“Football is a game played with arms, legs and shoulders but mostly from the neck up” – Knute Rockne

The football mind, more often than not, enjoys engaging in banter (self-chat), analysis, thoughts about future events and outcomes. While some forms of chatter can prove to be an asset to an athlete, the opposite can be said of certain other thoughts. An athlete’s thoughts and the amount of time spent on specific thoughts can effect as well as mould their football mental toughness and football confidence.

The greatest athletes are aware of their own football mind and how this inner chatter can cause “negative” as well as “positive” outcomes on the field. These athletes are often masters of the football mental game; possessing the ability to clear their minds of any inner chatter that is irrelevant so that they can fully focus on the job at hand and the things that are actually important.

So what is this “negative” inner chatter? It can be better understood by thinking of inner chatter as being locked into a specific football mental state.

The mental state in question here is when an athlete is excessively engaging in random and pointless thoughts, often skipping from one such thought to another in rapid succession. This not only distracts the mind but also puts it into an overactive and unproductive mode, where it focuses on the irrelevant; potentially further making matters worse by leading to worry and self-doubt.

Having a productive state of mind can make all the difference between a mediocre performance and a peak performance.

Clogging the mind with pointless thoughts (e.g. the atmosphere of the “big game”, avoiding mistakes, over-analyzing the opponents, strategy, technique, the final outcome, etc.) induces all kinds of emotions that are counterproductive to competing fearlessly (e.g. stress, fear, panic, etc.). This can cause an athlete to stall or pass up on an opportunity to attack the opposition when they get the chance.

The athlete that is aware of their mental game will know what thoughts and triggers cause them to experience excessive “negative” chatter. With some aid a mental game coach or football psychologist an athlete can not only identify these thoughts and triggers but can also tailor coping strategies to stay calm.

A calm mind is a far more effective weapon in dealing with the mental and physical demands of football.

A few coping strategies are:

– Having a pre-game warm up routine that engages the athlete in focusing on their technique, the plays that they are about to execute or preparing the body by stretching each muscle group.
– Immediately stopping “negative” inner chatter the moment it starts and substituting it with focusing on the moment, how to exploit the current situation and the flawless execution of their role on the field.
– Accepting that mistakes, errors and set backs are all part of the game and learning to instantly let go of them when they inevitably happen and moving forward in a productive manner.

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