Imagination
"The success I have at free kicks is 5 per cent skill and 95 per cent successful imagery."
- Giofranco Zola
Imagine that I have just cut a lemon in two and I hand you one of the halves. Notice its texture there in you're hand as you bring it up to your mouth. Be aware of the citric smell while you place the juicy fruit in you're mouth. Now suck on all that tangy lemon juice and let it run down you're throat.
As you are reading this, imagine you have submerged both of your hands into a bucket of hot, soapy water. You can remember what that feels like? Did you have a bath last night, wash the windows, even your car? Recall that feeling of hot soapy water on your hands, make it vivid, feel those pinpricks of watery heat.
Your subconscious mind can not tell the difference between a real, or imagined event, it's just like a DVD recorder! It records sights and sounds continuously. Your body then treats every vivid thought and image as if it was real. Ever awakened from a nightmare? Notice how your body responds to the vivid use of you're imagination more so than a conscious command. If you order your heart to speed up, it probably will not. If you imagine in detail walking down a sinister dark alley, late at night and hear fast, approaching footsteps behind you, I bet you're heartbeat will increase. What about that nightmare? It was not real, but you woke up in a sweat, you're heart pounding, gripped with fear and it took a while for you to calm down.
Some people claim they cannot visualise as they don't see in pictures clearly. That's ok! Just have a sense of a picture in your mind. It does not have to be as clear as your vision is while reading this book. Everyone has the ability to imagine, I may have just proven it to you. If not, answer these questions:
Think of your locker in your changing room. What does it look like? Where is the door handle? What sound does it make when you shut it? To answer, you had to use you're imagination.
Now by changing the pictures and sounds of the mind, you can gain conscious control of any aspect of you're game. Image's that are bigger, brighter, bolder have a greater impact than those which are smaller, duller and further away. Let me show you.
Think of someone you found stressful to play against or who rankled you. Think about facing them again. Notice how the bad memory of them can hurt you like a knife. They can beat you without a ball being kicked. Here's something your going to love. Recall their face. As you do so, ask yourself:
Is the memory in black and white or in colour?
Is their face in your memory to the left, to the right, or there right in front of you?
Is the face large or small?
Is it light or dark? Moving or still?
Are there any sounds?
Now play around with the way you remember that person. Make each of these changes in turn and notice what happens:
If the memory has colour, drain it all away until it is like a black and white photo.
Move the position of the face and push it further away from you.
Shrink it down in size.
Turn down the brightness, make it fuzzy.
If the image is moving, freeze frame it, if still, animate it.
What sound do you hear? Is it their voice? Change it by giving them a squeaky voice like a cartoon character, or a deep sexy one, go on, do it.
Finally, give the face a clown's nose, bright coloured hair, Mickey Mouse ears. Go on, have fun!
Altering your memory can change how you feel. Think of that person again in this new way. How do you feel about them now? Probably the stressful memory had diminished if not gone completely. Not only do you feel different now, imagine how much more comfortable you will feel the next time you face that person. It's your control, your emotion, your thinking that belongs to you, not someone else controlling you.
Mental training through visualisation is an essential tool in the soccer players arsenal. Professionals understand the importance of rehearsing skills often in their minds. They become so well prepared, they are able to go onto 'autopilot' when they need to use those skills for real. Most soccer activities are done subconsciously. Do you deliberately think about the actions of taking a throw in? Taking a free kick? Jumping to head the ball? Of course not, you do it naturally.
Here's how you can imagine playing a whole game? If you visualised the whole game at normal speed it would become tiresome. You know the key events that affect you throughout the game, so speed up the game in general and when you come to the parts which involve you, bring it back to normal speed.
Visualising different scenarios helps prepare you for any eventuality during a game. But reality is not always as perfect as you would like to imagine. One key to successful visualisation is dealing with unforeseen challenges and problems that happen before, during and after a game. Make a list of things that could go wrong and then practice overcoming them and you will be better prepared for all possibilities. Regardless of what problem you have happen during the game, imagine it turning out right for you.
Let me show you how to use imagination in a way known as association and dissociation. This is where visualisation skills really pay off. Association means re-living the event as if it is really happening, seeing through your own eyes, hearing the sounds and feeling all the feelings. Dissociation is noticing the situation as if you are watching yourself in a movie. As you are more detached from the action with dissociation, there is less emotional impact.
Think of a stressful or uncomfortable memory, maybe a bad game. How did you feel? Keep that image in your mind. Now step out of yourself so you can see the back of your head. I know you may be sceptical, at least give me a hearing. Now move as far away from that situation you are remembering as you can. Step all the way out of the picture so you can still see it, but way over there somewhere, as if its happening to someone else. Shrink it down. Lose all the colour. Turn the background fuzzy or white. Fade away any sound. Notice by dissociating reduces the intensity of the feelings you were having. Do those emotions feel less now? It takes courage to learn new skills such as these.
