Who will win the World Cup? Mentally Tough Teams

By Ms Adele Muscat B.Psy., MSc SES (Manch.)


Football is the ultimate team sport. All the players have to be focused on identical team goals. They need to play with one mind, what psychologists call ‘a shared mental model’. In order to achieve a consistent performance at the top level players need to play with an intensive, aggressive style, they need to communicate effectively and to be able to take the right decisions under pressure. At an international level, all players and teams vying to win the World Cup, need to be strong, fast, highly skilled and know the game well.

Profile

Ms Adele Muscat B.Psy., MSc SES (Manch.) She trained as a Sport and Exercise Psychologist at the Manchester Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom. Her current commitments include acting as a sports coordinator and lecturer at MCAST, lecturer at the Department of Psychology and Institute of P.E. and Sports at the University of Malta. For the past 7 years she has been working with the Malta Olympic Committee as the sport psychologist for Malta's top athletes. She also offers freelance consultation to top teams.

Ms Muscat is an active member of the Maltese Psychological Association.

Preparing oneself well for competition is the key to success at any level. Every player needs to have good technical knowledge, must have the right nutritional intake, well-rehearsed match strategies and have highly trained physiological capacities. But what if the team does not have the mental skills necessary to play at this level? What if Rooney is deemed fit enough to play but when on the pitch, he is afraid of being tackled and getting injured again? At the top level, often the only difference between the winners and those who fail is adequate mental preparation. Mental preparation involves learning mental skills and strategies that can be used in matches to achieve optimal individual performance and team success.

Recent research among elite players has found that the use of certain mental skills has repeatedly been associated with superior performance. These psychological skills and states include anxiety management, heightened concentration, higher self-confidence, use of visualization, goal-setting, well-developed coping skills for dealing with unforeseen events, regular competitive routines, and high levels of motivation and commitment. The best players in the World reach their potential by incorporating psychological training into their daily workouts and pre-match preparation.

What about leadership skills? Have you ever supported a team who fail to perform in the crucial matches? A team needs to have leaders, not just a captain. These leaders, or ‘cultural architects’ as called by Professor Rillo, who over the past years has done some work with the England Team, are those players who can move the team to action when the going gets tough. A good example in point in Steven Gerard, in last year’s Liverpool Cup win. When the team was very much on the loosing end he was able with his actions to lead the team to wake up and do what they know how to do best… play football.

The amount of pressure the coach/manager will be facing during the World Cup is tremendous. His job is on the line, he needs to prove himself. However it is not easy for a coach, who is so passionate about the game, to control his emotions and keep everything under control. A coach needs to remain calm and not shout around. Very often, when the coach portrays a calm attitude, the players will catch onto this and will remain calm themselves. The moment the coach starts shouting, although he may help to motivate them, he may also pressurize them. A coach must remind his players of what they can do best, of their best performances, especially if those performances involve a team they may be facing on the day.

A critical situation during the game would be a penalty….even more critical would be a penalty shoot out between the 2 teams. A player must look confident and act confident even though his legs may be shaking at that moment. A pre-performance routine is a must in such a pressurized situation. Such a routine would involve what is called the ‘ Five Step Strategy ‘ (Singer & Suwanthada, 1986 ). The five steps include : (1 ) Get Ready (2 )Image (3 ) Focus (4 ) Execute (5 ) Evaluate. Therefore a player, when about to attempt a penalty kick, must first get comfortable physically and attain an optimal mental/emotional state. A few deep breaths will lower the heart rate and calm the person down. Positive self-talk is vital here. One must talk to himself with determination and be aggressive. He must do things in preparation that are associated with previous best performance. He must then mentally picture performing the act briefly as to how it should be done i.e. he must imagine aiming, kicking the ball and scoring. He must think positive and feel confident. Then he needs to focus, to concentrate intensely on one relevant feature such as the spot where he wants the ball to go, and think only of this cue, which will block out all other thoughts. Then he must execute the shot. One must not think of anything about the act itself or the possible result of the act. Finally, the player can assess the performance outcome and the effectiveness of each step of the routine. An important point to note is that when anxious we speed up our routines so it is important to slow down and take your time.

The UK FA have reported that almost 2500 students have enrolled on their Online Psychology for Soccer Level 1 course, in the 2 years since the course went live. This is a great achievement and proves that football psychology is growing in importance and becoming an integral part of individual development for anyone involved in the game.





A sports psychologist practicing what she preaches: reaching the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania


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