And when I say think…I mean REALLY think. I mean REALLY REALLY think.

Do it now. Create a pitch in your mind. Put yourself on it…with your team mates…with an opposition. And play!

What does an outstanding mindset look like? Feel like? I ask you for the look and feel of your mindset because you can literally see it…and you can literally feel it. You can see focus and you can see distraction. You can see bravery and boldness. You can see confidence and commitment and control. You can feel intensity and you can feel engagement. You can feel presence and perseverance. You can feel attitude, action and aggression.

What does your very best mindset look like? What does your very best mindset feel like?

Now, why do I ask you to do this? Because the inner images that have just been injected into your private world can act as a blueprint to create what I call a ‘Mindset Statement’. What’s this/ As the name suggests, it’s a simple statement of intent related to the kind of mindset you want to embody and display during your next performance. It’s the kind of focus you want to have, the type of confidence you want to play with, and the quality of personal control you want to enlist.

I’ve helped a lot of very good soccer players develop their own personal ‘Mindset Statements’ over the past fifteen years. Allow me to give you a few examples that really help bring this alive for you:

“When I play soccer I’m my best mindset. My confidence is contagious and my focus is pinpoint. I execute every run, every motion, every action, every movement with sharpness…alert, alive and lively. Nothing and no-one takes me away from my very best mindset.”

“On match day I play sharp, on my toes and confident. I am vocal because this keeps me switched on and helps me be a great team mate. If I lose my intensity I spot it quickly and pick it back up within seconds by shifting my body language.”

You see, I want every footballer to have a great mindset. I want every footballer to be a student of mindset. I want every footballer to grow their mindset. I want every football to develop a bullet-proof mindset. Because I know when footballers become this passionate about mindset…then they become the very best they can be. It really is as simple as that.

This ‘Mindset Statement’ is an example of the dozens of techniques, strategies and tools I have in my books and in my Soccer Academy.

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I’m often listening to soccer phone-in shows on the radio while I’m on the road coming back from a game or from training. And I hear the same frustration week in, week out. “My team aren’t playing with passion!” “Since he’s arrived he’s not shown even a bit of passion!” “She needs far more passion!”

This player isn’t passionate. That player has no passion. This team is passionless. That team needs an injection of passion.

I wish it was just about passion I really do. Then perhaps my job really would be simple (let alone the job of a manager!)

Passion in soccer certainly is alluring. More sprints, working harder than everyone else on the pitch, challenging with power and aggression…these are the kind of behaviours that align themselves with the notion of passion. And they’re certainly behaviours that many ‘winners’ exhibit I can’t deny that.

But performance in soccer never has been and never will be just about demonstrating high levels of passion. And that, my soccer friends, is based on science! It’s based on how we function as human beings.

I was speaking with a former French International rugby player recently. Upon learning that I was a sport psychologist he told me that his problem wasn’t the will to win…his problem wasn’t being ‘up for it’. His problem wasn’t having a passion as such. He explained that his problem was managing his urges and desires, his want, his will and his aggressiveness. His problem was that he wanted so much to do well that he let emotion cloud his judgement. From time to time an excess of emotion…his inner drive…prevented him from playing intelligently. He wasn’t finding that internal ‘sweet-spot’ that translates as intelligent effort under pressure.

And his words ring true for soccer players and all soccer players for that matter. It’s something all supporters, all coaches and all soccer parents need to know. Soccer is more chess than assault course. It’s more intelligence than emotion. That doesn’t mean positive emotions (and even some negative ones) aren’t important ingredients in the make-up of an individual footballer and the collective of the team. It’s just that managed emotion with intelligence is the perfect cocktail for high performers.

Managed emotion with intelligence is the perfect cocktail for high performers

The truth (or at least a scientific hypothesis that gets closer to the truth) about so called passion and performance was actually uncovered in the middle of the last century. Yes it was that long ago! In fact, we have to go as far back as 1959 for the answer. During that year, a psychologist named J A Easterbrook ran some experiments to further the understanding we have of the relationship between arousal, attention and performance. This is what he found.

From his work he argued that arousal (change the word arousal for passion if you want) produces a graded focussing of attention. In an initiallyn un-aroused state, you will be able to attend to a large amount of available information, both relevant and irrelevant to the task at hand. So let’s put this in footballing terms. This is BAD for performance. When you’re out having a kick about with mates in the park, and you’re very relaxed, just passing the ball to each other, this is when you have a very low level of arousal. You attend to the ball but you may also attend to all kinds of other stuff…such as someone walking their dog in the park. That’s not going to help you compete at your best…you’ll play distracted and without purpose. This kind of player definitiely needs an injection of passion! (Although no serious player ever competes like this!)

