The 3 F’s

Another technique I learned to improve as a soccer player is The 3 F’s: focus, fun and freedom. In the book the author said, “The first stage of the 3 F’s is Focus. And quite simply this refers to creating, thinking about and focusing on the Script I introduced you to in Chapter 6 – as you play” (Abrahams 144). I did not think the script was going to help me a lot so I skipped it but now I think I am going to use it to improve my focus and concentration during the games. The author also said that the other 2 F’s are really close to each other and they are Fun and Freedom. He said that he wants his clients to have fun while playing and the freedom to play like the way they want (144). I think I do not have a lot of fun and freedom when I am playing soccer during my games because I am thinking too much about making a mistake and if I play the way I want, the coach and players might not like it and the way I play might not help the team. Now I think I am going to try to have more fun during my games and I am going to play the way I want to.

Do you think that the techniques that I learned can help someone improve their mindset or at the end it just comes down to the person wanting to improve their mindset?

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

Practicing

Another topic the author talked about was practicing for 10,000 hours and until now, I never really thought about counting how many hours I have played soccer or how many hours I was playing soccer in a week. In the book, the author said, “At the time, people thought that the really top violinists would train for fewer hours than the less accomplished musicians because they had natural talent and “didn’t need to practice”. But Eriksson discovered the complete opposite” (Abrahams 126). Including me, a lot of people think that some people who are really talented don’t work hard  or practice a lot but the author said the complete opposite and this made me think that if I want to get better I should maybe increase the hours I play soccer. The author also said that you need to have a balance in your training (137). This helped me realize that I am not practicing right; I need to work both on the physical and mental side of the game because until now I have only been working on the physical side of the game. If there isn't a balance than it won't really matter if i am really good if i don't have the confidence to show my skills or take risks than i won't be able to play at my best. In the picture below i am writing down a plan on what i am going to practice everyday.

Do you think practicing something for 10,000 hours will make you really good at it?

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

Daydreaming

Another technique I learned to improve my mental part of the game is to think and visualize what I am going to do in my next game before the day of the game. By doing this I can have positive thoughts instead of negative thoughts. This will also help me remember my mistakes and if I know the mistakes I have done before, I will most likely make less mistakes. In the book Soccer Tough, Dan Abrahams said, “But the group that used both practice combined with “picture throwing” improved by up to 165 points: an incredible improvement and a remarkable difference between the mentally trained group and the group who just trained physically” (Abrahams 28). This quote helped me realize the importance of both training physically and mentally because before I started reading this book I was only doing physical training which helped me improve my skills but not my confidence but now that I am learning techniques to help my mental part of the game my confidence has also improved. Abrahams also said in the book that Wayne Rooney, a professional soccer player was probably imagining himself scoring goals and making runs the day before the game (30). Because of this quote I started using this technique before my practices and games because if a world class striker is using this technique and it’s helping him than it can really help me improve my physical and mental game. In the picture below I am thinking about how I am going to play at my practice tomorrow, like what are the things I am going to try to improve on.

Do you think imagining yourself playing in game a day before your game will affect you in a negative or positive way?

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

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.

Importance of Good Mindset

People believe soccer is more of a physical game and not a mental game, but after reading few pages of this book I have learned how important having a good and positive mindset is. Mindset is as important as your skills and it doesn’t matter how good you are as long as your mindset is bad you will not play to your full potential. I knew being mentally prepared is important but I ignored this since I have started playing soccer and after reading this book I started to concentrate on being more mentally prepared. Dan Abrahams said that soccer is a game of mindset and it will break you down by combing the design of the brain and the difficulty of the game (3 Abrahams). What this quote means is that you have to be confident in yourself and I am most of the time not confident in myself before the game which I think is affecting the way I am playing and I am basically causing myself to make more mistakes. “Every soccer player has a soccer image-an image housed in their mind related to how they see themselves as players. Is your mental movie one of possibility, progress and achievement or does your inner screen just display other footballers as bigger, better and stronger? This is a simple but important exercise to do every few weeks because it gives you an idea of your soccer image” (16,17). What this quote is saying is that you need to know your weakness and strengths and this helped me know both my weakness and strengths and also being more mentally prepared. In the picture below what I am doing is writing down what I think my soccer image is and trying to find things that I can improve in.

Do you agree with Dan Abrahams that having a good mindset is as importat as having good skills?

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