Whether you like it or not, people, supporters, friends and coaches will all have something to say. They will comment on your game and performance.

Once you begin to play soccer, you’ll start getting feedback from all sorts of people. You will get advice, help, suggestions and even criticism.

The problem isn’t getting feedback but how you respond to it. As a player you have to be willing to respond to it.

Most players that receive criticism will drop their head or even worse, retaliate with some excuse or look to blame someone else.

A player that cannot respond to criticism or cannot accept it will eventually quit the game an unhappy person. Players that embrace criticism and feedback have the resources to become a better player and the potential to become a champion.

“Feedback is the breakfast of champions”.

Feedback comes in 2 different forms. Do you know what they are?

Feedback can either be positive or negative.

Everybody loves positive feedback from the 5 year olds attending their first clinic all the way to the most seasoned professionals. Positive feedback makes us feel good about ourselves. It’s a great indication that tells us that we are on the right track.

What about negative feedback? How do you deal with criticism?

Anyone here like negative feedback?

If you play soccer long enough the chances are you will receive plenty of criticism and a truckload of negative feedback. If you are like the majority of the soccer population this negative feedback would result in unhappiness, conflict and to some extent mental anguish.

But you’re not like the majority of the soccer population.

Are you?

When your form is good and your performances reflect this, everything is great. The positive feedback you receive is deserved and a great way to add a few inches to your ego.

But what happens when your form deserts you. When supporters start to get impatient with you and the coach decides to bench you. How do you feel?

No player likes to be criticized. However, there is more to learn from constructive criticism.

Without getting over dramatic and causing a riot, negative feedback is just a simple way of letting you know that you’re on the wrong track. You could be doing something wrong or your technique might need improving. Don’t you think this information is valuable? Don’t you think this criticism is designed to help you improve as a player?

The simplest way to become a great player is to change your views on negative feedback or criticism. Negative feedback is valuable so it’s a good idea to listen to it. This information gives rise to improvement opportunities that you’re probably not aware of.

The coach, supporters and/or friends are telling you how to improve. Coaches don’t criticize you to make you feel miserable. They’re teaching you and passing down years of experience. So listen up!

This might be a surprise to most, but to improve as a player you must welcome, acknowledge and embrace all feedback and criticism. All you have to do as a player is to take action and respond to your feedback.

“You ran out of legs in the second half”.

Solution- Work on your fitness and stamina.

Excuse- But we didn’t have possession of the ball.

“Your direct opponent scored twice and you didn’t even mark him”.

Solution- Practice defending and man marking. It’s not glamorous by any stretch of the imagination but neither is sitting on the bench.

Excuse- I wasn’t getting any support from my midfielders or defenders.

The feedback you receive is a true indication of your performance.

You need to stop making excuses and blaming others.

The answers to your problems are simplistic and can be found in your feedback if you’re honest with yourself.  Learn to accept criticism on the chin and before you know it your playing ability will improve. It’s also character building to learn how to absorb the negatives and turn them into something positive. Give it a try instead of losing your temper.

There are many ways to respond to criticism. You can learn, develop or you can

• Give up and quit.
• Retaliate and get mad.
• Ignore the feedback.

As a player, you must stop taking feedback personally and understand that it’s only information designed to help you.

Crying, arguing and even fighting is not going to help you. It might release some bottled emotions but then what?

What about quitting?

Giving up doesn’t work either. Once you quit it might feel a little safer but what about your dreams and ambitions. You can’t win in the game of soccer if you’re not on the playing field.

What about getting angry? Is this a good strategy?

If you attack the feedback source, which is extremely valuable to you, what good is that? The feedback will stop and so will your learning experience and development.

At the end of the day, feedback is just information. Don’t make it personal and never try and clash with individuals.

Next time you’re confronted with criticism or negative feedback I want you to try something new. Can you do that for me?

I want you to say this,

“Thank you for your feedback, I really appreciate it.”

What ever you do, don’t be sarcastic. If you can say those words after being criticized then you my friend will build enough character to become the soccer player that you’ve dreamt of.

The players that continue to react will either disappear from the game or will spend a lifetime on the bench.

The choice is yours.

The activities involved in playing soccer depend on the nervous system. Do you believe me? Have you ever stopped and wondered how the muscles used in soccer actually contract and become part of the “human motor system”? When was the last time you read a soccer book that made these bold statements?

Lets make something clear from the start, it does not matter how strong or fast your muscles are, if they are not properly triggered by the nervous system. If your nervous system does not trigger your muscles then it is impossible to carry out soccer actions correctly.

The nervous system is a control system in which decisions are made. Muscles are under the direct command of the nervous system and every human movement depends on the nervous system. Muscles are just used as an aid once your nervous system establishes the soccer objectives. So what does playing soccer really mean? Here’s one definition I’ll give you that you probably never thought of before. “Playing soccer can be regarded as using the brain to solve soccer problems, with the muscles simply serving as a means of putting the solution into practice.”

Players, human beings or the human body is in a state of constant interaction with its environment, people perceive things and act according to their perceptions. Do you agree? Relating this to soccer, a player must recognise situations on the field and react accordingly. Have we got possession of the ball? Where is my direct opponent? Should i shoot or try and pass? These questions must be answered continuously during a soccer match. To understand how this process occurs, lets investigate the nervous system.

