Soccer Image

I have been playing soccer since the age of 4; over the years I have always focused on the physical and technical part of the sport. But from reading Dan Abrahams Soccer Tough I also look at the psychological aspect of it.

Prior to reading this book I had always reflected on my mistakes, bad memories, and my weaknesses. From reading this book, I learned that I need to be doing the opposite. Abraham strongly suggested to think constantly about your strengths, dwell on the best moments, resonate your best games, and to know your weaknesses and love to try to improve them. (24)

I have been applying this thinking strategy prior to my games. Before my games I will think about my strengths and all the good moments I've had. This has boosted my confidence majorly, and has positively affected my playing as well.

These thoughts of mistakes, achievements, good games, bad games, strengths, and weaknesses all affect the image that each athlete has of themselves. Abraham called this a players "soccer image" (16) "Every soccer player has a soccer image- an image housed in their mind related to how they see themselves as players" (16). This soccer image that players have of themselves is a strong contributor to how they perform day in and day out. So in order to play well an athlete needs to have a positive image of themselves. Abraham states that "A footballer will never perform better than the image he has of himself" (18).

Having this positive and confident mindset has drastically helped me. Now when I go out on the field I don't think about those bad passes I've made, or those shots that I could have saved. I think about the accurate passes and the great saves I have made in the past. And those mental adjustments that I have made have helped me improve physically and technically.

Have you ever had an experience where having a positive mindset worked?

Abrahams, Dan. Soccer Tough: Simple Football Psychology Techniques to Improve 

     Your Game. Birmingham: Bennion Kearny Limited, 2012. Print.