Soccer Tough: Simple Football Psychology Techniques to Improve Your Game (Soccer Coaching)

Soccer tough is highly recommended. While many people agree that psychology or the power of the mind is the single best determinant of success amongst athletes of roughly similar ability, it is another thing to harness this insight in useful ways. Sports psychology books have historically been, shall we say, a little dry and probably only of interest to a small subset of coaches. What Dan Abrahams has done is simplify the subject ( while respecting the scientific basis) such that this is one of the few books on the subject that I would recommend to players, parents and coaches. I might not give Soccer Tough to a 12 year old but I would certainly give it to thoughtful 14 year old. Another pleasing aspect of the book is that while the concepts are backed by copious research the practical implementation is pretty simple and stress free: create mirror neurons by thoughtfully watching a game;10,00 hours of practice; how to deal with a perfectionist streak. My favorite chapter was the discussion "fire in the belly and ice in the mind." I think he's right but had never thought about it like that. Perhaps the best compliment I could give the book is that although I consider myself a pretty thoughtful coach, as I read through I began to see and understand my players a little more clearly.Its hard to play simply, but i think Dan Abrahams has done a pretty good job of trying.

For the last year or so, I have been following football psychologist, Dan Abrahams, on twitter @danabrahams77. I eagerly awaited his book and was not disappointed. Dan has written a cleanly delivered, insightful and ultimately useful book for aspiring players and coaches. As a sports psychologist, Abrahams has worked with high level players to develop a positive self-image that fuels consistent elite performance. In Soccer Tough, he has created a psychological tool box for players and coaches of all levels to understand how their mind works in the pressured environment of high level football, and techniques to improve a players psychological state to produce their best football. As the father of a youth footballer, I will encourage my son to read the book. Many times as I was reading I thought of specific instances where Dan's techniques would have served him well. As a basketball coach, I see the univeral qualities of these techniques to any sport and how I may use them to help my players play their best. Well done mate.Brian Pinkfbgmcoaches.com

I picked up this book looking to better understand some of the intricacies of sports psychology as it relates to soccer. This quickly became one of my favorite books on the subject. It provides a clear picture of what you can do as a coach or player to make sure your mental game matches the physical one.The book is well organized and easy to understand. It presents some rather big ideas in a way that makes sense for a soccer player by using real examples of Dan Abrahams' work with top level players. Even if you were already a strong mental player, you would be hard pressed to not find something in this book to help you develop as a player.I would recommend this book to anyone involved in soccer but also to any athletes or coaches in any sport. You will find easy techniques to improve your game and give you a mental edge at any level.

I recently took over a High School team. We saw solid improvements last season, but finished lower than we were capable of. Why? (here's the top four) :1) Trying too hard to win Players too amped up, working very hard - but not making the best decisions2) "We can't beat these guys" when facing the top teams in the league.3) Trying to influence parts of the game you simply can't, and getting frustrated.4) Getting "psyched out" by dominating players on the opposition.Soccer Tough addresses all of this and more. Using simple, easy to implement, and proven techniques, both players and coaches can approach the game with far more confidence and composure. This fosters an intelligent and more consistent high level of play that not only brings better results, but makes this game more enjoyable to play and watch.Buy this - you'll be glad you did!

I have read numerous sports psychology books - including those directly related to soccer - and this is one of the best! I've followed Dan Abrahams on Twitter for some time and have enjoyed his insights to the game. This book goes way beyond that in terms of how we can use these different techniques to help players. From a coaches perspective, I enjoyed the fact that there are exercises that we can use with our own players - along with snippets that players can read themselves and get in touch with the mental side of the game. A nice bonus is to read Dan's insight to working with the best players in the English Premiership and see what it has done for those players. Overall, I would highly recommend the book for players, coaches, or even parents who are looking at getting an edge on performance with work on the mental side of the game.

The book's basic aim is to get players to rid themselves of negative thought because, truthfully, negativity can be the largest contributor to a poor performance on the pitch. Abrahams outlines a common-sense approach to dealing with negativity and discusses how the constant repetition of positive self-speech and confident movement can eventually bring relaxation and joy to a player's game. I liked this book and would recommend it to anyone suffering from a little performance anxiety out there on the pitch. And even if you're completely at ease with yourself out there, it may still be worth a read.

