February 18, 2025: Here’s the thing. Whenever I find myself in a conversation with someone that is giving me the vibe that they think the mental part of soccer is a joke and that players are wasting their time to focus on it, I’m always blown away and think:
“Man, these people JUST DON’T GET IT.”
I'm going give you one simple reason mental skills are CRUCIAL, a reason that will forever change how you think about mentality and it's place in sport.
First, quickly, what actually are mental skills? Mental skills are skills you can gain that help with with a combination of enhancing performance AND having good wellbeing. Both pieces are very important and they work together to help us have a healthy relationship with the game and maximize our potential.
OK, now onto the point –
Athletes, if you truly want to be the best, if you want to be at the top of your game and reach your goals you are going to need the following skills:
- focus
- resiliency
- motivation
- patience
- determination
- accountability
- grit
- confidence
- ability to lock in
- emotional regulation
- bravery
- mental toughness
- curiosity
- drive
- etc.
Here’s the kicker, the punchline, the undeniable reason that we need mental skills training….
NONE OF THESE THINGS ARE SOCCER SKILLS! They are all human skills, part of who you are as a person, part of how you process things & deal with things... They are all MENTAL SKILLS.
THIS is the one simple reason mental skills are crucial.
Let’s break it down here and explain this. If you are dealing with something hard at soccer: a teammate you are butting heads with, a difficult coaching environment, a change in teams, etc. it is not going to be your soccer skills (dribbling, ball mastery, shooting, defending, etc.) that get you out of these situations, it is going to be a skill on that list above.
Same as if you are on the field: bad ref call, hot day or bad weather, distracting sideline behavior from the opponent’s parents – your DRIBBLING SKILL IS NOT GOING TO GET YOU THROUGH THIS.
Your soccer skills aren't going to do CRAP to get you through these types of challenges.
But resiliency will. Focus will. MENTALITY will.
Who we are as a person actually determines the amount of success we can have in sport. Success & character are directly tied together. If you DON’T have the above list of skills (example: resiliency, drive, grit, bravery, etc.) I’ll tell you what – it doesn’t matter how fancy your footwork is- you don’t look nearly as good to a college coach as a player who shows up everyday with the talent AND a mentally tough mindset. THAT’s the kid they want on their team.
Mental skills work means working on your real-self, your internal environment, and strengthening your inner coach so that you can help your soccer-self play their best soccer. Mental skills work is staying connected to, and prioritizing, who you are as a person. It is not letting our identity get tied up solely in technical soccer skill and performance, but understanding that these other pieces need space and attention as well, ESPECIALLY if we actually want to be great.
Who we are as a person is what helps us navigate the adversity, and adversity is 100% guaranteed to show up during your soccer journey.
Do you want to get stuck when that adversity shows up or do you want to get through it? Getting through it means you need mental skills.
When we disregard the mental side of the game and cast it off as silly and useless, and we are only paying attention to the technical, tactical and physical pieces of the game – we put a cap on what we can achieve. You need mental skills to handle hard moments, and getting through hard moments, instead of letting them dominate you, is what allows you to get to the top.
Yes, technical/tactical/physical are SUPER IMPORTANT, I will never argue with that, but you can have all of these things and still be missing something. Often, players with mass amounts of talent can’t figure out what they are missing. I’ll tell you what they are missing: it’s the X factor.
The X factor is a strong mental game, it is THE THING that will set you apart in a crowded sea of talent.
The best news in all of this is that if you CAN see the truth in what I’m saying here, and you’re eager to gain an edge over players who are NOT seeing the power of mindset, then you can LEARN these skills. Mental skills are not things you either have or you don’t, they are SKILLS that you can learn. Meaning if you don’t have them now, never fear, you CAN GET THEM.
Till next Tuesday,
💎 What I’m digging: The brand new Connections: Sports Edition game on The Athletic
👩🏽💻What I’m looking forward to: The return of the MLS this weekend, let’s go Sounders!
🎧 Jam I can’t get out of my head: Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan
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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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