November 5, 2024: Are you a ‘small’ 😫 soccer player? Listen up.
STOP letting being told you are “too small” make you FEEL small and PLAY small.
When you do this, you don’t play to your full potential because you are letting other people, and things, outside of your control dictate your confidence.
(⬆️ Check out Hannah Adler’s story about being told she was “too small” and how she used that as fuel to push her towards a professional playing career. See Hannah’s full bio here.)
Here’s the reality – yes, it might be an objective fact that you are small right now. Other people grew quicker you than you, truth. This situation is not good nor bad, IT JUST IS.
Now that we have the facts sorted out, we can accept the moment for what it is, and can focus on what’s next. Our job now is to take our focus OFF of the problem and put it on the solution 🤔🤔🤔🤔
This is NOT the solution: crossing your fingers and hoping you grow faster. Doing that will leave you feeling defeated and full of self-doubt. You’ll have no confidence and be feeling sorry for yourself, spending all of your mental energy pining over something that you cannot control. But here’s a secret:
Size means nothing, unless you LET IT mean something.
Here’s a better plan. Stop waiting to grow and instead take some action. Focus 1000% of your energy on every piece of your game that you can control. You can control your work rate, your attitude. You can control your BELIEF IN YOURSELF.
Even if other people don’t believe in you, YOU can believe in YOU. That is something that literally nobody can actually stop you from doing 🙌
To reach your goals, you HAVE to believe in yourself more than anyone else believes in you. You have to attach your confidence only to things YOU can control. You have to reframe things and see things from a new perspective.
Let’s try one out. Did you know that it can actually be advantage to be lower to the ground? Players that are smaller often have better balance, better agility, better adaptability, and are harder to contain. Small players can be very feisty, sneaky and altogether just a nuisance to defend! Small players can turn on a dime way faster than the tall girls that aren’t as coordinated. If you are a small player, you can ABSOLUTELY still be a beast and dominate on the field, it’s all up to how you look at things.
Here’s a good way to look at things – OK ya, I might be small RIGHT NOW. But I’ll grow. And in the meantime, I’m definitely not going to waste this moment being upset about being small. I’m going to accept it, and then use this time super wisely. I’m going to build up my arsenal of tools, I’m going to do everything I can to make myself an unpredictable and dangerous attacker 🔥 I’m going to push myself to expand my 1v1 skills, my change of pace, my adaptability and creativity and variety in movement off the ball ⚽️ I’m going to get really good at all these things now, so that when I DO grow and have more physical size and strength, I’ll be unstoppable because I can combine that with all the other skills I’ve been gaining during my ‘small’ time.
In closing, soccer players, stop wasting all your mental energy being down about being small. Instead, embrace the opportunity to expand and just go out there and be so good that nobody can ignore you, regardless of your physical size.
Go out there and PLAY BIG 🔥⚽️
Till next time,
💎 What I’m digging: If you are in the Santa Barbara or San Diego areas, check out camps and clinics with Beyond the Baller and Coach Hannah!
👩🏽💻 What I’m reading: Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in Post-Human Landscape, little diversion from sports but a very interesting read that triggers feelings of hope.
🎧 What I’m listening to: Election night coverage which I’m pretty sure isn’t going to end tonight.
Grow your confidence through preparedness.
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Hi everyone! I’m Jenn and I create content to help female soccer players and coaches maximize individual and team potential by developing healthy mindset skills. Join other subscribers and sign up for the newsletter for all my best tips and advice!
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