Got this book this past week and I've read it 2x already. Really great tools to use on the pitch. My 10 yr old has also begun to read and incorporate into his play. Highly recommend

I’ve been reading his book with my son who’s an academy football player. He is really finding it useful and developing a positive mindset and great mental attitude towards his games. The way it’s written and broken into small sections is perfect to read and discuss.There are sections on professional sportsmen that we’ve enjoyed reading about and comparing.If you need to build your confidence or self esteem in sport then this book is a must!

I'd followed Dan on twitter for some time and was always intrigued by the 140 characters so this book was a must for me. It has exceeded my expectations by some margin.After only a few chapters I was changing the way I spoke to my players pre-game and the results were apparent straight away in the way they carried themselves on the pitch. This book is going on my suggested reading list over Xmas break.One of the things I loved about this book is that it is written in every day, easy to understand language meaning every reader will be able to take it all in. My team are u14 and I believe they will get so much from this book. I told Dan about being on a course with were the presenter talked about bringing fitness, nutrition, psychology into 'the football world' and that is exactly what he has done here. It is not a psychology book with a football leaning, it's a football book!I can see myself reading chapters of this book over and over to help in my preparation for training, games and team talks.

I first came across Dan's work during a conversation with the @coachingfamily on Twitter surrounding issues with player's confidence and how we as coaches could try to help rebuild it. Dan's website was suggested as the first port of call and after downloading his free psychology book I was immediately impressed by Dan's approach and his use of visualisation techniques and keywords to create a players "soccer image". This was in the main due to the way that Dan presents the techniques in a simple straight forward way that players can relate to. I'm pleased to say that his new book Soccer Tough continues in the same vein.The book itself is set out logically and mirrors the format of a football match. The first half concentrates on creating your soccer image or mindset and how this translates into your self belief based around 3 principles of memory, imagination and perception.There's a half time break which; in keeping with how half time talks should be, is a brief summary of what's been covered in the first half and a look forward to what the second will bring. The second half further explores ways to build confidence and focus; it talks about training effectively and looks to further enhance a player's mindset. Of particular note is the concept of building a player's Match script based around a focus philosophy of: "The me, the now, the script"It's really fascinating and more importantly thought provoking stuff!The mini case studies presented on professionals Dan has worked with alongside the examples set by famous figures from within the game give players real life examples to relate to. After all if these methods and practices are good enough for professionals at the top of their game then surely any other prospective footballer will benefit?The book in the main is directed at players from all levels but it's also a valuable resource for coaches. Our job is to help players become the best they can be so by helping them mentally as well as physically both the coach and the player will be all the better for it. It's not a one stop shop to fix players mentality and resolve any confidence issues but it will certainly help set them on the right road and help them to cope with future challenges.I'd thoroughly recommend this book to any coach or player who wants to improve their or their team's performance. Coupled with the CD that is available on Dan's website it's been a useful addition to my coaching armoury and has been warmly welcomed by my players many of whom who have since purchased their own copy!

I have never given much thought to the world of sport psychology, naturally I was sceptical about purchasing Soccer Tough. "Mindset: the origin of performance and victim of performance" I adore this quote and I believe this neatly sums up Dan's fundamental principle. Soccer Tough is concise, thought provoking and most importantly every football player can relate to this book. Dan Abrahams breaks down the book into chapters which introduce readers with simple cues to manage and hone their mindset for maximum efficiency. The book demonstrates the brains natural tendencies to focus on the negative with examples from case studies and analogies, enabling you to recognise the flaws of your own mindset and correct them. Soccer Tough provides an inner script to allow the brain to remain focused throughout matches, harness visualisation and building confidence.I cannot stress how great this book is, it is well written, structured and evocative. Do not have doubts about purchasing Soccer Tough, you will regret it if you do not read this book !

I've coached football for around ten years and never really though much about the psychology of players. This book was not only a really good read, but also very informative and I have used a lot of what I read to encourage players to approach matches and training differently. It also made me think more about what I say when I am coaching and preparing players for matches. I would recommend this book to all coaches and players.