A few tools to help you dominate your mind as a goalkeeper
The Mind is the Most Powerful Tool
Quite possibly the toughest person on the planet, retired Navy Seal, and Ultra Marathon Runner David Goggins, said,
"The mind is the most powerful thing in the world. The mind has capabilities that are so unknown, and being able to tap into that is on the other side of suffering."
He's absolutely right plus the philosophy behind it can be applied anywhere in both sport and in life. The mind is a powerful muscle and if trained to work for you rather than against you as a goalkeeper you'll find there's no striker you'll fear, no shot you can't handle, and no situation you can't find a solution to. Rather, you'll welcome the challenges with open arms throwing fear of failure to the wind.
"Please, don't let it bounce over my head..."
An example of the mind working against the host would be when I was in high school playing varsity goalkeeper. I was only a sophomore at the time and was still at the point in my career where I overanalyzed the game before the ball had even been kicked. I was inside my own head making mistakes before the whistle had blown.
Once the whistle had actually blown I was able to settle in and "be in the moment." Throughout the game I played decently well, better than I had thought I would do. But still was playing conservatively most of the 90 minutes, hesitant to come out, not speaking enough, and just playing small.
Around the 80th minute the opposing team had a free kick called in their favor inside their own half. I repeat, inside their own half. My defense retreated to about 25 yards away from our goal, I was set on the 6 yard line (again, way too conservative). The opposing team's goalkeeper lined up to hit the free kick.
What could possibly go wrong? In the moments prior to the free kick being taken I was worried about the ball going directly over my head and into the goal...how embarrassing that would be! Sure enough the whistle blew, the goalie ran up, and kicked the ball skyward in my direction.
First thought that popped into my head was, "Please, don't let it bounce over my head." I took my steps in the direction of the ball but I was too late. The ball hit the turf about 10 yards in front of me, bounced directly over my head, and settled nicely into the back of the net.
All because I had spent too much time in my own head, contemplating the negative aspects of my potential future decisions. I learned a valuable lesson the hard way that day.
Own Your Inner Dialogue
A few years later on, during my college career at the University of Cincinnati we had many different sports psychologists. With this diverse group of psychologists on hand, I was exposed to different ways of dealing with the battle between the ears.
If we can control the inner dialogue in our mind, we can manifest the results we want to see.
Being able to control your inner dialogue in the heat of the moment is one of the most important requirements of elite athletic performance. Managing both physical and emotional stress throughout the duration of the game or training session is important and both of these are dictated by the mind.
"Many people don't know this, but there are actually three types of self-talk: Positive, Negative, and Instructional," (Kaitlyn Guay).
Some examples of negative inner dialogue are:
"If that shot was on frame, I wouldn't save it."
"I suck, why didn't I save that?"
"Don't kick the ball out of bounds."
"I don't know if I'm fast enough to get there."
I'm sure you can keep adding to the list but for the sake of showing the little ways we can control our thoughts to produce better outcomes let's leave it at those four examples. Negative self-talk has immediate implications on your performance in real time. All of the above phrases are examples of negative self-talk.
I want to focus on the words highlighted in red. Some simple rephrasing inside our mind will have a much more positive spin on what's happening. For example, if we say "don't kick the ball out of bounds," you'll find that more often than not you'll end up kicking the ball out of bounds. If we change the phrasing of this to something like, "I'm going to find player #19 with this ball," we will drop the negative talk from your mind all together. Transitioning the thought process from "don't do" to a more instructional phrase, "I'm going to do." This will help us keep our mind sharp, goal oriented, and unwavering in focus throughout the game.
Let's take another phrase from above and try to spin it in a more positive way. "I suck, why didn't I save that?" Seems like a valid question...NOT! If we want to be successful in sport and in life we can't go about it wondering why we weren't good enough to achieve something. You'll want to learn from mistakes, obviously, but we need to focus on the next opportunity when in the run of play. In goalkeeping we are involved sporadically and see action at an inconsistent rate, this is why it's doubly important that we are mentally sharp for 90+ minutes. If we dwell on a mistake or find ourselves sulking over an opportunity to make a save gone by we will surely be messing up the next time the ball comes our way.
So, instead of "I suck, why didn't I save that?" We could try changing it to phrases like, "No chance in Hell they're doing that again," or, "I'm stopping the next one, no questions," also, "Next one."
My favorite phrase to use as a coach is, "short memory." In essence, that's what we need to do in the event of making a mistake. We need to forget it, it's in the past, and be bold going into our next objective trusting that our training will see us bounce back from the mistake into the glorious land of redemption.
So some examples of inner dialogue recalibrated for the positive goalkeeper are:
"Next one that is on frame, it's mine."
"I'm saving the next one."
"Find #19 with this pass."
"Nobody is as fast as me in my 18."
It's not as hard as you would think to manifest a more positive mindset. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to goalkeeping, a lot of the times to a fault. The game is imperfect and ever-changing so we need make sure that what's going on in our mind isn't fluctuating.
We want to find a healthy balance between Positive Self-Talk and Instructional Self-Talk, ignoring Negative Self-Talk all together.
Finding the Balance
This is one very small portion of a greater whole that is the mental game. There is so much more to unpack in regards to training mental strength.
I was very lucky to have access to as many sports psychologists as I did throughout my playing career. Growing up in the age before YouTube I had to seek out or for lack of a better word, earn the opportunity to get in front of someone to help me hone the mental side of the game. There are so many tools out there that can be used and added to your mental strength library that you can chase down right now.
"Mind Gym," by Gary Mack is one of the best written works on sports psychology in my opinion. This book gives you a quick overview of how top athletes train the mental side of their game for better athletic performance. I read this book 3 times and have marked it on my calendar to read each year.
"Can't Hurt Me," by David Goggins. This book is not for the faint of heart. A man who came from absolutely nothing goes on to become one of the toughest men on the planet through what he calls, "callousing the mind." It's a great book, fast to read, and get's you motivated to make yourself better.
As always, utilize YouTube. It's a fantastic tool that has a wealth of information for the modern goalkeeper.
There Is Minimal Glory
The position of goalkeeper requires a mentally strong person. Only a fool puts on the gloves, willingly puts their body in front of fast-flying projectiles, and accepts the pressures that come with the job. If you make a mistake it results in a goal against more often than not. There is minimal glory from this position but you are the most important asset on the team. Be bold in your journey as a goalkeeper and know that if you can dominate your mind you surely can dominate your opponent.
In sport and in life, it's all about moving forward. Whether you're moving forward in a positive direction or backward in a negative direction is completely and entirely up to you. Life will throw more curves at you than sport but sport can be a great training ground for real life. Being able to take the sh*# on the chin, with a smile on your face, and get through it with no fear of the next opportunity coming your way is a skill that will pay dividends throughout your life.
Own your inner dialogue, reach your goals, and most importantly...stop theirs.
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