SELF-TALK AND PLAYER PERFORMANCE
By Othon Castillo
FUNdamental Soccer Coach
We all talk to ourselves. Some of us do it out loud, but most of us do it internally. We talk to ourselves as fast as 200 words per minute. What we say with those 200 words is extremely powerful. Self-talk can be a determining factor as to whether or not an athlete succeeds. Self-talk consists of all the purposeful and random thoughts that enter our heads. These thoughts can be negative or positive. What your mind thinks, your body will usually do. Therefore, negative thoughts tend to hinder our performance, while positive thoughts can help take our game to new heights.
Demonstration of the Power of Self-Talk
If you don’t believe in the power of self-talk, try the following:
Lift your arm so that it’s in line with your shoulder, parallel to the ground. You are going to have someone (approximately your same size) try to push your arm down to your side while you resist as long as you can. This person will try to do it twice. The first time, emphatically state, “I am strong!” three times. Every time you say, “I am strong!” have the person that’s about to push your arm down say, “You are strong!” After the third time, have your partner try to push your arm down while you resist his efforts. Continue to emphatically say, “I am strong!” while the person tries to push your arm down. Take note of how hard it is for the person to push your arm down. Try the same thing again, except this time replace the phrase “I am strong!” with “I am weak.” Have the person that will be pushing your arm down replace the phrase “You are strong!” with “You are weak!”
Is there a difference in how hard it was to push your arm down? In most cases, there is a significant difference between the two attempts. Physically, the only thing that changed was the words that were going around in your head.
Negative Self-Talk
As the above demonstration shows, negative self-talk is extremely powerful and can diminish our ability to perform. One study showed that it takes 12 positive statements to overcome the effects of 1 negative statement. In other words, if a goalkeeper says, “I can’t stop her shot”, she will have to say, “I can stop her shot” 12 times to give herself a better chance of stopping the shot.
There are some common self-talk errors that negatively impact performance.
- Focusing on the past – “I missed that easy ball.” “I let them score a goal.” “I let them get by me.” All of these statements are in the past. Dwelling on our past mistakes keeps us from concentrating on what needs to be done in the present. In our minds we relive our mistake over and over again. Because our body tends to do what our mind says, the chances are very high that we will continue to make the same or similar mistakes. We can’t change the past, but we can control what we are currently doing.
- Focusing on weaknesses during competition -- “I’m too slow.” “I’m too tired.” “I’m too short.” All of these thoughts highlight what we can’t do. While it’s important to understand our limitations, the trick is to use this understanding and adjust our current performance and future training.
- Focusing on the outcome – “We’re going to lose.” Outcomes are in the future and have yet to happen. Focusing on what’s going to happen doesn’t allows us to focus on what is happening. Only by focusing in what is currently happening can we affect the outcome.
- Focusing on the uncontrollable – “The Ref is against us.” “The field is too bumpy.” “The other team is bigger than we are.” The focus of all of these examples is beyond our control. The Ref may be against you. The other team may be bigger. However, you cannot control any of these things. You can control how you choose to react to these things.
Techniques to Beat Negative Self-Talk
While negative self-talk is extremely powerful, there is no need to fall prey to it. Below are ways to overcome negative self-talk.
- Positive self-talk -- Positive self-talk can be the most convincing message that we ever receive. Remember the demonstration above? You are strong if you think you are. Affirmations will help you overcome negative self-talk. Replace “I let them score a goal” with “I will stop every future shot!”
- Accept the Gift of Failure – No matter how much you dwell on your mistake, you can never change it. Use your mistakes from the past to become better. Treat mistakes as learning opportunities. Ask, “What can I learn from this mistake?” Answering this question will give you an avenue for improvement.
- Be Here Now – The past is the past and the future has yet to come. Focus on what is going on. There is so much going on during a soccer game. Where’s is the ball? Where is the ball going? How many forwards does the other team have? Are my defenders properly placed? When you start to dwell on the past, ask yourself some of these questions and you will get your head back in the game. During a World Cup game, Tony Meola (former US National Team Goalkeeper) made one of the worst mistakes of his career. He allowed a shot to get by him on the near post. However, instead of dwelling on his mistakes, he focused on what he was currently doing. He went on the have one of the best games of his career.
- Focus on what you can control – Many of the things in a game are outside of your control. Know what you can control and what you can’t control, then be effective in what you can control. You can’t control how fast your opponent is, but you can control how much space you give her. You can’t control if the field is wet, but you can be prepared for the ball to skip.
It’s important to know that athletes that consistently hinder themselves with negative self-talk, probably are affected it by it in their life off of the field. Negative self-talk doesn’t happen over night. It is a learned response. It will probably take time to “unlearn” negative self-talk. The techniques mentioned above will help you unlearn this negative behavior. Apply these techniques everyday, on and off the field. The more you train your mind, the better you will play.
Sources:
Davies, Phil, Total Soccer Psychology, RIO Network LLC, 2005
Presentation by Karl Dewazien, Morgan Hill, California, July 2007