If you are part of a team, any team, one of the most valuable traits you can have is being trustworthy. This applies both to the game of soccer and to every other aspect of life. Being trustworthy is a super important part of being a good teammate. When you are trusted, you are able to cultivate strong relationships, and not only does it make things better for those around you, it actually makes YOU better at soccer and more confident in your ability.
Think about your current soccer team for a moment, can you name a teammate who you would consider trustworthy? Someone you can rely on both on and off the field? Someone who is committed to the team and works hard for the collective? Would you call this person a good teammate? Do you think that them being a good teammate makes them a better soccer player?
It absolutely does.
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Being a good teammate means being trustworthy
If you play soccer, not only are you a soccer player, but you are a TEAMMATE. And being a good teammate can be a difficult job at times. Players often have conflicting personalities, contrasting values & goals, and just in general – differences. Differences might prevent you from being best friends with someone, but they don’t prevent you from building solid relationships, being a good teammate and helping create a strong culture of team togetherness.
Trustworthiness is a relational skill, meaning it is a way to describe how people interact with one another. Every soccer player has different skillsets. They have performance skills (skills that help them execute on the field and play well) and they have relational skills (skills that help them interact and be an effective part of the team).
Relational skills are EXTREMELY important for soccer players, as soccer is a team sport and team success very much rides on the shoulders of having a solid collective unit and players with BOTH strong performance and relational skills.
Traits of a trustworthy teammate
Being trustworthy means that you are dependable and reliable, both on the field and off. It means that your teammates have confidence in you, they trust you and they know you will have their backs. Being trustworthy means that your team knows you are responsible, steady, tried-and-true. It also means that you have great integrity – if you say you are going to do something, you can bet that it is going to get done.
Being a trustworthy soccer player means that you have built trust up with both your teammates and your coach. You have proven that you are committed to the team and are all-in when it comes to building community and working hard for the collective.
Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the ‘me’ for the ‘we’.
Being trustworthy also means you are unselfish and honest, which is a big part of what being a good teammate is all about. Being honest is a very important quality to have when you are part of a team.
Being honest goes both ways though, it means you own up to mistakes and are accountable for your actions, but it also means you are able to {respectfully} call out your teammates when they are being distracting or aren't pulling their weight.
Being honest and holding EACH OTHER accountable is an important piece of being a good team. If the group can self-regulate and keep themselves unified and on track they will reach their goals sooner than they would otherwise.
What trustworthiness in soccer looks like
Being trustworthy on the soccer field is slightly different than what you might typically think of when you think of trustworthiness. Meaning, a trustworthy and reliable soccer player is someone who has put in the work and is mentally and physically ready to play. Even if you are a trustworthy person OFF the field, if your teammates can’t trust you ON the field (because you don’t train on your own, you don’t have good fitness, etc.), you cannot be a truly trustworthy teammate.
Be trustworthy on the field shows up as you having a lot of impact on the game, on both sides of the ball. When you consistently work hard for the group, the group works hard for you. This is because they trust you and know that you are reliable when it comes to doing what needs to be done for the team.
When soccer players trust their teammates, they naturally look to them for guidance and leadership. Trustworthy and reliable teammates are natural leaders both on and off the field, whether they are in an official leadership position (aka soccer captains) or not.
Being trustworthy means that your teammates have confidence in you - in either your skill, or your effort, or both.
For example, you might be a player of average skill, but your teammates know that if you make a mistake you are going to IMMEDIATELY recover and get right back at it. You are reliable in the sense that you are resilient and don’t dwell on mistakes. You always give 110% effort in the moments following an error to try.
When you are a trustworthy teammate, your teammates pass you the ball more and they listen to and value your communication and guidance on the field. They turn to you in high pressure situations. They do these things because they know you well, they know you’ve put in the work and are physically and mentally prepared to execute.
Outside of games, trustworthiness and reliability is still massively impactful. Off the field, trustworthy soccer players can be counted on to always:
- be prepared and ready to train
- notify the coach in the event that they will be late or are unable to attend
- follow through and honor their commitments, keep promises to teammates
- be kind, inclusive and respectful
- be authentic and true to who they are and what they believe in
- take care of other people’s possessions
- be on time
Grow your confidence through preparedness.
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Are you a trustworthy teammate?
Being a good teammate and being trustworthy are not labels that you can assign to yourself. These are things that other people FEEL about you and identities that they give you based on your actions and words.
