Reaching Your Full Potential in Football – a mental training guide for athletes and coaches – with Damien Lafont from Vida Mind.
Many athletes and coaches have heard of the world “mental toughness”. Most people assume that mental toughness is about using the mind to be become physically tough; but it’s so much more than just being tough.
What is mental toughness?
Mental Toughness isn’t about using all your brawn and muscle and having the reckless attitude to use it in an extreme way. Though a good hard tackle and the ability to hold your own in a pack are great and noble traits for football, we also have seen many recklessness footballers that have a lot of muscle and very little know-how. Strength and the ability to “go in hard” will never go out of style in such an athletic sport as Aussie Rules; however there is much more to “making it” at the top level than physical prowess.
When does it make a difference?
There comes a time in all sport that talent, strength and fitness MUST meet a mindset equipped for sport. If an athlete or team do not have a mind that is trained and equipped for the ups and downs of the rollercoaster ride that we call sport, then they will discover that those emotional highs and lows became difficult to deal with. Soon enough, mental training becomes a necessary component in all elite sport.
Imagine you have two teams – both physically strong, both supremely fit, both with top level skill and impeccable talent; however only one of them has trained their mind for the encounter.
We all know that it’s the team who is mentally equipped for the challenge that will win. And, we’ve all seem times when the less-skilled team beats the more-skilled team through sheer determination and persistence.
There will always be tough opponents, that’s the nature of sport—but there’s always a large majority of these opponents who aren’t mentally equipped for the game. They simply have never utilised mental skills in their sport, they expect everything to happen by miracle. It’s quite strange in a way because these same athletes have spent endless hours kicking the footy, taking shots at goals, balking tackles, building strength and agility, training at the gym, stretching, watching replays….the list goes on. Many athletes are dedicated to their sport and spend countless hours perfecting their skills—but many neglect to train their mental skills. Those that do, are fully equipped and ready to play regardless of the circumstance.
“To be mentally tough isn’t only what you do on the field; it’s how you are off the field too.”
Mental Toughness is a whole new attitude to life. Mental toughness is not what you think it is. Its definition is the same as persistence “the ability to continue to do something despite the obstacles”. It does not suggest that there won’t be any obstacles, in fact it suggests that obstacles are guaranteed– to expect them. But its greater suggestion is: that YOU will continue regardless of these. This is in fact is a mental ability and a much over-looked one at that.
Why is this simple trait a mental ability?
Because once the physical is spent, once the body is exhausted and the skill level drops, you can’t rely on them to be the best part of you. They may be an ability but they are one that is declining and under exhaustion. It is here you can rely on a mental ability to drive your physical one. If you remember what true toughness is, what true persistence is (the ability to continue to do something despite obstacles) then you will have a deeper ability to NOT expect your physical to be the ultimate edge, but to use the mental edge to power the physical. Between two exhausted players or two exhausted teams; the one that uses the mental ability will over-power the one who doesn’t. It can be soul-destroying when you know your opponent will never give up regardless of what you dish out.
Teams that train toughness the right way gain an unseen edge and have a secret and noble cause. They cease to panic and become nervous because the outcome isn’t an important as the effort and endurance. However, of course if you focus on effort, the outcome steers largely in your favour. It’s a win/win proposition.
Mental Toughness is an attitude, a silent and noble one
The “underdog” is the example of it and we all secretly applaud this type of character because he or she is digging deep and using all his/her inner resources against the odds. When the external resources are reliable, the inner resources become the defining point. It’s often true in any life endeavour, not just on the footy field.
There is more to read about mental toughness in the members section of the my.vidafooty.com.au website. If you want to have access to the rest of this resource and much more please contact us for more information.
With pre-season just around the corner, we thought we would share some of the activities from the Members only area. Pre-season is a time when coaches can work with small groups on skill development and set the tone for the remainder of the season.
The goal of these activities is to maximise skill development and be more efficient when training.
The main philosophies with these activities are;
Small groups for maximal touch
Quality and efficient activities
Skill Development
Have a purpose
Have other coaches helping with the session, rather than just one main coach
The overall goal for our junior players is to make sure they are getting the most out of their time at footy training. We want players leaving their junior careers with fundamental skills good enough to convert into any level of senior competition. Regardless of talent level, every player should be given the maximum opportunity to achieve their highest amount of skills.
Take a look at the follow video’s, and maybe you could implement them into your training in the future. Our membership site already has over 150 activity video, and more are added each week. Click here to find out more!
Colour Grid. This activity ensures lots of touch and can be modified with a range of skills.