At moderate levels of arousal, irrelevant information is selectively ignored, leaving more attention for important information. This is, in very simply terms, the ideal level of arousal. It’s where passion works! At this level the dog walker disappears, as you become more absorbed in the game. This is the kind of ‘state’ that I want footballers to play in. This state will be slightly different for different individuals…but by and large this is the sweet spot. If you think of all of the techniques I talk about in my books and at my Academy…HPM, Game Face, Match Script, Controllers, Squashing ANTs, Raising Bars, Soccer Image, Going Dark, Match Routine, Memory, Imagination, Messi Mindset…I could go on and on and on…then be aware that this is what I’m trying to achieve with them…to help players of all ages and abilities find this sweet spot (at least that’s part of the battle won!!)

And then there’s too much passion…

More arousal, or passion if you will, will be to the detriment of performance. This is because as arousal further increases, attention becomes more centralised. In soccer terms a player will miss the periphery information. A player will suffer from tunnel vision. And in a complicated game like soccer…where information is constantly thrown at you…information the player has to act on or has to make decisions as a consequence of…then performance really does suffer. Awareness lessened…anticipation slower…decision making poor.

And this is why passion is a problem. Players can’t run around like headless chickens. They have to be able to see the important things in their environment. They have to be able to solve the problems the game throws at them.

This is what I want for you…or for your players. Play at the right level of passion. Play at your correct arousal level. Play with a keen cocktail of intelligence and emotion. Play in your passion sweet spot.

You know i’ts not that hard to find your passion sweet spot. But you do have to know how. This is why I’ve created so many simple to use mental skills and psychological techniques. Just work on that Game Face and practice it day after day. Just get your Controllers out and use them in training session after training session. Just unleash your Match Script so you compete in your HPM…it’s so simple, it’s so easy…when you know how!

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…because this is where Ronaldo was striving to put himself after Real Madrid were awarded a penalty with the last kick of the game. This is the mental state and bodily sensation Ronaldo was trying to climb into as pandemonium ensued all around him.

Put yourself there. You have the ball in your hands. Chaos crackling all around you. As soon as the referee had pointed to the spot you brain and nervous system went into overdrive. Your heart rate surged. Your stomach instantly started to churn. Your mind unlocked a series of images…some good, some bad. Some exciting, some fear mongering. Your brain and body realised this: the match now belonged to you. If you were to score Real Madrid would go through to the final. If you miss…

So where was Ronaldo when those Juventus players crowded the referee in protest at the last gasp penalty decision? Where was Ronaldo when some of the Juventus players tried to damage the penalty spot…the spot that was about to influence the destiny of every player on that pitch? Let me tell you where he was…

He was self-talk. He was body language. He was self-talk. He was body language…

He was ripping through the nerves by talking to himself helpfully, positively and constructively. He was shredding the fear by taking breaths, by holding himself to attention, and by keeping himself away from the distractions that surrounded him. He refused to look. He refused to engage in the emotion that encircled him.

Eyes forward, eyes down, eyes away. Juventus had nothing to do with him now. Focus on the spot. Focus on the ball. Focus on a great strike. “I’ve done it thousands of times before. It’s simple. Just a great strike. Just the sweet sound of the ball impacting the net.”

Because that is what pressure performance is. It’s a cocktail of great self-talk and body language. By combining the two Ronaldo managed to keep his attention on him and what he wanted to do. He managed to keep his attention on the now…and if it did wander to the immediate future, then he would place it back onto himself in the present moment. Nothing else. Nothing beyond that!

And that is something every soccer player can learn. I’m going to say that again because it’s so important for your players to learn and to know if you’re a coach. It’s vital for your young player to understand if you’re a soccer parent. It’s a critical essential for you to know, to embrace and to deliver on if you’re a player.

Every soccer player can use self-talk and body language to perform under pressure and to high perform more consistently.

Not every player can play soccer like Ronaldo. And that’s ok. But every soccer player can develop the same mindset he has. Every soccer player can talk to him or herself like Ronaldo. Every soccer player can hold his or her body language in the same way Ronaldo does. Every soccer player can manage their heart rate and blood pressure like Ronaldo. Every soccer player can direct their focus of attention like Ronaldo.