So, do you think you are a trustworthy and reliable teammate? Ask yourself these questions. If you answer no to any of them then you may want to reflect and and think about what you can do to shift things and work on being a good teammate.
In a soccer game, can you be trusted by your teammates:
- to immediately get back behind the ball upon a loss of possession?
- to give your max effort at the right moment? (example – when a ball’s headed out of bounds and needs to be saved)
- to work hard to recover in the moment immediately following a mistake?
- to provide early supportive runs and movement off the ball to help them escape pressure?
- to play as a ‘we’ and not as a ‘me’?
- to be ‘game day fit’ and have the fitness to sprint, recover and last all game?
- to mark up on your runner, especially in the defensive third?
In training, at soccer practice, can you be trusted by your teammates:
- to show up everyday focused and ready to learn?
- to not be a distraction and instead be positive contributor?
- to NOT whisper and talk about other people behind their backs?
- to apologize and be accountable to your actions when necessary?
- to always speak the truth, even when it doesn’t put you in favorable light?
- to work hard for the group and give your maximum effort?
What happens to a soccer team when there is no trust?
When there is trust among players on a team, the team is a better, stronger team. When trust is flowing, both trustworthiness (being reliable) and trustwillingness (relying on others) are present and working together.
When there's NO trust, the team suffers. Things break down quickly and their game suffers.
When there’s no trust, there’s poor connection on the field. Players keep the ball to themselves and take extra, unnecessary touches instead of playing simple passes and possession is lost.
The ball gets turned over A LOT. Players don’t support each other in transition, team defending falls apart and there are no coordinated attacks.
When there’s no trust on a soccer team there’s a lot of anger and resentment and talking behind backs. Things get petty. Cliques form easily, further dividing the group and isolating players. This destroys individual player’s confidence and creates a lot of pressure to play well in order to fit in and be accepted.
When a soccer team has no trust, the game is no longer fun.
When there’s no trust on a soccer team, teams lose games they should be able to win. Players stop working hard because they feel uninspired. The negative energy can be felt amongst everyone and infiltrates and impacts everything.
A environment of trust leads to growth & success
On the other hand though, when your soccer team is full of trustworthy and trustwilling players, amazing things happen. There is an (often untapped) power that lies in playing for the collective, selflessly and with great intensity & passion. When players focus on something bigger than themselves, work to support each other and develop a genuine compassion for their teammates – magic happens.
Magic is what happens when you have an environment of trust on your soccer team. Potential is unlimited. This is commonly portrayed in feel-good sports movies (think Big Green and Mighty Ducks), you know – the movies where a ragtag group of athletes is suddenly performing at an elite level because they’ve managed to come together as a strong collective.
When you build trust in a soccer team environment, relationships between the players get stronger. When this happens, teams are better able to:
- pass, connect, and build out
- break down and unbalance opponent’s defensive lines
- keep possession for longer (because you are giving and receiving support at a higher rate)
- create an attacking environment where more creativity/risk-taking happens (because teammates know that their back is covered)
- keep the opponent’s scoreline to zero (because players are choosing to defend and get back and defend as a team)
- play as a collective and not a bunch of individuals
- score more goals and win more games!
Which MENTAL SKILL is Your Strongest?!
Accountability?
Resilience?
Confidence?
Situational Awareness?
Self-regulation?
Being trustworthy sets you apart and makes you a stronger player
Trust is extremely important in soccer. Not only does the team benefit and play better, individuals benefit and perform better as well.
Being a trustworthy teammate makes you a better soccer player because when you are a better TEAM player, you receive more opportunities and thereby get more involved in the game.
When you feel connected to and supported by your teammates, you play better. You make better decisions because you are constantly being fed information from your teammates. You are looking out for them as well which forces you to scan and be more situationally aware. When you are focused on working together and you trust each other, the game becomes much more fun and everyone gets stronger.
Leadership through trust
Being a good teammate and being trustworthy brings a certain type of respect. Teammates trust you and they listen to you. They welcome your opinion and listen to what you have to say constructively and with more of an open mind than they might have with someone else who isn’t reliable or honest.
This is because they know that you have the team’s best interest at heart. Players know that when a trustworthy teammate gives feedback, advice or asks questions, it is being done with the goal of making the collective better and stronger and it is NOT a personal attack or placing blame.
