Why Training Alone Isn't Enough to Improve as a Footballer | Mindset and Confidence

In the game of football, many players have an extraordinary talent that they have developed since their youth. These players are able to do all of the impressive and fancy plays that catch the eye of any person who enjoys watching the game.

We see players like Neymar, Messi, Foden, Vinicius, Mbappe, etc be able to showcase this talent in the top leagues in the world, and they make everything seem so simple and slow.

They outright embarrass defenders left and right and make top defenders who play in the best leagues in the world look no better than your average Sunday league Joe.

However, the reason why these players are able to perform this impressively even in the top leagues in the world isn't solely a result of their extraordinary ability on the ball, but also the confidence they have to be able to perform when it matters.

Of course, their talent alone isn't what got them to play where they play now, but rather, it was the constant practice of these skills and situations in their individual training, applying them to game-like scenario's, and then building their confidence to the point where they can perform them perfectly in their matches.

Your Mentality is just as, if not more, important than your technical skills or physical attributes.

You can have the best skills on your team or be the fastest player on your team, but if you're lacking confidence, or your mindset is weak, then you won't be able to use that great technique or that blistering speed to full effect on the pitch.

The same applies to the player who works hard individually. A player could work very hard and spend lots of hours on the field and gym to improve themselves and their attributes as a footballer, but if they do not genuinely acknowledge all of those hours of training and the ability they have developed through it, then they won't be able to showcase all of that hard work where it matters, which is on the pitch.

I can tell you this from personal experience. I know for a fact that I work a lot harder than any other player on my team, and I've spent countless more hours on the field and gym improving myself than they have. But as of late, it's been hard to showcase all of that extra work in my games, simply because I haven't yet developed confidence in my ability.

I know for a fact I can do all the simple stuff exceptionally well because I've spent hours working on perfecting the technique for it. I also know I have the technical ability to compete at higher levels, however, the reason why I've been held back is that I haven't been able to use my ability to its full potential.

Disappearing After A Mistake

Maybe you're in a similar position, where you've worked very hard outside your team training and you've grinded it out individually, but you feel like you still haven't improved because you're not able to play well on game day.

Maybe you mess up in a game like you lose the ball, or play a terrible pass, take a terrible touch, etc. and because of that one mistake, you suddenly disappear. You no longer ask for the ball even when you have acres of space because you're afraid of messing up again and upsetting your coach or teammates.

You're afraid of what your teammates think of you, and you no longer attempt any risks and play it safe every time.

I've found myself in these situations many times when I was younger, but I was fed up with being a bystander in a game, or being the player on the bench that the coach would solely use to give the field players a breather.

Something that helped me avoid losing confidence mid-match and whenever I make a mistake, was always thinking about the consequences of fading out during a game.

For example, what kind of scout or coach would want a player who hides and only ends up taking space on the field? I know for a fact that if I was a coach or scout, I would prefer a player who plays with intensity, and always fights for and with the ball passionately in that spot, rather than a player who second-guesses himself every time he takes a touch.

If I was my dad watching myself play, or if I was myself rewatching my performance, would I like how I'm currently playing? Would I cheer myself on when I'm purposely looking to hide from the game?

Obviously not, I would probably go ballistic on the sidelines, yelling at myself to stop being a nervous wreck and to take action.

But most importantly, I always ask myself this question when I'm struggling with confidence mid-match: Am I improving as a footballer with the way I am currently playing?

Whether or not you make a mistake, if you're constantly looking to make yourself a part of the game, you will be gaining more and more experience and learn more and more what is the right, and the wrong thing to do in a certain situation.

Look to make every touch of the ball a learning opportunity in your games. Did you make a good play? If so, what made it successful? What did you do that worked? What can you learn from this play that you can repeat in your next play?

Did you make a mistake? What did you do wrong? Why was the decision you made the wrong one? What should you have done? What can you take away from this mistake so that you can avoid doing it again in the next play?

