No Limits in Soccer
Dan Abrahams on “How much do you really believe in yourself? No-one really knows just how good you can be. Everyone is guessing. No-one knows how much you can improve your skills. Don’t Limit Yourself.
A global sport psychologist and author specializing in soccer, Abrahams is based in England and has helped hundreds of professional soccer players – many of them who play in the English Premier League (EPL). Recently helping a Crystal Palace player succeed on the field, Abrahams has held contracts with QPR, Fulham, and West Ham United among other clubs and works quietly, behind the scenes with many coaches from top clubs across the Atlantic.
SoccerToday has the pleasure of showcasing sections of Dan’s book Soccer Tough 2 — a must read if you want to become and stay successful in our competitive sport.
These exclusive articles also give me the platform to expand on the contents of each chapter, providing you, the reader, with plenty of new philosophies, tools and techniques to play your very best soccer in 2016.
Chapter One of Soccer Tough 2 is, I hope, an inspirational one. I like to started quickly … I like to fire out of the blocks!
How much do you really believe in yourself?
What attitude do you take to the training pitch? Do you possess a ‘can-do’ mentality?
I ask these questions because I open Soccer Tough 2 with a statement. It’s a bold statement. It’s a sentence that, in my opinion, is the glue that pieces together the excellence required to be the very best soccer player you can be. So what is it? Allow me to tell you:
You have to train, you have to play, and you have to think like there are no limits to your ability.
I’m going to repeat that…just as I do throughout Soccer Tough 2 because I think it’s imperative to learn, to digest, to memorise and then to apply.
You have to train, you have to play, and you have to think like there are no limits to your ability.
Sport scientists might say there is a ceiling to your ability. I say this. Who are they to say how good you can become? Who are they to limit your ability?
You have to train, you have to play, and you have to think like there are no limits to your ability.
When you give in to the idea that you are limited. When you place boundaries on your soccer and when you employ a mental maximum on your game you squash your capabilities. You automatically set yourself up for failure.
I’m not saying everybody can be the world famous soccer professional Lionel Messi. I’m not saying everyone can be a FIFA Women’s World Cup Champion goalie like Hope Solo. But I am saying that everyone has to strive to find their own personal excellence. Everyone has the right to discover just how good they can be.
From Soccer Tough 2, Chapter One:
A footballer who trains and plays with self-limiting beliefs will never truly discover how good she can be.
If she practices her game with fear or intimidation, or tinged with a lack of confidence, she won’t build the skill her body is capable of.
If she runs onto the practice pitch overly concerned by what others think of her or preoccupied with mistakes and errors, her brain won’t have the capacity to focus and subsequently learn from her coaches.
Similarly, a soccer player who thinks he can’t, definitely won’t. If his thoughts about his game project pictures of mis-control and an inability to find space or retain the ball, then his inner map will become his outer reality.
You see, when you place boundaries on your game your technical development suffers. Your mental maturation stalls. Your physicality cannot be expressed. And your tactical nous reduces.
Sure there may be players with a greater physical presence or an ability to pick up technique quicker than you. That shouldn’t stop you.
I’d like you to see yourself slightly differently. I’d like to see yourself as having talent in abundance.
But maybe you have a whole heap of mental ability. Maybe you’re quietly determined and you spend time practicing your ball skills and watching your soccer ole model on YouTube
Maybe you are great at dealing with the inevitable failure that happens on the pitch –
Maybe you are first class at dealing with mistakes and setbacks. You are a mental rock. You are great under pressure.
This is talent too. This is ability and many players who don’t have the best first touch or can’t ping a perfect 40 yard pass to the feet of a team mate have this kind of mentality and mindset.
You have to train, you have to play, and you have to think like there are no limits to your ability.
No-one really knows just how good you can be. Everyone is guessing. No-one knows how much you can improve your skills.
No-one really knows where your final destination in soccer is.
I want you to take this attitude out onto the pitch with you. Out onto the training pitch and out onto the match day pitch. I want you to adopt this attitude when you make a few mistakes and when you have a poor game. I want you to express this attitude when you get criticised and when you go through a period of plateau.
I want you to see your potential as limitless. You have talent in abundance. You have the ability to be the best you can be, and no-one can tell you just how good that is.
You have to train, you have to play, and you have to think like there are no limits to your ability.
Related Articles: Dan Abrahams on SoccerToday
