Playing at a high level of football and being employed by arguably the best football club and academy set up in the world, does bring with it a lot of high points, but also the odd low point.
Everyone's goal at the academy is the same, each day we all dream of becoming a well established proffessional footballer playing at the highest level. Every individual will have a different path to getting to that point. In my experience you'll have some players in your team, in the older age groups, age groups below yours that will have almost a flawless development through the academy. These players will be picked for all the big games, play up age groups throughout their journey, win numerous tournaments and play every game in those tournaments. Other players will be fighting their whole time. Never have a moment to relax. A bad game could see them out the team for a while, each day in training in their mind they have to work the hardest, run the furthest, complete the most passes, score the most goals. However this player should never feel so hard done by. Where they may not be the managers favourite during this time, or not good enough, they can take this time to work on their weaknesses, develop their game, but most of all learn how to deal with the setbacks. Experiencing these setbacks is perfectly normal. And by having them during their youth career in my opinion is a good thing. It will make them stronger mentally and by overcoming a drought in form or being dropped for games will only benefit then for when it happens in future. I feel those players who have never had a moment of being left out a side, or just not being good enough, despite their efforts to make the cut. Won't be able to cope in the men's game when that does happen. I'm not saying if a players doing well at academy level and has never deserved to be dropped should be. This blog is just for those who may be having a rough patch and feel life and football is not going their way.
I have had a number of setbacks during my time, also a lot of highs. You may think it's thing where the highs and lows cancel each other out, but this is not the case as they are both two different extremes, once you've hit a low point, you must start from fresh, in football you're only as good as your last game. No matter how good you were 4 weeks ago, the season before, or even the season before that, it's irrelevant. Football is based on current form. The difficult thing is after a string of good games and then a poor performance, I feel it is easier to play yourself out of a team then if it was the reverse. A run of bad games, you're out the team and then some good performances when given the opportunity may still not be enough for the manager to trust you. It's as if football focuses on negatives a lot, and because you've had those bad games, it's as if you've got the potential for another bad game in you. If football is based on current form and not what has happened in the past then it shouldn't matter. All this leads me to my tips of coping with the stressful periods where you have hit that low point:
1.) visualisation- think back to a game or training session where you felt really confident in yourself. Every decision you made was the right one, every movement you made was sharp and precise, you dominated your battle with the opposition player in your position. A game where you may have scored, assisted. Visualising and then applying it to the next game you play, or next training session you have.
2.) self talk- this doesn't have to be outloud, but in your head say to yourself how good you are, why you' are where you are, why you got picked for the last game, why you got picked for this game. Just reassure yourself of your ability and it will help a lot for your self confidence and belief.
3.) change in lifestyle/ daily routine- go back to a high point during your academy life what foods were you eating, what sorts of things were you doing in your spare time, what gym sessions, activation sessions were you doing during the week. In this rough time go back to what you did before, what you know. Even to the extent of changing your haircut to what it was before, whatever floats your boat and makes you feel comfortable and more confident in yourself.
4.) communicating- with family/friends/ a member of staff, who ever you feel more at home talking with, but make sure you talk to someone. During a tough spell bottling everything up will only consume you and make everything seem 10x harder than it is to correct. Telling someone allows them to offer advice, support you and even do something that can help you get out of the slump, it will often be a good form of encouragement or even a good wake up call getting their view of the situation. Ultimately you'll be lifting a big weight off of your shoulders and this will help you feel more at ease, upbeat and make you rise to the challenge in front of you.
5.) take each day as a new day- everyday you wake up is another day to make an impression on your coach, another day to improve yourself, another day to make you feel good.
6.) everything happens for a reason- see this period as something positive, see it as a way of taking you to the next level. Being able to cope with this now will only make you stronger mentally, in your mind if you can take on this, you can take on any obstacle that stands in the way.
I hope this is helpful to anyone who reads this that's trying to achieve their footballing dream.