Every soccer player can use self-talk and body language to perform under pressure and to high perform more consistently.

But the key is you have to take the mental side of the game as seriously as Ronaldo takes it. Because to watch him manage his mindset as every single player around him lost their head…well, it’s an overt demonstration of one of the things that separates him from everyone else.

And alongside a willingness to train your brain you have to have the basic techniques to be able to think like him and have the same mental competencies as him. That’s why I’m so passionate about players learning to have a Game Face, to use a Match Script, to take advantage of Controllers and to Squash ANTs. That’s why I’m so excited when I get to help players compete in their HPM, to draw up Training Scripts, to Raise their Matchday Bars and to develop their Soccer Image.

And that is what I want for you, whether you’re a soccer player, a soccer coach or a soccer parent.

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This idea is designed to help players compete with greater consistency – to rid themselves of the plague of inconsistency – the ultimate frustration for every coach at any level of the game.

Football will always be played with fluctuation. That is the way humans work, that is the way the nervous system is designed. Mood can flip in the moment. Motivation can rise and fall daily. The brain and body sometimes feel anti-zone, anti high performance. Sometimes feeling great as you walk out onto the pitch hard!

But the gap between best and worst performances can be lessened. It is possible for players to help themselves by immersing their mind and body in an active state that helps them deal with the ups and downs the game delivers. It is possible for them to be on their toes, moving, running, making tackles and being active when it would be so easy for them to fall into a negative mode that lessens their awareness, slows their anticipation and damages the quality of their decision making.

I like players to keep their body language positive at all times. I like them to constantly look for an action to execute. And I like them to keep on the move as much as possible.

BAM…Body Action Move…

Picture that now – players maintaining incredible body language as they compete. Their eyes are scanning the pitch and their thoughts are focused on the next action, the next play. To add to this they are on their toes – alert, alive and ready. They are always looking to move and always ready to move.

BAM…Body Action Move…

This is such a simple concept for players to relate to. But it’s not always easy for them to execute. When a team goes a goal behind, many players will drop their heads. BAM becomes the last thing to focus on. But it has to become their first thought. If a player makes a couple of mistakes in training her thoughts dwell on the past and her body slumps. She slows up. She becomes all consumed by the mistakes. It’s tough for her to get her mind back on the game. It’s difficult for her to get back into the present. For her to think about body language or BAM in this moment is enormously challenging. But they must. They must insist upon it…they must demand it.

You make a mistake…BAM

You go a goal down…BAM

You go a goal up…BAM

You play against a gigantic centre back…BAM

You give the ball away…BAM

You play the league leaders…BAM

Footballers can use their body language to change how they think and how they feel. They can use body language to change their minds. They can use BAM to guide them when times are tough. They can use BAM to push them when they’re winning.

Body Action Move….be relentless with this, be non stop with this…be brutal with this!

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One paragraph that grabbed me relates to the 2000 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville….and specifically to the mental preparation of a little known American golfer called Bob May.

Bob May had been a very good teenage golfer in Southern California when Tiger Woods himself was growing up. But there ended the similarities. May went on to become a PGA Tour player, albeit a journeyman professional. Tiger Woods went onto become…Tiger Woods!

During the PGA Championship in 2000 Bob May played outstanding golf. And on the Saturday night, the night before the final round, he found himself in the lead, alongside Tiger Woods.

Now you have to remember that Tiger Woods was so good in the 2000 season that he intimidated every other player. Some of the top caddies thought Tiger had become so good that it was unfair. So Bob May faced a monumental task in trying to beat Woods in that final round.

May knew this, and throughout Saturday evening he relayed an important mantra to himself over and over again. He told himself: “Play the course, not the man. You can’t control what Woods is doing. He’s the longest hitter in the world. He’s going to play a different course than you. Play the course. It’s the only thing you can do.”

Can you imagine that. A golfer, the night before his biggest ever round, repeating the same mantra time and again “Play the course, not the man! Play the course not the man”

I don’t know where the body starts and where the mind ends. Perhaps they are inextricably linked. But what I do know is that, by repeating this mantra over and over, Bob May was preparing his mind to face the greatest, most competitive sportsman on the planet at the time. He was preparing his body for the most gruelling four hours of his life.

