Learn. Play. Conquer.

“It’s not the will to win that is important. It’s the will to prepare to win”.

Last week I shared some thoughts and observations about game day for the parents, today Im going to write about the player's and coaches role when it's match time. 

There are many articles and research in the area of Sports Psychology about how to mentally prepare and perform, I have compiled some of them, plus personal opinions.

Let's start by defining what constitutes a "Winning team"

• Talent
• Preparation
• Attitude
• Game day performance

Even though we will focus on game day, it's important to understand it would mean nothing without talent, good preparation and the right attitude. Of course, on the same token you can prepare all of this and still have an unhappy game day experience. 

Let's think at what coaches usually do to prepare their teams:

I must say that I have been very fortunate with the parents of the players I worked with during my many years of coaching soccer in New Jersey. I believe some of the reasons are my professionalism (regardless of the level and age of the team I trained/coached I always took it equally serious), my willingness to talk and explain (always at the appropriate time and place), and that I really cared for the growth of their child.

Now as the NJ Dynamo Director of Coaching I have the responsibility to ensure that our coaches follow this same path, respect for the players and open communication and feedback with the parents. 

A recurrent topic of conversation amongst coaches, and many articles and books are written about it, is the influence that the parents have (or can have) on their child's sports experience. 

"What's all that noise from the sidelines?"