Mental Strength: The Mindset of a Champion
Soccer Players – Here is how to achieve being consistent:
CONSISTENCY = UNIFORMITY, CONSTANCY, REGULARITY, EVENNESS, STEADINESS AND STABILITY.
From a Coach’s Perspective, consistency provides the following:
- PEACE OF MIND,
- RELIABILITY,
- ASSURANCE,
- QUALITY.
Soccer Players: Consistency is Critical For Success
The making of a great player who coaches want on their roster is consistency. 
Having worked at Elngish Premier League clubs for nearly two decades, I’ve picked up a bit of footballing wisdom along the way.
One thing I know about the most competitive soccer league in the world is that managers and head coaches want you to be consistent with your play.
Top soccer coaches are looking for consistent players–not attentive players who are great one day and off the next.
Keep in mind that every player, including Messi, Megan Rapinoe, Christian Pulisic, Michael Bradley, Sebastian Lletget, Paul Arriola, and Graham Zusi, has a bad practice.
That is not what I mean.
That is different.
HAVING SAT OPPOSITE A LOT OF MANAGERS AND SPOKEN WITH THEM AT LENGTH ON WHAT THEY REQUIRE FROM A PLAYER, I KNOW THAT THEY WANT SOMEONE RELIABLE.
Coaches want players to be no worse than 6/10 for their performances every week, and preferably they want you (the player) to throw in plenty of 7/10 games and some 8/10 games.
The worst type of player for them is someone who is 8/10 one week, then 4/10 the next.
Soccer coaches want players they can depend on.
THEY SIMPLY CAN’T TRUST THESE PLAYERS WHO ARE NOT CONSISTENT.
So let me give you the secret to playing soccer with greater consistency.
Strangely, it starts with the objectives you have for your game.
When you run onto the pitch, what are you trying to achieve? What are your objectives? I’d estimate that 99% of soccer players say, “I want to perform at my best.” That would be a suitable objective for them.
However, the key to consistency starts by turning that sentence around.
Yes, it may well be useful to have the goal “I want to perform at my best,” but it’s also useful to have the objective “I want to get the most from my performance.”
Let’s think: “I want to get the best from my performance”.
Recognize that some days it’s going to be a struggle. This is life.
Some days competing in soccer is a grind.
These are not 8/10 performance days. These are 6/10 at the very best. It might be a day when you wake up and feel physically exhausted for some reason. It might be a day where your coordination feels slightly off. Or it might be a day when your teammates play poorly.
EVEN THE MOST EXPERIENCED ATHLETES FAIL TO PERFORM AT THEIR BEST MOST OF THE TIME.
Sport is too tough and the human system is too complex to enable that to happen.
And so what happens on these days of struggle? You get tight and tense and rigid. You might find yourself getting frustrated and angry.
Or you might get down on yourself and despondent about your game. Because you haven’t fulfilled your objective of playing your best game, you become engulfed in emotion.
This can damage your awareness, anticipation, and decision-making… leaving your game on a steady decline as the match progresses. Also, playing inconsistently can damage a player’s confidence.
“Confidence takes constant nurturing. Like a bed, it must be remade every day.”
Keep in mind these three simple steps:
- “What does my very best look like?”
- “What does my very best feel like?”
- “What do others see when I play at my very best?”
In contrast, the player who, before the game, has said to him or herself “Ok, in this match I want to perform at my best, but if I don’t, that’s ok, if I don’t I want to get the very best from my performance” – this person gives him or herself a great chance to play at the very least 6/10. They turn 5/10 into 6/10.
THIS IS BECAUSE THIS PLAYER CAN RELAX, ACCEPT AND STAY FOCUSED DESPITE NOT BEING AT THEIR BEST.
They hadn’t put any pressure on themselves to be at their best. They’d accepted that their best may not actually happen, and they’d got themselves excited about playing at the very least 6/10.
So My Advice To You?
Please do go and try to play your greatest game of soccer ever. Go for it! Practice and prepare to be awesome!
But also be ready to get the best from the performance you take to the pitch with you. It’s ok to be 6/10. It’s ok to throw in an average game…because the average is so much better than poor.
I can assure you that Premier League managers will be crying out for players who can be average rather than poor in the years to come!
And, keep this in mind: Mistakes WILL happen. You WILL have bad games. You will probably get dropped at some point. Every player does. And there will be coaches who do not always see your value. You MAY get injured. Bad stuff happens in soccer, it’s inevitable, and that’s ok. Accept the tough times, the bad games, the hairy moments.
Be patient. Be persistent. Learn from them, but don’t dwell on them.
“I know I’ll make mistakes…that’s ok. I may be slightly disappointed when I do, but my job is to carry on playing, to carry on working at my game, to carry on getting the most from my ability”.
Great soccer players are, in part, great because they accept the rough with the smooth.
A global sports psychologist and author specializing in soccer, Dan Abrahams is based in England and works with professional soccer players in the English Premier League (EPL). Abrahams has worked with hundreds of soccer players – many who play in the English Premier League (EPL). From working with players at Crystal Palace, QPR, Fulham, and West Ham among others, Abrahams counsels players on how to play at peak performance. Abrahams has authored several books and has a Soccer Academy as well.