Coaches love trustworthy and reliable players
Coaches love reliable and trustworthy players. They love them both because they have fantastic leadership and team captain qualities, and because they are dependable on the pitch.
Often times coaches use trustworthy & reliable players in the role of utility players in soccer because they are dependable and can execute well in multiple positions. They are often good at adapting to different roles while still being reliable and able to perform under pressure.
Soccer coaches have been known to build their style-of-play and tactical plans around trustworthy players because they are reliable – the coach knows that they will be on board with the plan and try their very best to follow through on the field.
Example: if a coach needs to shift the plan mid game in order to unbalance an opponent, they’ll often use their most trustworthy and reliable players to execute the new specific plan BECAUSE THEY KNOW THAT THEY’LL LISTEN and go out there and give it their all. Reliable and trustworthy players are the players coaches lean on when they need someone they can trust and things done a certain way.
Unreliable players get put into positions on the field where their risk is minimized. They are usually never relied on for big tasks or important jobs. Unreliable players are players that are in it for the ‘me’ and not the ‘we’. They operate as an individual and not as a part of a team.
If you want to be elite and play at high levels, being trustworthy matters
In a July 2019 episode of The Soccer Sidelines podcast titled ‘Reliability Matters in Youth Sports’, the importance of trustworthiness and reliability is discussed. The podcast episode talks about how coaches don’t recommend players who are NOT trustworthy and not good teammates. Why? Because when they recommend players they are putting their name behind them.
Coaches just simply are NOT going to do that for players who aren’t reliable. They are not going to risk their reputation for you when you have a history of not being trustworthy.
If you want to be elite and play at high levels of the game, you need coaches support. When you are invested in your development and reliable and trustworthy, your coach will go above and beyond to help you succeed.
Don't be the player who tells your coach that you are invested and says you want to do what it takes to get better, and then does nothing. Don't say you want 'A,B,C' and be doing 'X,Y,Z.'
This is poor self-integrity. This makes you feel bad about yourself. This leads to your coach and teammates not believing in or trusting in you. This also makes it near impossible to play at high levels of the game.
Trust me. Coaches notice this stuff. We file it away. When people come looking for well rounded athletes, we not just looking for kids who can kick a ball straight. We’re looking for those talents that we don’t mind getting behind and endorsing to college coaches
Being reliable matters, being trustworthy matters. If you want to be elite, being a good teammate with these relational skills IS A NECESSITY. Why? Because to be elite you need teammates. You need teammates who trust you in order for you to be able to play your best soccer.
If you’re not trustworthy, you are not going to get your teammates to work with you very well. They aren’t going to help you out, they aren’t going to pass you the ball and want to play with you. You can still be a very good player without their trust, but you are massively limiting your potential stunting your growth.
Building trust and being a good teammate
As mentioned before, YOU don’t get to determine if you are trustworthy or not. That’s up to your teammates. All you can do is do your best by being self-aware and working on improving. And it’s the little things that matter here.
Your words are SUPER IMPORTANT. Don’t say you’re going to do something unless you are fully, 100% going to do it. Because every time you do, you erode trust. Even if you have a valid excuse or reason as to why you didn’t follow through, it still chips away at your trustworthiness.
How to be more a more trustworthy teammate
As we mentioned before, trustworthiness on the soccer field is two-fold. Part of it has to do with doing the work and putting in the time so that you are able to perform on the field. The second part has more to do with your personality and interactions with teammates. If you want to be more trustworthy, work on the following:
- keep your commitments
- be honest
- be authentic
- be transparent
- be on time
- be kind and inclusive
- don’t talk about people negatively. at all.
- be accountable for your actions. apologize when an apology is needed.
Most importantly though, build trust with your teammates by doing what needs to be done. BE RELIABLE ON THE FIELD.
You build trust by transitioning to defense immediately and with urgency. You build trust by ALWAYS marking. You build trust by doing your job and fulfilling the duties of your position.
Yes, you can build trust by playing well, but its more-so you build trust by DOING WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE and then giving max effort in every area. You build trust by being a team player, by being a good teammate. If you want your teammates to trust you, YOU HAVE TO PULL YOUR WEIGHT. Stop just wishing they would trust you and pass to you more, and GIVE THEM REASON to trust you and pass to you more.
Remember – being a teammate who’s trustworthy and reliable is ESSENTIAL to being a good soccer player.
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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