“Play the course, not the man! Play the course, not the man”

I relay this story to you because this form of self-hypnosis is the exact thing I want soccer players to do the night before a game. I want them to repeat to themselves exactly how they want to play and what they want their mindset to be like. And the mindset is the important part.

“I want to be strong, alert and lively…what does this look like? What does this feel like?”

“I want to be relentless. I want to be first to the ball…I want to engage the opposition at all times..I want real intention. What does this look like? What does this feel like?”

Because ultimately your game of soccer is about you and you alone (so you can contribute fully to your team). You can’t control the outcome. You can’t force winning or scoring or keeping a clean sheet. You can’t force being man or woman of the match. It’s about you and your mindset. It’s about showing your best self with attitude and action. With desire and determination. With energy and effort. The best way to accomplish this is to prime your mind and body the night before. It’s to narrate an inner story that opens an exciting catalogue of pictures in your mind, and unleashes wave after wave of confident feelings through your body.

“Play my game. Play my game hard. Play my game with intention. Play my game with belief. Play my game relentlessly…no matter what. No matter the score. No matter the quality of the opposition. Play my game!”

So what happened to Bob May? Well he didn’t win. But he shot an incredible 65 (for those who don’t know golf think of a man of the match display in the Champions League final…it’s like this!) He took Tiger to a play-off and eventually succumbed after three holes. But his mindset – his self-management, focus and emotion control – was outstanding. His mantra from the night before truly came to life under the most intense, life-changing pressure.

Controlling the controllables is a big deal in sport psychology and I’ve written a few chapters about this concept in my books Soccer Tough and Soccer Tough II. There’s also a whole pile of football psychology techniques at my Academy that will help you focus on you as you compete.

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I tweet about body language everyday. I’ve referred to body language time and again in my books and articles. In my opinion body language is where its at when it comes to the mental side of the game!

But why? Well, allow me to explain…

When I use the term body language I’m not just talking about ‘body language’ in the traditional sense. I’m not just referring to the notion of holding yourself confidently, and standing tall and proud. I’m not just talking about displaying positive gestures and responding with energy to mistakes. Of course, these are all vital attributes that all players should pay attention to on the pitch. But body language goes beyond these basic physical markers.

When I use the term ‘body language’ I’m referring to ‘thinking’ and ‘being’ and ‘doing’. Because body language is thinking. Body language is being. Body language is doing. Body language is not so much an effect but more a cause.

In practical terms this means great body language in soccer is ‘passing with confidence’. It’s ‘moving with sharpness’. It’s ‘tackling with determination’. On the soccer pitch you can think, be and do ‘confidence’. You can think, be and do ‘sharpness’. You can think, be and do ‘determination’. Even if you feel a bit flat and lethargic you can choose to use your body language to think, be and do your actions so that the lethargy you’re experiencing doesn’t negatively impact your game as much as it might ordinarily do.

Now, there is a great degree of complexity behind this philosophy. And if you’d like to know more I suggest you Google the terms ‘Embodied Cognition’ and ‘Enactivism’. Another term you could Google would be ‘The Lived Body’. In short, these are theories that attempt to explain that mental processes are not just located in the brain but the body as well. They argue that mental processes such as perceiving, reasoning, memory and judgement are as much a function of body as they are the brain. Basically, mental processes are embodied and enacted!

Mental processes are embodied and enacted – they travel down and through your body and they are executed through your actions as you play and compete

Ok, so take a deep breath! You don’t need to Google those terms and you don’t need to be an expert on what’s happening inside the brain and body. But I’d really like you to open your mind to the possibility that you ‘think’ with your body as much as with your brain. In short, they think together!

Brain and body work together…they cannot be separated…their combination makes you the player you are

When I sit down with a soccer player to talk about improving their game I do so with a mind on body language (but body language from a thinking and action point of view). More often than not, as a session unfolds, we’ll discuss the actions they want to execute on the pitch (their thinking, being and doing). I try to break these down into key words and inner picture that they can act out on the pitch.

That is why it’s so important to emphasise action based words when you play soccer. It’s vital to be clear in your mind how you want to play and the manner in which you want to execute your skills.

“I’m going to pass with confidence – what does this look like? What does this feel like? I’m going to move aggressively – what does this look like? What does this feel like?”

