“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” – Vince Lombardi

Coping with the fear of failure is an important element in the effective functioning of a football player.

The fear of failure is destructive to an athlete’s football confidence. It is not good for the team as it can develop thoughts of self-doubts or disbelief in one’s ability. This is not to say that winning or losing does not matter, but athletes should learn from both occurrences whenever they happen.

Psychology for football encourages players to try even when they do not succeed rather than not trying at all.

Setbacks are important as they allow you to grow as you learn from them. They help you discover your inner strength that can allow you to go beyond your limits.

When players learn the art of controlling their fear of failure, their football mental game becomes better as well as their physical game.

Common Fears

Here is a list of the common fears that hold athletes back from performing their best:
• Fear of losing a game
• Fear of embarrassment if you don’t perform well
• Fears of letting others down
• Fear of making mistakes and not performing perfectly after having worked hard.

How Being Fearful Affects Your Game

The fear of failure can become so great that athletes focus more on avoiding failure than pursuing success.
They become reluctant to take risks because they want to be perfect. These actions can sabotage a team’s ambition to win.
Football players, who fear failure, tend to approach games lacking football confidence and impacting the mental game negatively. Players who are afraid of making mistakes usually make wrong decisions which can affect their performance and the success of the team.

How to overcome the fear of failure.

Here are some ways to help you overcome your fear of failure:

1. Commitment – Ensure that you are committed and engaged in the process and not looking forward to the outcome.
2. Fighting Spirit and Toughness – Every game have its positive and negative moments; find the positivity in those moments and then conduct yourself in a combative and tenacious manner. Ensure that you keep your temper under control while on the field to moderate excess aggressive behavior which can cause unwanted results.
3. Concentration – Stay focus on the present. Think about what you are doing in the moment and do not think ahead to the possible end results.
4. Competitive Stress Management – Managing emotions effectively can be quite difficult, and this may often limit performances. Identify the emotions that allow you to play well and those that deter your performance, then put a plan in place to deal with it should those emotions arise during competition.
5. Self-Esteem – To become a champion, courage and humility are required. Courage to believe that you and the rest of the team can achieve victory, thereby arousing confidence in yourself, and then the humility to commit yourself daily to the purpose of realizing your dream.

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