Have A Winning Mindset

“There is no 'I' in team but there is in win."

Michael Jordan

The Winning Mindset

Great players gravitate toward play-making situations. They see the ball's presence as less a source of anxiety, and recognize it more as an opportunity for greatness, for victory, to test themselves on the pitch, field or court. They embrace each game, each play, each moment. They play with sense of urgency, lest Opportunity pass them by and never return. When a challenge presents itself, they lean in. Some people call this "Running to Danger", we call it the Winning Mindset.

Treat Anxiety as Opportunity

Get butterflies when you take the field? Get nervous when the ball heads your way? It's not as if the game's greats have never stood where you stand. Great players have simply work hard to demystify the game, to de-fearify it. They are students of their craft who identity needs, research, study, practice and master it's subtleties and complexities, and condition themselves to recognize and respond positively to anxiety, until it's second nature. Being OK with being uncomfortable is a skill you can master.

Embrace your Responsibility with an Active Approach

Being truly elite requires an active approach. There's a key difference between waiting and hoping for something to happen to you by happenstance (Passive Involvement) vs working hard, efficiently and intelligently in expending effort in a constructive direction towards short term goals all channeled toward long term objectives (Active Involvement). [this sentence is too fucking long] There needs to be an element of "going after it" in your game, as opposed to simply "waiting for it", or "reacting to it". Somebody needs to step up, and it needs to be you.

Own Everything

As you embrace this active role, mistakes will be made along the way. There will be times when the misfortune attributed to you or someone else impacts you negatively, and provides you with an opportunity to point the finger.

Elite players start with the thumb.

If something goes sideways or south, no matter who it started or ended with first look at yourself and take a moment to ponder what you could've done better in that situation, not in their situation (though that provides a learning opportunity as well), but more importantly in yours. Yes, your situation. Could you have moved to a different position? Provided assistance? Communicated more effectively or done it faster? Anticipated something or recognized a danger more quickly?

Only after you have honestly considered your position and found something to improve, should you even think about considering theirs. It's a good training exercise (it makes you more aware) and good teamwork (nothing happens in a vacuum) to "point the thumb" as we say, prior to pointing, or giving someone, the finger.

Then Give Away Everything

Soccer is a team game. In any team game there needs to be a level of selflessness, subverting your individual goals to obtain the greater team ones. If your mindset is to provide more effort than you expect value in return, this allows you to focus on what you are doing and how you are doing it, in spite of all that's going on around you, good and not so. If all eleven players are focusing on their best soccer, that's when magic happens.

Create The Ideal Environment

The successful player will leave team and personal training sessions with lessons and experience that can be applied to his future in the game, helping him evolve as a player. Good training opportunities are those that allow the player to operate in an environment where taking chances within the framework of good soccer is expected, allowed and even rewarded. Some of these might result in abject failure. As a player, you will learn faster if you can experience, fail, learn from and internalize the lesson resulting from the failure without being penalized. As growing player, your job is take it all in and worry more about absorbing it, and less so about being perfect. The successful coach will provide those opportunities, understanding, explanation and alternatives through focused training exercises and succinct instruction.[MINIMIZE RIDICULE]

Reflect and Internalize What You Have Learned

At some point, everything you learn must translate into performance on game day. There is nothing more maddening and discouraging to coaches and players alike than practicing the same concepts, the same skills day in, day out and players failing to employ the lessons and tactics on game-day, making the same mistakes and continuing to fail. When training is complete for the day, take a moment to reflect on what you have learned, to internalize not just the coaching lessons but lessons from any new experiences.

Become a Resourceful Expert

One of the reasons soccer can be difficult to master is that the expertise required spans a range of physical techniques and mental disciplines. It's very difficult for even seasoned players to explain nebulous concepts to young players in concise ways that stay with them. Any checklist would pages long, and you can't be certain any one person you are talking to has the awareness, nuanced understanding and communication skills to impart their knowledge. It's in your best interest to do your own homework. This means researching techniques, talking to people, cross-checking your knowledge with the wisdom of the masses and lessons of experience. These are all sign-posts on the way to success.

Treat Mistakes with Compassion

Everyone has seen players trying so hard to be great players, that they stop being a player people want around. They get frustrated, throw tantrums, yell at people, stalk off the field all in the name of greatness. Successful players are compassionate towards themselves and others when mistakes happen, when play isn't perfect, when new concepts are implemented or need reinforcement. Every player is going to need a space to try new things, and few are going to good at many or even any of them the first time. That's not to say one shouldn't have an expectation of progress, but a smile and encouragement works a lot better than frustrated exasperation.

Keep Feeding the Fire

There are going to be days where you don't want to do it, when it's rainy, when it's cold, when you're not feeling up to it. Great players inspire others by motivating themselves.