You can do the same to heighten a good memory, by association. When you think about happy memories, you re-create the happy feelings associated with them. Remember a game when you felt really confident, aware of your ability, strength and self-belief. Now let the image come into you're mind. Make it juicy. Step into that memory as if you were there again, seeing through you're own eyes, hearing through you're own ears and feeling how successful you felt in your body. Enlarge the memory, make it bigger and brighter, the feelings stronger, turn up the sounds, make everything richer. If you can not remember a time, imagine how it would feel to be totally confident - you get what you focus on.
There you have it. To reduce a negative memory, step out, move away from it (dissociate). Watch it as if its happening to someone else, shrink it, turn it black and white, dull, out of focus. Make the sounds quieter, further away. Doing this can cause any bad emotional response to drain away. Notice your controlling how it affects you.
And to improve a positive memory, zoom in and fully experience it (associate). Make the image bigger and closer, intensify the colours, increase the brightness, make the sounds closer and louder, unless it's a memory of peace and quiet. Live it. You can have a great deal of fun with these methods.
Here's an experiment. Players in other positions can adapt this for themselves. You're a striker and for some reason you have lost the greed and the goals have dried up. Psychologically its becoming an issue as you keep re-running those missed scoring chances in your mind.
First visualise yourself sat in the dug out (associated) during a past game watching yourself on the field (dissociated). What encouragement and advice would you give that 'you' who is playing? Let that mental film run while you watch yourself and stop the film at a point when 'you' missed a goal scoring chance. Being dissociated, this should help you remember the moment but without the negative emotional content.
Freeze frame that image. Here is where you get to have fun. Play with the image. If its in colour, drain it away and turn it to black and white. If its vivid, de-focus it. Change any sounds and their location. Change any feelings.
Rewind.
Now, start the movie again in all its glory. This time I want you to associate in, make everything real and speed it all up until you reach the point just before 'you' failed to score. Now, as you are associated, play the film at normal speed and adjust everything so it turns the missed scoring chance into a goal. Speed it all up again as you send the ball flying into the net.
After celebrating the goal with your team mates and feeling how good you would feel, dissociate from the pitch and go back to the dug out. Associate in and applaud you're goal scorer, give useful feedback and repeat that visualisation several times until it begins to feel like a real memory.
Imagine you are defending. Step into a picture of yourself controlling the ball, tackling, volleying, clearing and heading almost at will. Feel mighty and proud. Hear the 'thud' of every perfectly hit ball. Notice the opponents. Forwards, midfielders. Shrink them down and turn them into black and white, move them further away from you, duller, quieter. None of them able to make any penetration. Now do the same yourself, this time as a forward - go on, I'm not going to do everything for you!
You can use your imagination to free yourself from any old, negative beliefs that might be limiting you. That's right! Imagine they are written or painted on a wall. With a ball at your feet, boot it at the wall so you demolish the wall completely See the dust, hear the bricks tumbling down, feel the energy you are using until those negative words or image are totally destroyed.
You could imagine them drawn or written on paper. Feel the paper between your hands as you rip it to shreds, hear it, feel it, see it happen there in you're minds eye. Finish off by ritually burning it. I said some methods would challenge you - this is all revolutionary stuff!
Here's an easier one. Close your eyes and imagine in your mind a picture of the player you wish to become. See yourself in your kit, you're balanced stance, the expression on your face, all the tiny details. Take that picture and throw it up into the air and multiply it so that hundreds of copies come raining down all around you as far as the eye can see. They even go into you're past and future.
Did that feel awkward? Exercises like these may seem silly at first, but while you control the pictures in you're mind and how they sound, you are not at the mercy of anyone else or circumstance and they direct you're subconscious mind toward being the soccer player you want to be. A flame will ignite inside you.
Maybe imagine once or twice not doing as well so you can bring all your emotions into it. Do not just visualise the best-case scenarios. Be prepared with a plan B and also a plan C. Do not imagine failing, but mentally plan how you will respond to unpleasant or difficult situations. This happens sooner or later when games do not go exactly as hoped. You can still be proud of putting 100% effort in.
This article is taken from the book, Soccer Mind - Raise Your game with Mental Training by Paul M Maher PhD. An ebook can be downloaded from http://www.mindtrainingarena.com/ or a physical hardcopy can be purchased from Antony Rowe Publishing, Amazon or ordered from bookshops.
Paul M. Maher invites you to learn more about sports psychology and to maximise your sports potential by visiting http://www.mindtrainingarena.com/. You will gain access to invaluable eBooks, regardless of which sport you play. The latest are focused on cricket, soccer, tennis and bodybuilding psychology.
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