>Confidence goes a long way!

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Confidence is important when it comes performing to your best. Having the confidence when performing a skill gives you the edge of actually being successful at it.

Recently, I have had some confidence issues with my ability as a player and thus my performance has taken a knock. A team with low confidence, however good they may be will suffer performance wise because there is the “I can’t” mentality that creates hesitation that will hinder players from performing to their full potential. Take Liverpool for example, this season they had so much potential to challenge for the league title after finishing a close second last season. However, injuries and a few bad results in a row has demoralized them and without their ace striker Torres and inspirational midfield Gerrard, Liverpool have now lost seven premier league matches and are now in 6th place. This is an example of a team lacking of confidence.

So to all football/soccer players, i hope you won’t let this viral mentality get to you and ruin your performance on the field. There is a few things that you can do to that might help:

1) If your weak on a particular skill, work at it till you feel confident enough so that you don’t feel insecure.

2) This is one of my favorites, looking at videos of football greats like Henry, Zidane, Owen, Rooney and so on….. just watching them play and imagining yourself being able to do what they do will help lift you.

3) Having good friends and team mates to back you up when your in a vulnerable state of mind. It is crucial that you have people like this around to support you. If you have friends who kicks you while your down, then it is obvious that you need new ones! Period!

4) Don’t over think it. Some players worry too much of the simple stuff and end up messing up the simple passes, control or shots…. just play to your best and you will do good.

5) Worrying too much of the past mistakes will put you down as well, the key is to move on from those mistakes or work at those mistakes so that you don’t make them again.

I hope this has helped strengthen your mentality!!!
Comments please on the subject!!

Signing off
Prosoc8

>" Always first to the ball!!! "

>”Always first to the ball”, that’s what my coach always told me during the years of playing football for my high schools. I didn’t understand then how crucial it is till few years back when i finally realized the importance of going for the ball first and not letting your opponents get in first.

It is important that players take this mentality into their matches. Whichever position a player plays during a match, it would definitely be beneficial for the team to have this type of committed mentality going into a match. I have seen so many matches where players just hesitate when there is a 50-50 ball, when you hesitate like that, your abandoning your chances to win the ball for your team and that might consequently result in a goal for the opposition. One wrong decision like that could cost you the match, especially during crucial stages of the match.

One of the situations that require the determination to want to win possession of the ball first are midfield battles. The midfield of a team is like the engine and if the opposition team’s engine can be stalled by winning these midfield battles, then the advantage goes to the team that is able to initiated attacking plays from winning possession, if your opponent doesn’t have the ball, they can’t score.

However, this mentality alone won’t get any wins if your team lacks the skill or knowledge of tactics to take advantage of it. Ball technique and team work is required to compliment this mentality. A player may have the determination to win a 50-50 ball, however,without the skills to accompany it, it will not be as effective. Some of the crucial basic skills needed, for example, are the right jumping and heading technique, ball control, tackling and more. i will blogging specifically about skills and technique in another blog post.

Let me know your thoughts on the subject.
Any sort of comments are welcomed!!

Signing off
Prosoc8