Creating a Soccer Image

You need to be mentally strong every time you play soccer and a lot of players including me are not confident before and during a game. There are many ways to improve your mental part of the game and one way you can become mentally stronger is by having a positive soccer image. “Your soccer image rules your soccer game because these inner pictures and movies influence: how much belief you have in yourself to learn and improve, how good you feel you can be, how confident you are for match day” (18). “When you think about your soccer game what do you see? Take a few minutes to allow your mind to build a small picture book or short movie reel. This is a simple but important exercise to do every few weeks because it gives you an idea of your soccer image (17). This quote helped me realize the importance of soccer image and what my soccer image is right now. By visualizing my soccer image, I am able to see how I played in my game and see what are some of the things I need to improve and also I am able to think more positively about how I played during the game.

Now that I know my soccer image, I want to be able to keep it positive and make it better over time. Dan Abrahams also talked about a technique that will help maintain and build a strong soccer image. He said to write down 3 best games you have played and write down the important and positive moments during the game (24). This helped me remember my key moments of how I played and because I am writing them down I can reflect back on the key moments whenever I want and compare them to other games and that makes it easier for me to visualize my soccer image and make it stronger than before. Below I am using this technique to make my soccer image stronger.

Do you think you can play at your full potential without being mentally strong?

Abrahams, Dan. Soccer Tough: Simple Football Psychology Techniques to Improve Your Game. Birmingham, UK: Bennion Kearny, 2012. Print.