Various people get caught up in behaviours linked with Mental Sensitivity in many clubs and teams, from the management team to the coaching staff to the players. Individual players may suffer in matches due to this, and the team will be less inclined to work together. As a result, performances may decrease, leaving you as a coach scratching your head about how you might get the most out of the group.
This can happen even to the most determined and gifted athletes, especially if they believe their managers and coaches do not fully support them and are unable to be true.
So, how can coaches and management assist their players?
Foster a culture of learning
By cultivating a culture in which everyone in the club, from the top down, actively encourages good answers to challenges and errors. Where “blaming individuals” is forbidden. Where everyone understands that mistakes are a part of the game and are communicated in a way that helps the individual and the group grow.
Permit Taking Risks
It would be foolish not to admit that tactics, formations, and structure have a significant role in a team’s on-field success. On the other hand, many footballers who play season after season under “strict” instructions end up playing in their heads. For example, you would anticipate a young player who signs a professional contract to continue to improve until they reach their prime age of 28-30 years old. Yet, persistent and indifferent communication from coaches “reduces” many players’ skills and abilities, causing them to retreat into their shells and cease “playing off the cuff” and taking risks as they did as a carefree children.
The Achievement of the Correct Objectives Is Encouraged
Every footballer must know that they are valued and that they have hope. It takes bravery to set objectives and work hard toward achieving them to realise one’s dream of becoming a professional footballer. Many athletes’ motivation can fade and stagnate after becoming comfortable playing at a professional level for a long time. Coaches can assist them by spending time with individuals and learning about their motivation sources, and understanding the player’s definition of success. Players are being challenged to keep developing. Encourage each participant to create their own goals and assist them in achieving them. In front of teammates, belittling players and making harsh comments about their hopes and ambitions is a surefire way to sabotage this process.
Demonstrate awareness that the path to achievement is not a straight one.
Encourage players to commit to their individual and collective goals and work hard to attain them through your communication. It’s also crucial to assisting them in breaking down these objectives and streamlining them into doable tasks. While demonstrating empathy and compassion, acknowledge that setbacks and losses are unavoidable in sports. Rather than getting carried away with too many messages about winning and losing, it is far more advantageous to help players understand when and why they may become distracted or lose concentration. As well as devising measures to assist them.
Make your players happy
Many elite footballers will have spent time and experience working with coaches who have made them feel good about themselves. Coaching has increased their confidence and self-belief to the point that they believe they can identify and execute killer passes or feel what it’s like to implement and execute specific game plans and strategies successfully. So, as a coach, are you sending messages to your players that can assist them in this respect, or are you letting pressures rule you? Are you guilty of allowing your league position to make you feel weak, causing you to be overly critical of your players and robbing them of their confidence? Think about how and what you’re saying!
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