By Richard Lee - 24/04/2008

Role of Psychology

For those who know me well, they’ll know that the subject of psychology features highly in the way I live my life.

I am quite a philosophical person and, in recent years with the studying I've been able to do, many of my thoughts on football and life have been deeply impacted.

I’ve been lucky enough to see the results from the work I have put in on this front and it’s for this reason I strongly believe it could be very beneficial if presented to children at an early age - alongside the core subjects that they currently learn.

I find it hard to believe that in a world where we have more than ever before in terms of resources in order to improve our quality of life there still seems to be so much negativity around and many disempowering actions performed; drugs being a major example.

It is often experiences we have at a young age that are imbedded into a child’s psyche and govern many of his/her actions in years to come. How many of us actually consider the words we say to ourselves? Our thoughts make us who we are. I hear so many people saying ‘I can’t’ and ‘I won’t’ and unfortunately you’ve already decided the outcome if you say these words.

I was lucky enough to go to a seminar in the summer to watch a guy called Anthony Robbins in action.  For those who haven’t heard of him, he refers to himself as a ‘life coach’. In a nutshell, he tries to help ingrain some simple beliefs that can take you to the next level in your life and relinquish any frustration you feel for not being all you can be. Prior to a game our manager will often ask only one thing of us and that is to "be all you can be".

So many people sabotage themselves or don’t accomplish what they are capable of and often you have to ask the question why? More often than not it will come back to the subject of psychology. The inner voice in our heads gets the better of us and convinces us we are less than we really are. How powerful a tool it could be to have that inner voice telling you what you want to hear and producing positive messages on a regular basis?

As I said this has been great for me because, until not so long ago, I was one of the people I talk about - even to the point that I was on the verge of quitting football before my career had even started.

The negativity I related to football matches in particular made me nervous to the point of sickness. I would approach games with thoughts running through my head of horrendous mistakes I could make and the impact they’d have on my life if I were to make them. Truth is, when they have happened the impact has been minimal and, apart from a bruised ego, I always bounce back.

Psychology plays a huge role in football. I’m sure we all know of some incredibly talented players who never scaled the heights their ability suggested they should. Or players that seem to ‘disappoint’ in the big games.

Many believe this is something you are either born with or you are not but the truth is, like any technical skill, this can be greatly improved with practice. The confidence and belief shown by someone such as Wayne Rooney can be replicated if someone were to open themselves up to the belief that they can be whatever they want to be.

The hard part is you’ll forever have people telling you ‘what you are’.  It is a common practice to ‘label’ someone as something and by doing this that person will forever adhere to the label given. It is the players with the belief that they can achieve anything and perform with no fear who get the results that some would consider unthinkable.

I guess one of the biggest examples we see of psychology being used in football is often by managers. How many times has Sir Alex Ferguson said things that have had an impact on opponents and other managers?

Jose Mourinho took it to the extreme; his supreme confidence in his players and more so himself, was a major reason Chelsea won so many trophies with him at the helm. I think he fully understood what makes a successful manager and he’s used that knowledge to the maximum. A very intelligent man and most would agree now a very successful man - question is would he have been so successful without that ‘supreme confidence’?