WINNING MENTALITY

At SNYFC, we think the deep meaning of winning is to improve, to overcome our current defects and limits, first.

We all know, before the Football Season starts that only one Team is going to win the Premier League;

same for the World Cup ... same for our Youth Leagues ... same for the Olympic Games ... we all know that ONLY ONE is going to grab GOLD.

AND YET, winning (being a winner) means preparing ourselves/ our teams to perform at our super-best, no matter what.

If this is the case, how can anyone/any team be considered loser.

Loser is who does not try the hardest, individually and as a team.

 

Keeping this in mind, and accepting the fact there is a Contender/ an Opposition that wants to achieve our same goal,

how can we get to the winning mentality point?

 

We can do that by winning. ... It is not a joke ...

We can do that by achieving 3 different kind of Victories (last one being the Victory vs the Opposition).

 

1. The Victory vs Ourselves (internal) _ To achieve this victory we have to defeat our defects and push our limits.

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For instance, if I pass and shoot (the ball) only with the right-foot (or left-foot), can I train myself more controlling, passing and shooting 

with the weak-foot? Surely if I am right-footed the first attempts to shot on target with the left-foot are not going to be exactly the same 

of a Lionel Messi' s shot ... but that's a win! Can I build up on this? Surely if I try to use only my weak-foot during a few training sessions, 

the control, pass and shot will get better and better.

For instance, if I cannot run as much as other players, can I start trying to run more whenever/wherever I have the chance in order

to improve my stamina and endurance? Surely I am never going to run as much as Ngolo Kante but if I can only run more/better

than the previous match/training session ... that's a win!

For instance, if I tend to play by myself like if instead of football I am playing tennis, can I keep my head-up more when I get the ball?

Surely If I can control the ball keeping my head up and feeding a teammate better positioned who scores ... that's a win (even if I did not score).

And I could go on and on and on ...

Once we have made this Victory (this attitude) ours, we can focus on ...

 

2. The Victory vs Difficulties (external) _ To achieve this victory we have to defeat our "alibi-culture" and "pill-culture".

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For instance, how many times we say:

"the pitch was awful/ the ball was flat/ the wind was too strong/ the other team's players were too big/ John could not play 

and without him we cannot score (or defend)/ their supporters were too noisy/ the referee was ... beeep/ there is no way we can win

with that team top of the table/ we need a better defender (said by midfielder or strikers) or we need a better midfielder (said by defenders and strikers)

or we need a better striker (said by defenders and midfielders)".

And I could go on and on and on ...

We have to defeat the "alibi" way of thinking; like if the reason why something is not going our way is something/someone else responsibility.

If we do not win vs the difficulties that sport/football (external world) throw at us we will continue thinking that there is a magic "pill" able to solve our problems.

There is no "magic pill". The magic pill is “mental-doping” .The sooner we realize that the sooner we will start improving.

 

Only after achieving the above 2 Victories, we can say to have prepared the ground for the winning mentality and with the right attitude

we can move to the last one  ...

 

3. The Victory vs Opposition _ This is the end result, the effect of a correct attitude and of a process.

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If our opponents prevail instead, it simply means they were better than us ... on that given day ...

 

Come on STOKEY!!!

 

 

***Jean Paul Sartre used to say: "... the only problem in Football is the presence of the opposite team"