“Confidence is a very fragile thing, and it certainly is something that has to start with your mental approach and your ability to stay focused and not allow negative thoughts to enter into your own mind. When you’re successful, it’s easier to expect success. All of a sudden it’s not there; it becomes more of a challenge.”
Coach Bill Cowher

Much of building a solid football mind and mental toughness athlete realizes that difficulties are to be expected, but never feared. Mental preparation for the game plans for all negative circumstance and creates a strategy to control reactions so that there is no loss of focus or confidence. A player who spends the extra time and effort to strengthen their mental game effectively diminishes the negative effects that any adversity causes to their physical performance.

Any football athlete understands that mistakes are committed at every level from youth leagues to the pros. There is never a perfect game. You can always do better, and you can always improve. Problems occur when errors weaken a player’s football confidence and distract their mental focus.

When an athlete focuses on a past mistake, their mindset becomes negative, and this destroys mental toughness. Have you ever worried about committing a certain mistake or error such as coughing up a fumble or missing a tackle, only to do exactly what you didn’t want? This is because you focused on a negative aspect of your game, and not the positive plan for execution.

When faced with a negative circumstance, it is crucial to remember the 3 R’s for overcoming all adversity.

• Recognize—you must first acknowledge any difficulty or negative thought. It is not beneficial to merely dismiss adversity as “nothing”. This is also important when one mistake becomes the primary focus of not repeating again. If you dropped a wide open touchdown pass, you must not constantly replay that mistake in your mind, reinforcing the negative focus. Rather it is important to acknowledge the mistake, and then visualize executing the perfect catch. Always visualize yourself being successful, and never waste mental energy replaying any thought that is not encouraging.

• Regroup—a regrouping statement is something that will jolt your thoughts from past mistakes back into the present. When your mental focus remains in the past on errors, then it creates an even larger negative impact over time. One mistake can potentially create a negative impression that becomes a major distraction to overall mental toughness. This is often how slumps occur in performance on the field. Football confidence develops when you leave the past completely in the past without polluting your present frame of mind and mental focus with anxiety from previous mistakes. Create a simple positive affirmation that immediately moves your mindset to the present.

• Refocus—an effective mental preparation routine addresses the need to stay in a present frame of mind with focus on the very next play with positive execution. Time is wasted worrying about previous mistakes, and mental toughness weakens when focus is too far in the future. The solid football mind only concentrates on the next task at hand, and doing it well.

When facing an obstacle or negative circumstance it is critical to analyze your thoughts and beliefs. Are your thoughts focusing on mistakes or poor performances, or do your beliefs sound fearful? Football confidence develops as a player gains the ability to face and overcome adversity without letting their focus falter to anything negative or limiting performance. Understand that mistakes are part of football, but the mentally tough athlete utilizes their mental preparation and positive focus on the present to diminish any of the effects that adversity brings.