In life, as in sport, we have success, we have failure, we make mistakes, and we learn. Soccer is a vehicle for growth and development and the lessons learned on the field, often transfer into our life off the field. If we feel confident on the field but lack confidence off the field we might reflect and ask why this is. Vice versa, we might feel confident off the field but lack confidence when we play. By reflecting on our experiences, and seeking out new methods and tools to improve our confidence, we can continue to build and strengthen our confidence.

We gain confidence in a variety of ways, with each individual often relying on a unique set of factors that help them build confidence. Visualization then is likely to impact one individual differently from another. Whether you use visualization to focus during your pre-game routine or use it to help the morning before a game it’s important to reflect on the experience to see whether it was effective or not. If you find that this exercise helps your performance then it likely is having a helpful role in your game. Additionally, there is not one set way to visualize. Some people like to visualize with music, others in silence. Finding the best method for visualization for yourself is likely to help improve it’s effectiveness on your performance.

There are countless ways that parents can help to build their child’s confidence in sport. Vocalizing support, encouraging a growth mindset, positive reinforcement, the list goes on. One of the more influential ways to help your child, although it may not show immediate change, is providing more autonomy. When children feel like they have more freedom, especially after the age of 11-12 years old, they can establish more pride in themselves. They also learn to take more accountability for their actions, both successes and failures, which ultimately is an essential part of confidence.

Preparation is one of the biggest contributors to building confidence. When we are prepared, whether it’s for a game, a seminar, or a presentation, we clear out many of the blindspots that might appear throughout the performance. On the other hand, when we don’t prepare, we are likely to. The more we prepare for the activity, the more we build trust in our ability to perform well.

Building confidence depends on how you define success. If you define success as maintaining a winning streak, you are likely to struggle with confidence when you are in a losing streak. To regain confidence in these situations requires the team, but primarily the head coach, to redefine or evaluate what success looks like.

Confidence can be impacted by our opinion of ourselves (i.e. self-esteem). When we identify with the teams we play on, or what level we play at, it can shift our perspective of our own self-worth. Instead of defining ourselves based on the level of team we play on, we should focus on what we want to accomplish, what we need to do to improve, and the steps we need to take to get there.

There might be multiple reasons for a display of false confidence. False confidence might be a way for an individual to mask their stress or avoid admitting failure. Having an open discussion with the player to see why they feel so confident might help you understand their thought process. You might also go through a goal setting exercise to see what the player is aiming for with their game.

When we compare ourselves to our teammates we are likely to fall into a mental trap. Instead of focusing on our teammates, we should reorient our perspective on the areas that we want to improve, the areas that we have control over, and creating a roadmap to our goals.

Confidence for 5-10 years old is less about understanding the mental concept, and more about action. A confident player or person will seek out and tackle challenges. An unconfident, or nervous player or person, will likely hide and be afraid. For a 5-10 year old, we should encourage bravery and a willingness to try new things. These actions could be seen in soccer, but they also could be seen in social situations, new changes in school, etc.

Comparing ourselves to another person, player, or role model has its advantages and disadvantages. If we’re comparing ourselves to a role model, this can have a beneficial effect of challenging us to emulate our role model’s behaviors and actions. On the other hand, comparing ourselves to our teammates often leads to frustration. One idea is to compare ourselves to our past self, as your greatest competitor on the field is yourself.

Playing with a growth mindset means seeing failure as an opportunity to learn. On the field, when we make a mistake, a common reaction (fixed mindset), is to blame ourselves or someone else. Rather than seeing the mistake as a failure, if we can begin to look at the mistake as an opportunity to reflect on what went wrong and how to improve it for the next time we’ll be able to play with more freedom and less stress. The next time you miss a pass, instead of seeing it as a mistake, ask yourself what you could have done differently to have more success next time.