On this blog, you will get few key ingredients to give you a guide, map, GPS, a direction towards mental toughness.   However, these are NOT “magical pills” but it will help you get started the right way.

Mental toughness questions:

Have you ever wonder why some goalkeepers are inconsistent in their games or practices?  for example,  a good game today but next week you have a bad game or a good season and bad season.   Are you a goalkeeper who ALWAYS WORRY about what others (mom, dad, coach, friends etc)  might say about your performance? Are you always worrying about making a mistakes during games or practices?   Do you struggle to get “in the game or in the zone”?  

Do you complain about everything during practice or games?  Do you “SECOND GUESS” yourself frequently during games?    If so, it is time to start thinking about your mental toughness!! 

Here are 3 key steps to help you understand mental toughness.

BEING HONEST TO YOURSELF

• Why do you play soccer for fun or to compete?  there is a big difference…
• Are you a goalkeeper because you are trying to please your parents, coach or friends or are you just playing in goal because you are not a good field player?.
• Are you a goalkeeper who TRULY WANTS to play in college or beyond or is this more about your parents  or someone else dreams instead of yours  or is this about BRAGGING RIGHTS ?
• If you are a goalkeeper who’s not tall, can’t jump and have NO speed, will you be able to really play in a Division I school or even professionally?

The point to these questions is to find true meaning of your life,  be honest and realistic about what you are trying to accomplish.  If you cannot find peace of mind then you will struggle to be mentally strong, be honest to yourself

LOVE BEING UNCOMFORTABLE

There are a huge number of goalkeepers who can’t find consistency. Some say they simply “didn’t have a good day”. Whatever it is, we simply can’t go on using the “good day, bad day” excuse forever because the day it will REALLY matter such as, tryout, playoffs, showcase etc then the “good day bad day” excuse will not work, only a good performance will count.
I cannot imagine a NAVY SEAL or SPECIAL FORCES military member saying, “I had a bad day today”. If they have a bad day, they will be gone forever.

Here’s how you can find consistency

To find consistency, it starts at practice or training…Your training MUST be intense and out of your comfort level.  If you can train this way, your mind & body will learn to perform well under stress. Furthermore, There are many goalkeepers or athletes who perform very well in training but struggle in games, that’s because, they train in a way that is very predictable & repetitive, almost ROBOTIC which is a training where goalkeepers go through the motions. In fact, they normally work under the “feel good” trainings. Be careful!!

Part of being mentally tough is to learn how to hear what you NEED to hear not what you would LIKE to hear.  For example, criticism: some athletes / goalkeepers or including PARENTS cannot hear honest criticism. They are simply not equipped to hear a coach say that they need to go to a lower level or they are not good enough to be part of a certain level team.  Some goalkeepers and parents view FAILURES as a bad thing when in fact, FAILURE can potentially build CHARACTER.

We also have athletes who will ONLY put out energy or effort when things going great. But the moment they sense stress or they feel like they are losing they will not work as hard or they simply quit working to their fullest potential. Generally this happens to athletes who are mentally WEAK and goalkeepers who are only taught to do enough to survive. This is a very clear sign of many problems to come.

Just learn & love being uncomfortable as much as possible to gain a true path to mental toughness.

BE HUMBLE

Being humble is NOT a sign of weakness, it is a sing of true confidence.

I have personally met young goalkeepers who’ve reached a certain “status”,  club or level in their short amateur careers and immediately become the most arrogant players around. Some of them act as if they’re the ONLY great goalkeeper in their area, when in fact, there are so many more!

Being humble, allows you to be open up to NEW ideas, concepts and criticisms. It even lets you see your future endeavors realistically.  Humility also helps understand your own personal limitations & struggles, which is an important step to reach your fullest athletic potential. Just remember, arrogance has NOTHING to do with confidence.

These 3 ingredients are an important part of so many professional goalkeepers that I personally met and trained over the years.  Being mentally strong means that you keep going with there is NOTHING LEFT to give. If you only pick and choose the battles that you think you will win and run away from the others then you have a LONG ways to go to become mentally tough.

Simply analyze these few steps, apply them and see where it can take you. Being mentally strong will not occur overnight but your mental training must start soon to stay competitive in the modern game or even in your personal life.