I view soccer as a metaphor for life. Therefore, to teach soccer, I must teach life. I do not separate life from soccer. In my view, great life skills are necessary for great soccer skills. There is a principal I understand to be true for me and it is “I do what I do”. This means that what I do at home or elsewhere will most definitely show up on the soccer field. I cannot separate myself as a human being as being different in one place than I am in another. Personal empowerment as a human being is therefore necessary to be a great athlete. Personal empowerment through sport leads to personal empowerment in all of life, career, relationships, health, wealth etc or in fact vise versa.
So I teach personal empowerment and I have seen magnificent results on and off the field from the players I coach. To give you are idea of what personal empowerment may look like, I give you an example: the current 10 year old boys team I coach are focused on removing the limiting beliefs they have about themselves and each other. By removing the limiting beliefs, they realize that they are capable of much more. A limiting belief may be, I cannot head the ball, or I can never score, or my teammates don’t like me, or I never win, or I’m not good enough, or I’m not deserving, or a real popular one for the younger set, I hurt real easy and fall down and cry a lot because it gets me everything I need or think I need, etc. Remove these elements and watch out!! When a player realizes he/she is capable of much more, and they tell themselves many things that are not true, they generally want more and this leads them into greater ownership of their personal power.
When a player accepts that empowering themselves is just as important if not more important than learning soccer skills, techniques and strategies, they become more connected to and committed to the game and being a part of a dynamic team. Inevitably the change on the field means a change off the field, in all parts of their lives. And this is why I coach. When an individual becomes self empowered, the whole world benefits. I could not ask for anything more from what I do and how I serve my fellow human being.
I could write a book on empowerment techniques. I will save that for another day. I simply wish to expose the concept here.
I ask you to consider the impact to the players you coach in teaching life skills as well as technical or strategic skills. Ask yourself whether you are giving as much as you can to the players you coach. Are you aware of the impact that you have on the lives of those you coach and can you do better? Is it better to be honest with yourself about the real impact you have? Can you see that “I do what I do” is an important principal? What is showing up on the field for you, the coach or the player, is based on what happens everywhere.
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kh-67/3476743733/
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