“You’ve got to love his approach to practice, both as a competitor and then just coming up with little games and stuff to keep it fun. And in Drew you know you’ve got a quarterback who will do everything he can to win; coming early to study and staying late after practice to work out. His composure is amazing, and we all feed off of that. He’ll get on to you, but no more than he’ll get onto himself.”
New Orleans Saints receiver Robert Meacham describing Quarterback Drew Brees

The pressure of competition creates an atmosphere where only the mentally tough athletes find the most success. The ability to control emotions and thoughts is necessary for maintaining composure, and essential for developing mental focus on the football field.

A composed athlete realizes they are consistently in control of their actions, but most importantly the control of their reactions to all circumstances and surrounding situations. The development of composure as an athlete directly enhances performance and improves football confidence on the field.

Playing with passion and emotion are important for achieving potential, but a player with composure understands how to manage their emotions effectively. They are not ruled by highs and lows of reactions to adversity, feeling out of control or overwhelmed. Rather, a player with composure utilizes their emotions in planned and practiced responses to any situation they encounter.

Successful athletes prepare their mental focus and thoughts to remain steady no matter what the situation, and as a result their football confidence grows exponentially. The mental game of football requires the successful athlete to fully harness the power of emotion into superior performance on the football field.

Sports psychology for football uses exercises such as visualization to develop composure and strengthen mental toughness. The athlete imagines any possible circumstance whether it is on the practice field or a game situation, and then visualizes their reaction in a composed, controlled manner. They reenact their perfect reaction to all situations, and they continually reinforce their self opinion that they are indeed a composed athlete. Their belief system maintains the knowledge of their mental control of emotions. The identity an athlete aspires for is the identity they will become.

Another effective practice to gaining composure is the constant analysis of emotions and reactions. Ask the questions “Is my reaction helpful in achieving my goals?” or “Are my emotions working for me or against me?” on a regular basis. Mentally tough athletes with composure positively affect their teammates as well.

Legendary coach Tom Landry offered his opinion on the power composure has on the playing field when he said, “Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you’re in control, they’re in control.

All great leaders possess composure, and steady the emotions and mental focus of those around them. The football athlete that learns composure inspires football confidence both in himself as well as his teammates.