Mistakes are a part of the game. Nobody likes to commit them, especially in games, but mistakes are essential to your development as a footballer.

Why Individual Training Isn't Enough

Many people think that in order to overcome your bad performances in games, you must spend hours upon hours training and working on your weaknesses, and if you think this, you're absolutely right.

And to an extent, hours upon hours of countless work on perfecting those weaknesses will help build your confidence when performing that skill. For example, if you're a winger and you've spent many hours training your 1 on 1 ability individually by attacking a cone, you will definitely feel more confident when performing that stepover since you've conditioned your body to perform it to perfection every time.

However, if you don't practice that 1 on 1 ability at a game-pace, or against actual defenders, you won't be able to perform the skills you've practiced as effectively when it comes matchday.

Training individually is an excellent way to improve your technical ability, but in order to be able to effectively use that improved technique in your matches, you must expose yourself to scenarios that replicate the type of scenarios you see in games.

This was something that has personally held me back from being able to effectively use all of that training I've put in during the offseason in full effect during my games in season. Since most of the training I've been doing during the winter was solely individual, and I didn't really expose myself to those game scenarios that I needed, I did improve technically and physically as a player, but I was missing that experience of using that improved ability well.

Because of this lack of game-like exposure, when I returned to team training and games, I was a bit slow with my decision making which would hinder the effectiveness of my improved technique, and it would dramatically decrease my self-confidence, which would hinder my performance even more.

The best way to improve as a footballer and to develop confidence in games is to combine individual technical training with game-like exposure. The individual training will help improve your ability to perform your weaknesses, and then practicing the things you've learned from the individual training into a game-like scenario will give you the experience you need to play well in your games.

Stop Looking to Impress, Look to Learn

Another thing that holds many players back and kills their confidence, is pressuring themselves to impress their coaches and their teammates.

Many players feel as if every time they receive the ball, that they have to do something spectacular that will WOW whoever they want to showcase their ability to.

Because of this mentality, many players tense themselves up and flunk up when they receive the ball.

The tension that they build up for themselves causes them to take bad touches, fluff easy one-touch passes, stumble over themselves when attacking, and make the game seem much harder than it really is. This was my issue when I was trying out for a few teams in the past.

I always felt that every single touch I took had to be perfect, so I would end up pressuring myself every single time I receive the ball, and second guess myself, which would only end up working against me and cause me to lose the ball.

This would then affect my confidence throughout my game, and I would pressure myself more and more every single time I make a mistake.

However, something that has helped me get rid of this tension, or at least somewhat deal with it, is to approach every training session and every game/tryout as an opportunity to learn and grow.

Yes, I want to impress the coach and possibly any scouts observing my performance, but when I genuinely step on the pitch with the intention of improving/learning with every touch, as opposed to looking to showcase my touch, I feel a lot less pressure and stress behind my touches.

By approaching every game with the intention of improving yourself as a footballer, then you will get more out of it than if you were to pressure yourself to impress.

A strong mentality and high confidence is the secret ingredient to a successful footballer.

Too many players neglect the mental side of the game and focus solely on the technical and physical side, and as much as those two things are important, you cannot expect to improve without training your mind as well.

I mainly wrote this post to address those athletes who are currently struggling with any mental battles that are holding them back from being able to perform at their best. Personally, I learned until just recently that my mentality isn't up to standard compared to my technical and physical ability, and because of my lack of confidence, I haven't improved as much as I would've liked.

Now I know that if I want to step up my game and be able to get to the next level, I need to train and work on my mentality just as much as my technical and physical ability.

If you're going through a similar situation, I hope that reading this post has helped you in any way, whether it has brought your attention to your underlying issues, or whether the advice presented has given you a little bit more of a guide to go on when looking to improve your mentality.

The GRIND isn't always an exponential increase. You will find times where you struggle, where you feel defeated, but never let the obstacles come in the way of your discipline and commitment to becoming a better footballer.

Thanks for reading! Alex from GoGrind Soccer Signing off..

Get Up. Go GRIND.