For many athletes leading up to a game there are certain things they need to do to physically and mentally prepare.
The physical warm-up is pretty self explanatory - i.e. a basic warm up would be some jogging, stretching, catch some volleys, take a few collapses, collect some crosses, some kicking then maybe take some shots. Then its whistle and game time.
But what about the mental preparation? I know many young players get to the game, stand in goal, and have shots blasted at them before game time. Have they visualized the game? Have they mentally prepared for situations soon to be coming their way?
This week I want to talk about rituals, habits, and superstitions!
I was at the Washington Capitals game last night and had great seats right behind the net. It was great to watch Capitals goalkeeper Braden Holtby in his warm-up and throughout the game. At every stoppage he would spray his water in the air and then watch it as it falls from the sky then he would take a drink! I started looking further into his superstitions this morning and came across "Holtbyisms".
Watching Holtby made me think about myself when I played and the little rituals I had and still do have. So I wanted to delve further into little rituals that many pro goalkeepers have?
Myself, I always put my left socks, cleats and gloves on before the right, my gloves I strap-unstrap then strap again. Water goes in the bottom right of my goal and I would never touch the pk spot before kick-off. For those attending the Washington Spirit games you will get to see some of these little rituals I still do, even as a coach, including at the end of the national anthem stubbing my toe to the ground!
Iker Cassilas, after each goal that his team scores, touches the crossbar and the jerseys he wears he cuts the sleeves off to make them short!
His Spanish colleague, Liverpool's Pepe Reina, has a list of superstitions starting the night before with a cheese and ham toastie along with a glass of wine. On Game day he goes to the same gas station and puts gas in his car even if it is not needed! At the ground he always parks in bay 39.
On game day Reina Says :"When I cross the white line I have to do it twice with my right foot. Stepping on, then off and then back on again. For some reason – and probably not a very good one – it helps keep me calm."
"As I get to my goal, I go straight to the right post, bang my studs against it, then touch the crossbar, then bang my studs against the left post, then go back to the middle. Next, I take six steps to the edge of the six-yard box, another six steps to the penalty spot, another six to the edge of the 18-yard box and then do the same thing in reverse"
He finishes by saying "Anyone who is watching must think i'm crazy, but it works for me!"
I could spend all day finding different goalkeepers' superstitions and there are plenty ranging from Shay Given taking holy water into his goal when he plays for Ireland to David James spitting on the wall before he goes out. In reality I think the last quote from Reina sums it up "it works for me". I'm not by any means saying to play at a higher level you need to have all these crazy rituals. What I am saying is to get to the next level you need to learn how to focus and calm your nerves before a game and become mentally tougher.
Thank you for taking your time to read this; please share any thoughts with me at @GKeepersUnited.
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This is exactly what I tell my young players ALL the time. Getting into the zone with help of superstitions, rituals or whatever you want to call them is the way to go. Finding a way of getting into the zone to be able to do your best is the way to go...let's face it even academics do it
ReplyDeleteRituals, superstitions, they all help take a players mind off of anything that might cause nerves. Look to baseball and you will also find TONS of these types of things.
DeleteTo demystify is a bit, it could just be warming-up the same way every game &/or with the same coach or player helping. Or when the GKs gloves go on, he only thinks about soccer. Not sure if Reina's ritual meant staying out until 4am drinking the night before games would be that helpful. Nor wood eating a 20oz steak an hour before game time.
ReplyDeleteMy father would tell his players a story about a man who attended a boxing match. He was seated next to a Catholic priest. He saw one of the fighters kneel, prior to the opening bell, and making the sign of the cross, he turned to the priest and said; "Father, does that help?" The priest, never taking his twinkling eyes from the ring, and chewing on a mouthful of popcorn responded, a sly grin forming; "If he can fight."Yet he also spent a great deal of time training his players in ritual, from how they wore their socks, to the way they would conduct themselves the moment they stepped across the line. He would never let them jump up and down, as a pack, or loud shouting, chest thumping. He would tell them; "You all dream of being professionals, so act like one. Good practice." Sure they would come together around a player, but that player, a new one each time, would review the weeks work and the plan, always ending, like an amen to a prayer; "Do your best" My pops also always did his best to insure his team was last to the field or the court, and he would say, "have at it boys." All of those were his rituals, including one I never asked about, yet one I can imagine I have an answer. On a chalk field, he would walk over to a place, and scrap the chalk away with his shoe, and on a basketball court, he would rub at the paint as if he could get it off. He opened a pathway, real and imagined. I think it was his way to get on the field, as a player, and blur the line of his past as a boy and the present of an old man unable to move like he used to.Habits are unconscious, and meaningless. Much of our lives are simply that. Poor substitutes for intentional purpose, yet in some ways, necessary so that we can get on with what matters. There is growing evidence that the age old practice of telling a goalkeeper to develop "habits" of muscle memory, may, in the long run, be detrimental to performance. The "priming" research is beginning to demonstrate this. Superstition is just that. . .a good story, a way for us to attribute performance to some outside force. Traditions, connect us, even if the traditions are not ours, yet like the research on "priming" some traditions can become counter productive, even absurd. . .yet ritual is different. It can cause a pause, allow for awareness transition as well as locate us in the present. I see Renia's on field acts as a ritual. . .he describes it as calming. . .similar to someone who practices Islam, steps into the mosque with their right foot. "Things are different here. Time to pay attention."My son, a goalkeeper, can be seen pacing the 6 box, left to right, and he touches each post, stands in the middle, looking up at the cross bar, then down at the ground. He then steps out to the 18 line, just before the kick off. . .spreading his arms wide, as if to say; "here we are!" In training, he spits to the side of the net, off the pitch if he senses he made a mistake. This can often get the coach to correct the mistake. Ritual can generate relationships. My son also resents anyone who says he is guessing when he makes a PK save. Priming research and visual studies have demonstrated that when you squeeze your left hand, ball into a fist, there is a generated focus on whatever is in front of you. He does that, just prior to the takers run up. There is also recent evidence that even pros will strike the ball towards an area of the goal perceived as wider, and opposite to where a keeper is pointing. He does all this, as well as does all he can to make eye contact with the taker, even telling the striker just how good he is. (Generates in the brain of the listener what is called the ironic process, similar to how you and me do not want someone to find out the mistakes we have made, when people go on and on about how great we are.) He claims to talk them into where he wants it to go. He has a high success rate. Superstition, Ritual, challenging tradition, (keepers just guess), and practice.
ReplyDeleteI watch my 10 year old do his little routine at every game . It includes , when he fist gets to the goal to touch the center of the cross bar then go to each post.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if he even realizes he does it at the start of each game or half. Its just become automatic