Soccer
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What Players Need To Know About Their Strengths and Weaknesses
For someone who played at a high level for a long period of time, it is always mind-boggling to me how many times I thought about the negatives rather than the positives after training sessions or games. I know each and every one of us, boys and girls, men and women, are most likely focusing on things we do negatively and wrong on the field after each and every game. We get to our cars and sit with our parents or self-meditate with ourselves and think about all the wrongs that we may have committed throughout the course of the game.
It definitely takes time to understand what we are great at, but with easy steps, we can create that positive mindset, as well as create a positive outlook on things that will ultimately push us much further rather than focusing on the negatives. It is always great to understand things that we can always “build on”, which is a great way to look at and understand our weaknesses. Working on your “build-ons” can be done during training throughout the week or even by ourselves when no one is watching (always the most important time to train).
One of the best strategies that I have come across, even throughout my professional career, was to journal my strengths. Journaling our strengths allows us to truly connect with what we are really great at. We look at certain examples of understanding how great we really are by writing them down and taking them with us at all times, whether it is reading them right before a training session or visualizing them right before a game.
Journaling is a great way to reflect on your game, identify what you are great at, and
what your "builds-ons" are.
Rather than focusing on the weaknesses, why not create consistency within the STRENGTHS that we already own and have within ourselves? Sometimes, when we realize the things that we are amazing at, it allows us to carry those assets, traits, and positives with us at all times, giving us what IMO is the most important thing to have in any sport: CONFIDENCE. Being proud of our strengths allows us to build leadership qualities by becoming uplifted with others and, more importantly, with ourselves. “Build-ons” are our little and minuscule “weaknesses” that we have the ability to improve on at all times throughout each and every week. We can use them to add to our positive list and strengths list that we have written down to remind us how we can continuously turn small “build-ons” into absolute strengths. It is vital to understand how much our strengths should always overshadow our weaknesses at all times.
I have never used “weakness” in my vocabulary. Especially as someone who played at such a high level, we must always know how we got there in the first place and what continues to keep us there consistently. Having pride in our strengths, knowing how we can use our strengths to the best of our ability, and coming to a realization that strengths are our most valuable asset on the field, we will continue to have the confidence earned each and every time we step over that white line, no matter what happens.
At the end of the day, soccer and many other sports are games of MISTAKES, but it is how you revert, reset, and give yourself that self-talk you deserve in focusing and honing in on your strengths rather than put yourself in that negative energy space focusing on your weaknesses. One thing to always remind yourself is that “Strength overshadow weaknesses.”
