How To Improve Serge Aurier
How To Improve Serge Aurier
"Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside of them - a desire, a dream, a vision." - Muhammad Ali
Mentality determines your effort, so let's reference 1990's Irish comedian, Dave Allen who had a show on the BBC.
I'm loving what I'm hearing from Jose Mourinho who is adding positivity to the squad, as Mauricio Pochettino did, but in a different way.
To begin today, I would remind you to read and understand the message from Muhammad Ali, the best boxer of all time.
Then let's go to Irish comedian Dave Allen speaking on BBC in the 90's in one of his shows.
"We need stress to give us the energy to allow us to do the things that we want to achieve, yet in our society, what we actually do creates stress.
"We have the energy but we don't know how to how to get rid of it.
"For example, in prehistoric times an ancient man, well not so much an ancient man because the lifespan of prehistoric man was only about 22 years of age so he couldn't be a 22 year old ancient man, but if this ancient man was walking down a path, gonna round a corner and there was a saber-toothed tiger there, he would immediately go into stress.
"Now what actually happens to the body is that the brain, the hormones and the sympathetic nervous system come into operation to give you great energy, great strength and energy to deal with the situation that has been caused by the stress.
"In this situation the prehistoric man through that energy would have enough strength to pick up a boulder which in normal circumstances he couldn't even budge, pick up the bowler and fling this at the big long tooth pussycat.
"Or have enough strength to outrun the beast or even leap up ten feet into a tree where the other saber-toothed tiger is waiting, but by doing all this you see they get rid of their energy."
Ok that's a comical look but the basis of what he is saying there is true.
You do have those reactions, you do generate energy.
Remember Jose Mourinho talking after a game, the Arsenal game I think, about how tired the players were mentally, physically while the Arsenal players were rested.
Remember him talking about mentality and where players had to find the energy through anxiety to defeat a fresher opponent.
Arsenal were that sabre-toothed tiger, they were the woolly mammoth.
Spurs players were the ancient man.
How you manage pressures can distinguish you as a leader and give you an advantage.
Worry is just a feeling.
The heightened reaction to worry, tension in the body, heart racing, is an indicator of how much you care about the task you are about to do, how important it is.
This anxiety (worry) either overtakes you or you harness it to increase your level of performance.
If you look at anxiety in the wrong way then performing becomes a battle, your judgement is affected,decisions are slower.
Is that any good for a footballer?
Before the Premier League every final was a question of how each player would react to the pressure, some handles it, some stars couldn't.
If you grasp that anxiety is simply telling you the importance of a task, then you can master it, channel it, like ancient man.
The anxiety can disappear quickly if you look at it right or stay with you if you fret, if you fight it, if you feed it.
That limits your ability to think which obviously impairs your performance.
Your brains works much better in positive than negative, neutral, or stressed mode.
Do you think our players would improve if they were taught this by professionals,how to handle anxiety?
We wouldn't make so many individual mistakes, we wouldn't bottle the big occasion and it doesn't cost a £60 million transfer fee and £100,000 a week wages, just a few thousand pounds.
If your brain is in positive mode it is ready to "broaden and build" thus handles more possibilities.
Now think of us around the box.
We are sometimes slow, side-to-side, more hoping for an opening than positively trying to create one.
We go into the wrong frame of mind.
Take the last 5 minutes of a game we are losing, we create all sorts of problems for sides having to defend, so why can't we do more of that sooner?
Mindset.
Why do we leave this important decision (how we see anxiety) to individual players who quite frankly know nothing bout this field?
Is a game a challenge or a threat?
You see plenty of our fans seeing games as a threat, the wrong outlook.
If you see a game in a positive light as a challenge, then the brain will activate rather than paralyze them.
It is a complete waste of time worrying about what you can't control, such as what other clubs spend, but our fans do.
Far too many people spend time feeling bad about things they simply can’t change, why?
If your brain is in positive mode it is ready to "broaden and build" thus handles more possibilities.
Now think of us around the box.
We are sometimes slow, side-to-side, more hoping for an opening than positively trying to create one.
We go into the wrong frame of mind.
Take the last 5 minutes of a game we are losing, we create all sorts of problems for sides having to defend, so why can't we do more of that sooner?
Mindset.
Why do we leave this important decision (how we see anxiety) to individual players who quite frankly know nothing bout this field?
Is a game a challenge or a threat?
You see plenty of our fans seeing games as a threat, the wrong outlook.
If you see a game in a positive light as a challenge, then the brain will activate rather than paralyze them.
It is a complete waste of time worrying about what you can't control, such as what other clubs spend, but our fans do.
Far too many people spend time feeling bad about things they simply can’t change, why?
Focus on the things you can control and you'll improve.
Do that and you'll instantly lower your stress levels.
Get yourself someone you can sound off to or talk problems through with is healthy, again a role the sports psychologist should take on.
They cut the rest out, much like you and I cut out the negative fans who have not been taught the formula for success.
Now talking can only do so much, you have to then apply and practice the teachings, then through experience you'll master, improve and produce better performances.
The panic cycle has to be broken, take Serge Aurier,we all see he panics in certain situation and makes silly challenges or makes poor clearances.
This is solely down to not handling stress properly and he isn't being taught the why of stress and the how to handle it, he is just left to his own devices in that respect.
I ask you, is that right in an era of sports science?
The improvements Spurs could make are huge in this field I feel and that will improve results on the field too.
If we want to win a trophy we have to first conquer stress.
COYS
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