“Don’t tell me how rocky the sea is, just bring the ship in.” – Lou Holtz

Like most power sources, the football mind, runs on a finite amount of fuel and has its own maximum capacity for possible resource consumption and therefore output. It does not matter how much coal you shove in the furnace; once it has reached its maximum load it will chug along at its maximum output while wastefully burning up its own power source.

Football confidence is created from a part of the mind’s output capacity. Burning precious energy on things that are beyond an athlete’s control is detrimental to their football mental game. When an athlete focuses on the things that they cannot control it shifts their focus and energy towards solving issues that are ego driven and that will have no positive tangible impact on their performance or the outcome of the game.

A focused athlete will orientate their mental game, at least when competing, on the things that matter and that are in their immediate control. Those that become stressed during the pre-game are the athletes that allow their minds to wonder and end up worrying about the unknowns.

By focusing on the unknowns, the things that cannot impact an athlete’s performance or a game’s outcome, the mind and therefore their football mental game is working on solving pointless “problems”.

When an athlete is overcome with thoughts of not making mistakes on the field, what others might think of them or about not reaching their own unrealistic performance goals. This will result in their mind taking a toll on their performance. The unwanted and inevitable result is a sapping of their football mental toughness, as they are pointing their game towards the mundane.

Mental Game Coaches recommend that athletes’ predisposed to this way of thinking, which happens to be a common occurrence amongst the majority of athletes, face this dilemma by learning and putting into practice a pre-game routines.

This will take the athlete’s mind away from the things that they cannot control and thereby instilling a more productive approach to the competitive challenge that they will be shortly facing on the field.

By focusing on technique, immaculate execution of plays and keeping an eye open for creative opportunities during a play and having the confidence to risk an attempt to gain ground, an athlete will slowly learn the perks associated with this healthier mental approach.

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