7 Cardinal Sins of Soccer
Here are the 7 Cardinal Sins of Mindset in Soccer:
- Indifference/Apathy – There’s no room for these feelings if you want to develop your skills and improve your performance. Never just go through the motions in practice. You will not reach your own goals and you will not help your team reach their goals. Always put in 110%.
- Stubbornness – Being stubborn leads to being uncoachable, which leads to being unsuccessful. Be open-minded and you might be exposed to a new skill or technique that you would’ve otherwise ignored. For example your coach is trying to help you on your shooting technique, don’t dismiss him/her even if you have had some success in the past or even if you are a high scorer on the team. Trust that your coaches have your best interests in mind and are working very hard to help you improve your game.
- Pride – It’s ok to be confident in yourself, but don’t let that confidence make you be obnoxious or prideful. Being prideful will lead to silly mistakes and potential embarrassment. The best way to be is humble, yet confident. Your teammates and coaches will respect you so much more than if you are arrogant and prideful.
- Self-Doubt – It’s easy to be overly critical toward yourself. Just focus on the positive things about yourself. It is ok to assess your shortcomings in a game, but also always assess what you did well. This will allow you to move forward without self-doubt.
- Cautiousness – If you’re too hesitant, you miss out on key opportunities and leave room for the other athletes to close the gap. Play gutsy soccer! Go for that slide tackle, take the shot on goal!
- Perfectionism – Be careful when setting goals because you don’t want to force high expectations on yourself. It’s ok to make mistakes and to continually work on being a better athlete. Attempting to play a “perfect” game of soccer leaves out the athleticism and adjusting you need to continuously do when the ball is in different positions on the field. The other team is going to have the ball sometimes and occasionally pass the defender! Recovery from mistakes is essential. Mistakes are going to happen, they should be viewed as a source of motivation and a means of learning. Plus, once you’re a “perfect” athlete, it’ll become boring!
- Over Seriousness – You should compete because you like it and you enjoy it. If you take it too seriously, you lose some of the enjoyment and add extra stress on yourself. At times like this, try to remember why you started playing soccer in the first place. David Beckham said, “I don’t have time for hobbies. At the end of the day, I treat my job as a hobby. It’s something I love doing.” Enjoy playing the game!