What are you focused on in the soccer game?

Focus can be defined as a person’s center of interest or activity.
Being a successful soccer player is more than just physical strength and agility – confidence and focus plays a large part in performance.

• Know what you need to focus on
  The clearer you are about what you need to focus on, the more likely you will be to stay focused on the factors that contribute to your success. If you are a forward your objective and responsibility is to score goals. Focus on understanding your competitions defence, look for gaps in their formation, stay onsides, take a good touch away from the defender, and blast a good shot into their net. Click here to read more on the responsibilities of a forward.
• Relax under pressure
  When you are stressed and anxious, your focus drops. Practice ways to stay calm in high-pressure situations such as, taking deep breaths, stretching muscles, engaging in routines that keep you focused, and maybe even listen to some music that keeps you centered.
• Don’t worry about you what you can’t control
  While you are playing you have control over yourself, your own actions and attitude – nothing more. If you focus on results or things you have no control over you create unnecessary anxiety. Don’t worry about scoring a goal or winning the match. Focus on the process and you increase the likelihood of positive results.
• Use affirmations
  Affirmations used positively are words of encouragement that work as cues for the mind to direct your attention and mindset. Repeating words such as relax, play hard or I will score will remind you to focus on what you need to. If you are focused on your cue words, your body will follow.
• Develop effective pre-game routines
  Routines are a sequence of actions followed regularly that can channel your focus and get you ready to play soccer. A good routine can help you maintain your focus on the right things and prevent potential distractions from clouding your mind. For example, listen to a playlist of your favorite pump up songs, eat a good meal, arrive with enough time to get prepared, go through a great warm-up before playing.
• Use mental imagery
  Practice seeing yourself perform exactly as you want to perform, focusing exactly as you want to focus. The more your train your mind to focus on the right things, the more it will respond.
  Mental imagery is simply seeing yourself perform as you desire long before you even step on the field of play. Imagery prepares you to see how you’ll perform, trains you to think about what’s most important in great performance, and allows you to relax by being focused on things within your control and that matter to great performance.

Source: Sports Psychologists, Leif H. Smith, PsyD