Check your shoulder! Keep your head on a swivel! These are things every soccer player hears from their coach on the daily. When they say these things, what your coach is trying to teach you is situational awareness. Aka the thinking part of the game.
For many players, situational awareness in soccer (or really a lack thereof) is the biggest thing holding them back from maximizing their potential on the soccer field. Improving in this area will make you a better soccer player, regardless of the level you are playing at (rec, club, school, ECNL, GA, collegiate or professional). We put together this blog post of 9 actionable ways to increase your situational awareness in soccer to help you do just that.
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First things first, what exactly is situational awareness?
Wikipedia defines situational awareness as “the perception of environmental elements and events with respect to time or space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their future status.” This general definition, applicable to any situation not just soccer, simply means having a good sense of what is going on around you at any given point.
On the soccer field though we can take it a bit deeper and get more specific. I define situational awareness in soccer as being hyperconscious of the game environment and having a 360 degree grasp of what is happening around you. In other words, situational awareness is the constant gathering of information to help you and your teammates make more informed decisions on the soccer field.
Qualities of players with strong situational awareness in soccer:
- Players with strong situational awareness in soccer are often very impactful in game play; they are the difference-makers on the team
- They play proactively, create chances and make critical defensive interventions
- They make early decisions and they have great anticipation and pattern recognition
- They keep their head on a swivel and are constantly checking their surroundings, absorbing information about potential hazards and opportunities; they adjust well to unexpected changes in the game environment
- They are able to selectively focus and hone in on what is happening around them, they aren’t easily distracted
- They are often selfless players who read the situation and act accordingly based on what is best for the ball and the team in that moment
- Players with strong situational awareness are good at calculated risk assessment, meaning they know when to take a chance and when to be conservative
- They are effective communicators, guiding the ball from player to player and directing traffic on the field
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9 ways to increase your situational awareness in soccer
1. MENTALLY PREPARE BEFORE GAMES – As mentioned before, situational awareness is the thinking part of the game. Your mind must be TURNED ON in order to perform well. Take the time to mentally prepare, get focused and stay fresh before matches. Nutrition can also have a big impact on how clear your head feels. Eating good, nutrient dense food and eliminating sugars can help keep you sharp and alert instead of foggy and unfocused.
2. ALWAYS BE SCANNING THE FIELD – This is where keep your ‘head on a swivel’ and ‘check your shoulder’ come into play. If you have trouble remembering to scan, come up with a mantra to help you create the habit. Example – say to yourself “look around, what’s behind you? what’s to the side?” and then put that on repeat. You need to check and recheck your surroundings. Never stop checking. Every couple of steps you should be looking over your shoulders and taking in information, using your peripheral vision, scanning from side to side.
3. ASK YOURSELF QUESTIONS – Do not be the player that makes the mistake of assuming that you will just react correctly to any given situation. Soccer is a thinking game and requires you to make conscious choices based off the information you have. To increase your situational awareness in soccer, start simple by asking yourself questions during the run of play. Example – Should I play 1-touch, 2 touch or dribble and take space here? Another example – Where is the danger? Where is there opportunity, space to exploit?
4. TALK TO YOUR TEAMMATES – Commit to being better about telling your teammates what is happening around them. Communicate and give information freely and abundantly. Help guide the play based on the game environment, the pressure, the space. When you start providing your teammates with more information, not only are you showing on-field leadership, but you are also becoming more situationally aware because you have made it a priority to gather information and use it to help your teammates.
{Related read: 3 tips to help you communicate and talk more in soccer}
5. OPTIMIZE YOUR BODY POSITION – Never lose track of that soccer ball, ever! Do not turn your back on it or ever become unaware of its exact location. It’s inexcusable and irresponsible. When moving away from the ball, backpedal or keep your eye on things over your shoulder. If you are a wide player, try to keep yourself in a position where your body is open to the field and you can see at least 3 corners of the field at all times. For central players (center backs, center mids, target strikers) its 2 corners. Center midfielders need a very high degree of 360 awareness as the ball is often moving left, right, forward and behind them.
6. PLAY WITH A 1-TOUCH MENTALITY – To increase your situational awareness in soccer, challenge yourself to play with a 1-touch mentality to get you into a habit of better situational awareness in soccer. If you start playing the game like everything needs to be first touch, you’ll quickly get into the habit of gathering information, early and consistently – because you are going to have to make all your decisions before the ball arrives. If you don’t do this you won’t be able to keep up with the high tempo and speed-of-play that comes with 1-touch.
7. KNOW THE LOCATION OF EVERY PLAYER – Know the whereabouts of every single player on both teams. Often players are aware of where their teammates and opponents are in the near vicinity, but don’t have any idea what the rest of the field looks like. On the attack, this can easily result in missed opportunities (think open wingers on the opposite flank). On defense it can result in mismanaged coverage and goals against (think unmarked opponents at the back post or top of the box).
8. WATCH YOURSELF ON FILM – Watch your game film, and sooner rather than later, while the match is still fresh in your mind. Reflect. Go through tips 2-7 above and analyze your performance based on these points. When in the game were you aware of your surroundings, when were you not? What were some ill-informed decisions you made? Some well-informed ones? Were you scanning the field, keeping your head on a swivel and checking over your shoulders every few seconds?
9. WATCH PROFESSIONALS PLAY – To increase your situational awareness in soccer, watch professional games, in person or streamed, and specifically watch people playing your same position. Again, use the above points to analyze their play and their situational awareness. How is their body position, their communication? Are they constantly scanning, how often? Are they aware of and connected to the opposite side of the field? Also watch for moments in the game when they are NOT situationally aware. How can you tell?
Situational awareness in soccer will elevate your game
You can see it and feel when a soccer player’s 360 degree awareness is on point. When they just seem to KNOW everything about the environment around them. That player’s good situational awareness skills make them a stronger player, that player’s good situational awareness skills make their team a stronger team.
Science has even proved the effectiveness of situational awareness. For example, in 2020 a study about situational awareness in soccer in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health was done to study the factors that “turn a collection of individual players into a coordinated elite team” and found that shared situational awareness between members of professional soccer teams indeed positively affects game outcomes and a team’s ability to work together to solve soccer problems.
Additional benefits of increasing your situational awareness in soccer:
- better performance
- faster speed of play
- more impact on team play
- easier to unbalance the opponent’s backline
- earlier decision making
- more creation of space
- stronger leadership
- more effective first touch
- better retention of passes
- easier to interchange positions
Only you can change your game
Without good situational awareness in soccer, you will struggle to reach elite levels. Hard work, great technical skills and sharp footwork will make you stand out, but even with top-notch ball control, if you lack situational awareness, you will not be able to maximize your potential on the field. You will not reach your top level. Something will be missing. And that something will be situational awareness in soccer.
As with any other type of growth or self-improvement, to increase your situational awareness in soccer you must first commit to taking responsibility for your development. You must commit to trying something new and going outside of your comfort zone. This is truly the only way to progress forward, as breaking old habits and forming new ones is one of the most difficult things we can overcome in our lives, both on and off the soccer field.
The magic of getting better at situational awareness in soccer is that your entire game gets better, even with NO OTHER SHIFTS. Being able to anticipate, act early and play creatively all come from good situational awareness skills.
And the great part about awareness, and all 9 of these tips, is that they AREN’T things that only some players can have. They are all CHOICES. Choices that you can make today. You can choose to scan more, you can choose to communicate more, you can choose to rewatch your game film, you can choose to ask yourself questions to gather information. You can choose to increase your situational awareness in soccer.
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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