You see, by picking an action based word to accompany how you want to think, who you want to be and how you want to do what you have to do on the pitch…you give yourself a fantastic blueprint for high performance. You prime your brain and body for excellence. You give yourself something to embody and enact…

This is why I developed the ‘Game Face’ technique that I introduce players, coaches and parents to in my book Soccer Tough II. This is why I have a whole bunch of videos dedicated to body language and Game Face in my Soccer Academy – so players, coaches and parents can become acquainted with these powerful and impactful techniques.

So pick an action based word or words that you can embody and enact on the pitch…for everything you do. Get an exciting picture of what this looks like. What this feels like. Then go do it.

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How am I going to do this?

I have to make my training INTENTIONAL – this means it has to be interesting, intense, integrated and internalised.

What does this mean?

Interesting and intense – I need to set a goal to grab my focus of attention. I need to make this session interesting. I’m going to work on using my left foot more. So I’m going to try to receive the ball more often with a different body shape so I can control the ball and pass with my left foot.

By doing this I’m going to make the training session intense. It’s intense, not just physically but mentally because I’m taking a risk. I’m coming out of my comfort zone by receiving the ball and passing with my left foot. It’s going to feel uncomfortable, it may be ugly, but that’s ok. I have to deal with that. I have to try to improve every training session.

Integrated – I have to strive to get some feedback from the coaches about this goal. I will also ask them to spot anything else they see that I can improve. That third eye will help me be more aware of my current ability to play with my left foot. It will help me strive to improve it even more.

Internalised – as I’m training I need to self-reflect in the moment – am I getting this right? How can I do this even better? Is my body shape correct? Does my first touch allow me to play a pass with my left foot? Am I striking the ball confidently with my left?

I have to take charge of my training. It’s not up to my coaches, it’s up to me. I am responsible, it’s about me. I can’t rely on my coaches to do it for me, I have to drive my training mindset. I have to train intentionally.”

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Soccer players must take charge of their training. They must own it. They must walk onto the pitch with a plan in mind – one they’ve made themselves, one that is self-driven, and one that they can keenly reflect upon at the end of the training session.

Too many soccer players train passively. They let their coaches take charge of their development. They train for training sakes. They think just because they’ve turned up they’re going to get better.

Nothing could be further from the truth. To improve in soccer you have to practice on purpose. You have to train with intention.

This neatly introduces my Intentional Training Model. It’s a model for players to learn how to learn and how to develop skill.

Intentional training consists of four main components – interesting, intense, internalised and integrated.

In short, players need to make training interesting for themselves – it must absorb their focus. To do this they have to set stretch goals for themselves. Training must also be intense – not just physically intense must mentally too. Training must be internalised – as in players must self-reflect as they practice their game. And finally, training must integrated with feedback from their coaches.

Intentional training is interesting, intense, internalised and integrated.

The model is underpinned by four theories of learning, thinking and being – self-determination, system one/two thinking, flow and deliberate practice.

Over the coming weeks I’m going to talk more about this model for players – I’m going to bring it alive for you. I’ll also discuss the theories that underpin the model.

Of course to really learn about the model in the coming months I’ll be adding videos to my Soccer Academy that brings it alive.

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This sounds obvious right? This sounds like something every footballer would do. But in my experience this doesn’t necessarily happen. Too often footballers are willing and able to train with physical intensity, but lack the kind of mental intensity that helps them develop skill.

Let me be clear, it is mental intensity and NOT physicality during training that will separate a player from his or her peers. It isn’t good enough to just train with physical intensity. That won’t re-wire your brain to learn the kind of skills you need to be the very best you can be.

“I trained hard” shouldn’t mean that you ran about a lot. Training hard should mean that you set yourself a goal to improve a specific area of your game. It should mean that you found a way during your training session to improve this specific skill. It should mean that it felt uncomfortable as you worked on this skill – you risked looking stupid, you risked failure.

That’s what intentional training is – it’s specific, it’s uncomfortable, it’s risky. It’s mental intensity…

I’ll give you an example. You’re right footed and you want to improve your left foot. So during a small sided or keep ball game you decide to pass with your left foot every single time you get on the ball. You have to adjust your body position to receive the ball in this way. You have to be aware of the players around you that you can pass to using your left foot. That will be uncomfortable…it will be risky.

You see, players who train with intention are no excuse players. They don’t wait for their coaches to tell them what to do. They don’t moan or groan about training because they’re too busy getting the very most out of each and every session no matter what.

So if you’re a player reading this I urge you to train intentionally. If you’re a coach I invite you to help your players to train with intensity.

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