“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.” Vince Lombardi
The love of the game is just one component of a great football mind. The love of routine competition is another part of building football confidence.
Measuring one’s unique skills against competition, playing underneath the bright lights, the athletic acclaim and good recognition, the scholarships, the ascent to professional sports and the money that all entails, all of these are but small motivational factors that work to establish a true sense of football mental toughness.
Modern football psychology demands that – within an ever-changing game built on speed, defensive power, and complex high-flying offensive attacks – true motivation be a never-ending and always renewable source of inspiration for football players. From all ranks of the sport: true mastery of the mental part of the game requires that players highlight their true driving force and motivation that keeps them going in order to ‘walk the walk’ on the gridiron come game day.
The mental game coaching is inexplicably tied to this ongoing pursuit.
Vince Lombardi’s words have been shared over and over again for more than 60 years, and have been ingrained into the mental game of football that each and every player becomes exposed to at one time or another.
What’s bigger than motivational words than internal drive and self-motivated pursuits of greatness?
Nothing, yet this is overlooked so very often as a necessary part of the football mental game.
As youths, each player learns the foundations of the game, and – over time – uses the mental preparation for football and constant practice to arrive at their desired position to play in the sport; this position suits that player uniquely.
Such are the ways of individual football motivation too, and each and every player need only look within themselves and beyond the external monetary gain or the sports celebrity that accompanies the highest echelons of the game.
Such fading perks as money and fame only burnout in the end, sometimes too soon.
Sports psychology for football, particularly in today’s game, highlights how today’s superstar players will sit out practices and feign injuries in order to make financial statements to their teams – pay up or I won’t play. This is more common than it ever was in the past.
External factors can provide short-lived motivational fuel but football psychology articles will suggest that longer-lasting personal drive is to be found in a deep internal love of the game itself.
This internal love for the game truly lasts and endures, and can explain why players like Brett Favre kept coming back to the field despite advancing age, the threat of injury, and even long-term health consequences; for the love of the game.
This, according to mental game coaches, is the single biggest motivational factor in the game, and maybe a metaphor for life as a whole – whatever you do, love it truly and purely.
Over time that love shall provide the lasting motivation needed to perform at levels of unrivaled intensity.
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