It’s time for a little soul searching.
How many of you train each day in search of perfection, to be the best? How many of you get up in the morning and put in the roadwork needed to build your endurance and strength? How many of you visit the gym to actually train and not to socialise?
Anyone answered yes?
Try this question on for size. How many of you attend training and secretly try and avoid mistakes at all costs?
Everybody tries to avoid mistakes, hell, haven’t we all been conditioned from a young age that making mistakes is, um, wrong. From grade 1 all the way to high school the teacher would cross out all mistakes with her big red pen. Wrong, wrong and wrong.
We’ve been conditioned by school, parents and society to avoid mistakes. What’s the objective of any test or exam you sit? Apart from passing, the objective is to get 100%. How do you get 100%? Don’t make any mistakes.
This is the same reason why you hide during training drills and refuse to participate in any drills that might expose your weaknesses. This is the same reason why you watch all the other players’ progress and improve while you battle with the fear of mistakes.
What would happen to your training sessions if you freed yourself of this fear?
Forget about mistakes, kicking the ball out or looking silly. The best players in the world, the superstars that grace every newsstand are the players that have made the most mistakes.
Next time you’re at training play freely and make mistakes. Don’t hide and definitely don’t be scared. Training is the best platform to experiment and to inevitable make mistakes.
The benefits of making mistakes are two-fold. One, everybody learns from their mistakes. That didn’t work, let’s try this. Throw me the ball again, let me try this volley.
Two, initially you’ll make a lot of mistakes, but with practice the frequency of mistakes will diminish. You will never become perfect, but you’re not chasing perfection are you?
Three, hang on, I only said two.
Remember Soccer is not school and the big red pen does not exist in the real world. Train hard and make mistakes.
Players bring fear into the equation by themselves. *Just in case* I’m going to state the obvious here, if you’re coach installs fear in you or tries to intimidate you give him the finger and find yourself a new coach. Case closed.
Don’t conform and don’t become a part of the system that crucifies mistakes. Who would become a better player, the guy who hides at the back of the line and only participates when he has to, or the player that’s enthusiastic and always at the front of the line, ready to train and make mistakes?
Fear of mistakes and failures are the biggest obstacles in soccer. But let me reassure you before I go, we are all professional failures. (Wink)
“May the winds of destiny blow you to the stars.”
Thomas I am glad you brought this up, and players out there take note!
It is something I did – usually during possession drills – and in the end it was this that was the biggest limitation in my game. I was the first person to do extra physical work or work on my defending, but in reality these were already my strengths. If I hadn’t avoided my weaknesses – I am sure I would have played at a higher level than I did.
G’day Howard, it’s something that nearly every player does.
Everyone loves to work on their strengths because it’s easy and they look superior. Could it be that they don’t look like fools? Have you ever seen a big strong defender trying to juggle a ball?
Chances are you’ll see them kicking lumps out of strikers or in the gym pushing insane weights. Juggling the ball or practicing long passes? Not so much.
@Howard, any particular reason why you only worked on your strengths? Was it the fear of making a mistake and looking like a fool?
Funny you mention the juggling because that is something I was very good at (even as a big strong defender) as I could work on that in my own time or in small groups.
I wouldn’t say it was a conscious fear of making mistakes – more a case of not enjoying possession work in tight spaces – but maybe on a subconscious level.
This for sure is something that we can do better as coaches. We need to encourage the players to not be afraid and to not hide. Here I think the carrot works better than the stick.
fascinating topic. I am a prof at a good college, and most of my students got in because they are really good at minimizing mistakes. Trying to convince them that bold failure is sometimes better than conservative success is very difficult. The problem isn’t just limited to the ranks of soccer. Most of the leaders of our society came through schools and athletics that emphasized never making mistakes- the problem is that this type of training produces cowards.