introduction

The word coach or coaching, these days is used in so many fields and often even without much seriousness. First of all, do not confuse me with a trainer – I am not a technical or physical trainer – and to differentiate ourselves I will use the word Mental or Performance Coach, this also helps you understand that I work on the mental and emotional state of the athlete.

To explain this better since you play soccer now, I pose this question: Baggio in the USA World Cup 1994 missed the penalty against Brazil and with this Italy loses – tell me, was his technique lacking? Was he lacking physical training? No… it was his state of mind at that moment that was not present, here and now, and he admits it if you watch the video; “After dreaming for millions of nights of achieving this dream, I didn’t succeed” and this is where a Mental/Performance Coach comes in.

The performance triangle

Look at the Performance Triangle – all three sides are needed.

Just as when you prepare to be a stronger athlete you start lifting weights to improve your internal musculature, or you do extra tactical sessions and these are part of athletic and technical preparation. Similarly, you can also improve your thoughts because we often get down and we do it with our internal dialogue. Hasn’t it happened to you that if you make a mistake, you talk to yourselves and tell yourselves things like; “Damn, what have I done! Don’t make the same mistake again! How embarrassing! I knew I couldn’t do it!” or “It’s all his fault because he made me angry!” The problem is that here we start to compete not only against the opponent but also against ourselves. How useful is this inner voice? I am 100% sure that this inner voice will always say something, it’s hard for it to stay quiet… Your private voice can either help you or bring you down, remember that it is the only voice that will be with you until death and we want an inner voice that contributes to our life.

Now, I ask you to think about moments during a game where things went wrong, how did you feel inside? Were you angry about the mistake you made, or did you start to fear defeat? Raise your hands if this is something you have felt? If you were frustrated by the mistakes you made, it means you were living in the past and you weren’t thinking about your game at that moment – you weren’t present. If you were anxious, it means you had your mind in the future and you weren’t thinking about your game at that moment – you weren’t present.

If you’re not technically good, you’ll get nowhere. But even if you’re great on the technical side but don’t have the stamina to run 2 hours under the sun, you’ll get nowhere. However, even if you are top in these two areas but then make an own goal and start to have anxiety or fears about how the game will end, it means that the third ace of this triangle is very weak.

I deal with this third side – Mental Training, I am a professional of generative change, a change that comes from within, that makes you aware of your state of mind and together we will work with a methodology to get you to the point of recognizing these feelings or this inner/private voice and to be able to manage them in a way that supports you and helps you play better. We build your “Inner Coach” – where you and only you are aware and responsible for your performance because it is only here where you have control, especially in team games the result is often out of your control but managing your emotions is! And once you access this sensitivity, and everyone on the team is also doing Mental/Performance Coaching, you will be connected and linked, and you will understand each other much better, bringing better results to the whole team.

My suggestion is to come in person to one of these sessions to better understand what I mean. A course with me lasts roughly 10 sessions until you can manage your “Inner Coach or inner voice or private voice” in your favor.

Conclusion

Before concluding, let me tell you what I am not as a Mental Coach: I am not a motivator, I won’t tell you: “Come on, come on, you can do it”, I work on your own motivation that you give to yourself. I am not a psychologist or a mentalist with tricks and such. We help athletes who are well and want to improve and accelerate their performance. Often we are called in to solve problems but it would be much better to be called in beforehand so the whole team can have a way of being connected to the here and now, focused on the process necessary to achieve results, making adjustments if they are required. I am not a consultant and I do not give advice. I will help you develop your “mindset”, I will help you look within and understand what state you are in and what needs to be done to improve this state, I will give you the techniques that you need to use when you are in difficulty. I am not a guru. I will be by your side as a partner and help you increase your way of observing not only the opponent but also yourselves and your teammates, to reflect and grasp the points of the problem and through the tool of questions and various operational techniques that I will give you, you will be able to move from a less performing current state to a more performing desired state. My goal is to improve your “Inner Coach!”

What do you think? Do you want to try a session?