Before I get started, the information I’m providing is Scientific and is fact. I will try and keep this simplistic because I do not want to turn this into a science class.

The nervous system is made up of 2 parts, the Central Nervous System (CNS) and the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS). The CNS consists of the brain and the spinal cord. The PNS is made up of the nerve fibers that connect the sensory receptors and muscles with the CNS. The brain consists of all sorts of nerve centers, where stimuli acquire significance and can be translated into executive commands to the muscles.

The brain can send information back to the muscles through the spinal cord and the nerve fibers if an activity needs to be carried out in reaction to a certain situation(stimulus). When the signal from the brain reaches the muscle, the muscle contracts and the action is executed.

Thats was quite a mouthful I know. So lets talk about the role of the nervous system in Soccer. Soccer players are confronted with various situations during a game. Before a player can react to a situation he must first become aware of the situation which is also referred to as perception.

Perception is constructed through the use of the eyes. However, perception is more than just sight. A team mate that is out of sight can make it clear to you that he is unmarked. Hearing is therefore another great sense in acquiring information or perception. The sense of touch is also important and allows you to respond to bodily contact when a defender is trying to dispossess you of the ball. The muscles contain sensors that allow us to move and finally there is a sense of balance. Balance is crucial to a soccer player and these sensors provide information about the body’s center of gravity.

So how does the nervous system carry out soccer actions? Once the brain has created a picture of the game or perceived a certain situation, the player reacts by choosing the most suitable solution. The nervous system becomes active and tries to solve this problem.

The brain sends signals to the muscles that need to carry out the soccer action(s). The signals contain information about which muscles need to be contracted, for how long and at what force. It also informs other muscles to keep the body in balance during the execution of the action. The nervous system develops optimal control of the various muscles so that the efficiency of a movement increases. To put it simply

A soccer player is a complex control system, which continuously registers information and processes and uses it to execute soccer actions.

In conclusion to this post, a soccer player depends on his nervous system in everything that he does. The nervous system is the most important facilitating factor in the context of playing soccer. Remember these 2 key points

• Sensory processes enable soccer players to perceive soccer situations.
• Motoric processes enable them to carry out soccer actions.

Playing soccer, training hard and repetitive soccer movements can improve the efficiency of your nervous system. Improved coordination results in a steady increase in the amount of information that is unconsciously processed during the execution of a soccer action. This results in certain soccer actions becoming automatic which allows the player to pay more attention to what is happening around him on the pitch.

So when the books and magazines preach repetition and continuous training, you now know the reasons why. If you’ve just finished reading this, put on the boots and go practice some more. Learn to concentrate on everything you do and the results in the future will speak for themselves.

Youth coaches fall into the trap of trying to coach every segment of the game. Some coaches play the game for their kids by constantly shouting instructions from the sideline. Parents are guilty of this too and never let their kids make decisions on their own. Kids being obedient usually listen to their parents even if their instructions are wrong. When developing young soccer players the emphasis should be placed on learning. A young child cannot learn or develop if he is not allowed to make mistakes on his own.

Can anyone guess why a youth coach would try and coach every segment of the match? Why would he continue to instruct his players by yelling from the sidelines? The real reason why a youth coach yells and continues to instruct from the sidelines is that he is trying to eliminate players mistakes so that his team wins. A good junior coach doesn’t concern himself with the result, but concentrates on player development and learning.

Parents are also known to coach every second of a match. The majority of parents at junior soccer try and live out their failed ambitions through their kids. Have you been to a junior soccer match lately? Parents are too involved in their child’s activities and virtually suffocate them with instructions. The child has no opportunity to express himself on or off the pitch.

So ask yourself this, what is player development?

• Player development should be about problem solving and decision making.
• Player development is about learning and learning from your mistakes.
• Learning is a life long process and challenge.
• Mistakes and consequences are just as important as winning.

Are you denying your players the chance to develop? Remember a soccer match is a short term event which runs for about 90 minutes. These events called soccer matches should be a test where the youngsters can play freely and experiment with their own abilities and decisions. Only through their own decisions and mistakes can the young players develop and learn.

So you might be looking at the screen and still wondering what point I’m trying to make. By the coach or you as the parent constantly trying to make the decisions or solving your kids problems by yelling out instructions, you are dis-empowering your children in favour of short term solutions. These short term solutions have short term rewards. A win or 3 points will not ensure your child develops. It doesn’t guarantee improvement or the capabilities of learning. It guarantees you 3 points, so what.

So what are the consequences of dis-empowering your players? Dis-empowering your players results in them never learning to become self reliant. They never acquire the ability to trust and back themselves. This inevitably leads to difficulty in making decisions and solving their own problems on the field. Can you see my point now? Soccer is about decision making and problem solving. Don’t deny your kids the chance to master this beautiful game.

Children need the freedom and support to make mistakes. The more mistakes your players make, the greater chance they have of developing and evolving with the game. When they play on the weekends, let them express themselves and let them challenge themselves. With respect, trust and responsibility your players might be the next generation of superstars.