Why is Female Footballers Important? PART TWO

Continuing off of part one, why are mental skills vital in today’s female soccer landscape? I think when we think of mental skills, we assume that 1) it isn’t a vital part of what makes a player great, and 2) today’s youth soccer market doesn’t value it like they should. But I beg to argue against all of these points. And I will go so far as to say that I see more women coaches who value the mental side than I do male coaches in this male dominated world of youth soccer. Yes I said it, get over it. And don’t for a second think that I am a male hating feminist, because I’m not at all. The women vs men soccer debate is one I don’t think helps any of us. So I’ll leave that for another time.

Lets dive deeper into those two  statements, shall we? First of all, many people don’t value or acknowledge that the mental side of the game is important.  Often times, coaches put all of their emphasis on winning, and on the technical side of the game only. We hear from the top at US Soccer that we are putting our money into data, and technical repetition technology. When working with small groups in training, coaches hyper focus on strengthening a player's touch.  Often times players don’t get playing time because “their touch is off” or they “just aren’t technically where they need to be.” But is this the case all the time? Could it be that they are struggling mentally inside? Could their touch be off because they are in their own head, or their coach or parents are in their heads?  Could they be an incredible technical or tactical player but not have a strong mental attitude? So many clubs have been slow to accept the development model over the winning is everything mentality, but even when they finally do accept the development model, is the mental side a part of that development? Unfortunately, not many are there yet.  I say yet because I think some people are getting there, but we just aren’t where I think we could be as a whole. Why not?

Well, I think there is a lack of education from a coaches and parent perspective.  Many coaches get wrapped up in needing to get the results to keep everyone around them happy.  And parents often get wrapped up in it all too. They often lose sight of, “why does my kid play soccer in the first place?”  Their competitive nature takes over and often times it’s the coaches and parents who are placing the pressure on the players. This pressure results in a blow to their mental game.  Even the players with the best touch, or who are considered the best on their team, suffer from an imbalance in their mental game. Infact, most players I have known who took the most competitive routes to get to the highest levels, often burn out with they get there because they never put time towards their mental game.  They, their coaches and families, never put emphasis on how their mental skills are pertinent to getting to those high levels. We hear from professionals all the time who value the mental game. Those at the highest levels have sports psychologists and people to make sure they have the balance necessary to perform at the highest levels.  But we don’t have that emphasis in our youth system.

Back to our second statement: today’s youth club system doesn’t put value into mental skills.  I have been working at partnering with clubs and trying to get across how valuable it is for players to take time to think about themselves as a player.  Are they confident?Do they have a good self esteem and self perception? Do they know how to help their team even when they are injured and can’t physically be involved? Do they know themselves, have autonomy and ownership in their game?  These concepts don’t seem to be taken seriously by many of the clubs. I have had coaches want me to do camps but to “leave out the mental stuff”. I have had directors of coaching know they need it but they say, “ I just don’t have time right now.”  The ones who accept it are the development minded clubs but I find that often times it’s the players in the “winning is everything” clubs who need it the most. They are the ones who have the most pressure on them from all sides. They ironically happen to be the players who I worry will burn out once they get to the levels they are trying to attain.  They are already lacking balance. Some are even just 7 years old. And sadly that is the age now in which we are asking players to be competitive without even having the mental skills yet to handle competition (that’s a whole other topic too). We might be creating more technical players who are able to play more finesse soccer but are they mentally strong? Do they display grit on the field?  I don’t know.  

I get that I am talking in situational terms and stereotypes at times. But to be honest, those stereotypes of the mental side of the game are there for a reason. So why is Female Footballers important? Because someone needs to advocate for the mental part of the game that’s missing and why not focus on the gender that is underrepresented?