is most important thing in mental training. Other good stuff come along with understanding your self. Self-esteem for example.
It seams they have developed a method with four techniques. 1. Goal setting. You need goals and dreams to motivate you. Both hairy ones and smaller, reachable ones. 2. Visualization. See yourself succeed doing the activity. See yourself in tactical situations and solving them. They think that you should visualize while in taking the physical position of the activity you visualize. (A biker may do it on a spinning bike, is my interpretation.) 3. Relaxation and training the ability to regulate your own teansion level. 4. Inner dialogue. Earlier they repressed negative thoughts. Now they ask: "What is the point of thinking you are not good enough? Is that a useful thought?" They want athletes to learn these techniques as juniors.
Same things they are in every mental training book, every country in the world. Why so, that is what have written. I think we have new time and we can use new knowledge and new ways to do this, not Roman way (there was no soccer in that time). Thank you helping me understand thing in your country wrimle ! I wrote to your national teams mental coach yesterday, lets see if she feels free to answer for me. I ask her how they do mental training in practice. I really hope she will answer to me. It is fun to learn more of this issue on world wide ! Come on other readers and writers, let us know how things are in your country !? Do you have mental training in soccer? Have you study coaching, was there mental issues on your study´s? If so, what kind? Sorry I write so much, but I really love to talk this issue, even it´s little hard in English. Sometimes I lost my point of this thread, mental training in your country, but can´t help my enthusiasm
I coached amateur as a volunteer, youth for three years and then adults for over 15 years. I stopped coaching about 4 years ago and then retired. From work and education I had a good skill set and experience for coaching, in management, leadership, physical training, occupational training, group psychology, and (what I call) practical psychology. So yes, everything I did and said as a youth coach was calculated to train the mental aspects as well as tactical, technical, and physical aspects. The kids were pre-adolescents and responded very well to authority figures. The experience was a very enjoyable break from the stress of my day job, where often the individuals and groups I dealt with were uncooperative and sometimes outright hostile. But I was not typical and only took my first coaching class recently after I stopped coaching. I had, however, read widely on coaching, including about 40 books in the 1970s and 80s before I started coaching. From what I saw elementary school teachers made great coaches too, handling young kids with an ease that amazed me. By far the majority of volunteer coaches I saw did not have "people" skills needed to do the job well. They simply relied on the authority of their position and an authoritative/dictatorial leadership style. But then I saw many people in my professional that lacked people skills too.
Hello rca2. Your job sound like my old job, psychiatric ward, uncooperative and hostile people. Well there is lot of job´s in the world, where people are hostile and uncooperative By the way..You pick nicely my thoughts few post back and use words that people understand me better. Complete my bad English as well. Thanks ! You don´t need to have education to be good coach (person), some just are. Have you found really good books about mental training? I like to read too. Now I read group dynamics in sports. It´s fun to found new things. Sometimes I think book is really good if it gives me one good thought ! -Sami