A Peak Into England's Mental Game

An athlete’s mental game is just as important as their physical game. At least that’s what Team England trains daily. Taking fourth place in this year’s tournament, England has made brilliant strides in regaining their football reign, with a new focus on sport psychology and team culture. Their psychological transformation calls into question what many of us can learn from this newfound, daily trained, mental resilience…

The pressure to perform in sport is relentless. One skill that England players use to manage pressure points is to create separation from the critical inner voice that so many of us deal with regularly. You know, the voice that is constantly telling you how unfit, not good enough, inexperienced, and destined to fail you are?

Creating mental separation isn’t easy. It’s something you work towards daily.

England footballers have been instructed to view their critical inner voice as a third person; an unrelated, separate, third party that just so happens to be shouting irrelevant and rude remarks--kind of like your typical ill-mannered sports fan! Just like an athlete learns to tune out fans, an athlete can too learn to tune out their inner critic.

By selecting to hear your inner script as exterior to self, you have successfully created the separation necessary to overcome negative self-talk and re-direct energy elsewhere, to more important things like making a penalty shot, or winning. 

Sometimes, it can be helpful to put a name to this negative inner script, so that when it decides to speak up—you can quickly ask quiet it. While it may sound silly, recognizing when this voice pops in, and actively naming it, can help you avoid it from unconsciously letting it dictate your decisions, actions, and personal confidence in sport and beyond.

Positive Practice

• Name your ‘inner critical voice’. Treat it as if it were a bad friend or annoying teammate. While you know it’s there, you don’t have to pay attention to it. Call it out and move on.
• Say the name out-loud. As you practice quieting your inner voice, telling it to quiet down, out-loud, is a positive way to reinforce your control and create a habit.