confidence of the players as
individuals and as a team.
When working on confidence
it is important to practice the
things you are good at. To
ignore your strengths is to
ignore why you are special. To
develop or improve
confidence is also to
accept your strengths,
and be willing to
attribute success to
yourself. Can you say,
“I am good at that”, or
“It‟s what makes me
special”. This is an
“interesting paradox”
for Girls and Women
in general says Lauren
Gregg, the national
team‟s assistant coach. “There
is a tendency for Women to
defer their success to someone
else or to the team, and then
take responsibility for loss or
failure themselves”.
“We live in a
gendered society”, says
Colleen Hacker, the national
team‟s sport psychologist.
“Each gender attributes their
success differently. For
instance, males attribute
success to internal factors – „I
won because I‟m good. I got
the job because I‟m talented‟.
Ask a female why she got the
job, and she‟ll say, „I don‟t
know, there were all these
good people. I kind of lucked
out.‟ Women will also credit
success to luck – „I was at the
right place in the right time, I
feel fortunate‟ – words like
that. When you ask men why
they failed, you‟ll hear, „It was
a stupid test.‟ „Why didn‟t you
get picked? „The coach
already made his mind up‟.” It
is okay to attribute your
success to your ability. You‟ll
feel better, you‟ll feel proud,
and it affects your confidence.
As the season progressed the
team grew in confidence, and
believed they were good
players and could win.
Towards the end of the season
the team had a swagger on the
field, and without arrogance
went unbeaten in the
remaining four games, scoring
13 goals and conceding one
single goal. Belief and
confidence were the key
ingredients.
At 17 years old, in
1998, I took my first coaching
award with The English
Football Association (F.A). I
began teaching young soccer
players with the main aim of
making soccer fun and
educational, fostering the
character and confidence of
the young player. Twelve years
later this is still my main aim.
Brooklyn Friends
School has not been known
for having a „successful‟ Girls
soccer team. Six wins in five
years would support that
claim. But after our first
season together where
the team broke several
school records, for „Most
goals scored in a
season(23)‟, „Least goals
conceded in a
season(32)‟, „Most wins in
a season(5)‟ and finishing
with the best record in
the last 5 years I am
confident to state… We
are BFS Girls Soccer, and we
are driven to achieve a
winning season in 2011, and
we are going to have fun doing
it! A new era has begun…
BLUE PRIDE RUNS DEEP,
FRIENDS FOREVER!