Handball Criss Cross. Great for warm-ups!
Kick Slide and Bounce
Multiple Grids. An example of running small groups within a big group
This article will go over some of the best activities to use when trying to develop your forwards. Furthermore, in doing these activities you will also be working on your defenders’ techniques and positions. Most of these activities require both attackers and defenders.
Remember to always rotate your players back and forth between being attackers and defenders as the overall development of the player is extremely important. A lot of AFL players get drafted to play certain position and are converted to another during their first few years.
Most of these activities have small numbers and can be implemented differently into your training times. You could have multiple groups doing the same activity all around the ground. You can use it as one of your rotations along with other activities in a circuit.
This week we will briefly talk about communication from your players. Communication from your players is important for many different reasons. We are going to break this down into two main areas:
Communication on the field to players
Communication to coaches
Helping your players improve in both these areas will not only help your players on the field, but also help your as a coach. At all levels of sport, players have different communication techniques and skills, so making your players aware of their own individual traits and personalities can help your team as a whole.
Communication from players on the field
Players on the field need to communicate well to each other in order to work as a well organised, successful team. Teaching your players to use their voice more in certain situations on the field will not only help themselves, but their teammates around them.
Two way talk – This is not a new concept, but not often used in junior footy. What we mean by two way talk is to have players not only calling for the ball, but also calling out the name of the player they are passing too. For example, if you have the ball, you will call out the players name you are wanting to pass to. This helps the receiving player understand the purpose and intention of the ball carrier.
Additionally, communication around stoppages and around general play will also help your players. Teaching players to always talk when the ball is close to them will help all their teammates around them. If a player gets a clearance, make sure players around them are telling him/her how much time they have or how much room they have before they need to distribute the ball.
Another great example of important communication is players who are around stoppages. There quickly needs to be verbal and non verbal communication about the where the ruck will try and tap the ball, and also communication about match-ups.
Communication from players to the coaches.
As many of you coaches are aware, to best help your players, you need their feedback so you can learn from them. Getting your players to communicate their ideas, concerns, positives and negatives to the coach can help the team as a whole.
Some ways in which to seek feedback from your players are to use surveys after each game, or throughout the season. These can be as simple as a one small sheet of paper handed out after the game which can be delivered back to the coach at the next training session. Reviewing the answers to these questions can help you build your knowledge of what your players want or what they are having concerns with.
This can then lead to face-to-face communication in which is important for your players to learn. Get your players to understand that feedback to the coach is welcome. Get them to tell you what they enjoy about the game or their position. Moreover, get them to tell you what they do not like. Again, you want to use this information to make you a better coach to ultimately help with the team’s success on-field and success in skill development.
These diagrams can assist with your set ups for boundary throw ins at almost all levels and age groups. Making your players aware of tactical differences in the game contributes significantly to their overall development.
Take a look through the diagrams below
Mid Wrap
With this boundary throw in set-up, we want to have all your players in front of their opponents on the ruck side of the opposition. This set-up would predominantly be used in the attacking half of the ground. The nominated on-baller would attack the ball whilst their team-mates would block for him/her. The wing would be behind the ruck and could be used as an outlet to transition the ball forward. It’s still important to keep distance amongst team-mates as to not clog up the contest.
Set-ups For Younger Players.
Again, like most of our other tactical set-ups, younger players should start thinking about their position on the field. Please remember to explain to your players the “why” of the set-ups so they understand the purpose.
A suggestion for a boundary throw in set-up is to have your players standing around the contest with at least two meters between them on the closest team-mate. Then you could make a team rule that the closest player to the ball goes for it, whilst the other players either block or receive the ball.
These skills can be worked on in simulated contests at training in two or three small groups with assistant coaches helping. Moreover, small and medium handball grids would also work well in working on creating space, blocking, handballing on 45’s and working as a team.
Our resident kicking specialist, Sav Rocca had an article published by the Herald Sun by reporter Jay Clark talking about the importance of specialized skills training in footy. At Vida footy, we belive in doing the extra work in making sure skills are developed at a young age. When Sav came on board, we continued our weekly Skills Sessions with great results.
Despite the increased professionalism in the game, Champion Data statistics reveal set shot goal kicking accuracy has got worse over the last decade.
But Rocca, currently working at the Blues this year, is adamant proper goal kicking coaching would improve a team’s scoring by about two goals a game.
“It’s only a couple of little things you need to tweak here and there and you can really get a huge benefit out of it,” Rocca told the Herald Sun.
“But it’s getting someone who can really pinpoint what’s going on when players are missing goals and really fine tune.
