Mailbag question: Mental mistakes in football

Gentlemen,

One thing that has always puzzled me about football is why an entire team starts making mental mistakes all at the same time. I especially noticed this about last year’s team and it seems to be happening again, though not quite as often, in the last two games.

The example that really stands out — and there are plenty of examples — is kick returns. I think we fumbled at least one kick return per game last year. But it wasn’t just one butter-fingered player; many players seemed unable to catch and hold on to the ball, something I think most high-school players could have performed. It can’t be coincidence that suddenly these top-notch athletes can’t catch; there is something that affects the whole team.

That’s just one example; I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that there are plenty more. Any idea what causes these bouts of mass hysteria? Is it just group psychology? How much depends on the coach and how can such circumstances be fixed?

Thanks,
Guanxi

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Thanks for the question.

Many times it is just over-thinking, teams start to think about fumbling so much they get tight and this leads to more fumbles.

As players individually lose focus and commit errors, frequently unforced, teams collectively also lose focus. As the momentum in a game changes, a team can start to lose confidence and this has a huge effect on how a team plays. A perfect example is the Notre Dame game last year, where the weather could have been a contributor to some of the problem, but confidence loss, along with over-thinking, sometimes short-circuits an entire week’s worth of work on fundamentals and situational coaching, because the brain can overrule the body in a negative manner. Coaches build in mental toughness training and attempt to place players in difficult situations in practice and evaluate how various players react to pressure and adversity. As one might expect, there really is a large difference in how certain players react to the pressure cooker, even in practice.

We have witnessed many coaches stop practice and have teams take the helmets off and take a big breath and just try and relax a moment to get past the problems. We have seen coaches take timeout’s and move the team away from a situation and try to relax them so the players are not thinking about failure so much.

Sometimes a word of confidence from a teammate or a different coach helps. We use that one a lot, if the linebackers are having some problems and the position coach bit six inches of *ss off a player a coach from a different position will come and try to focus and settle the player down.

Football is a thinking game, but sometimes, or most times, when a player is over-thinking, that is when problems happen, or when you hear coaches say they want players to play fast, play aggressive, etc. Well players cannot do that if they are always thinking negatively, e.g. making a wrong read. Football is an instinct game and sometimes players just have to not worry about making a mistake and just play the game.

So, the above begs the question what can be done to improve or accelerate mental toughness? The expectations must be clear, presented early, and the players must demonstrate a substantial amount of commitment to a high-level mental toughness program at a big time school. This is not intramurals and Darwinism abounds: the meek may inherit the earth, but they will also get their lunch handed to them on Saturday.

As players go through a program that has a strong and well planned mental toughness and S& C component, talent being equal such a team will make fewer mistakes and show more resolve as experience and confidence increases.

Such programs with tough outlooks frequently attack and do not go back on the heels. Such programs show a will that others fear, especially when the famous mo shows up at the team’s doorstep. Tough teams prepare and expect to win, not hope.

For a thorough and scholarly reading, regarding mental toughness, type in “The other 90%” (by doc4blu) in the search area.

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Written by CoachBt, Doc4blu and ErocWolverine

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