trying out

Question
QUESTION: hey, I plan on trying out for my collegiate level football team after never playing in high school. You might laugh and say I'm crazy but i really want to try, at least begin on Special Teams and work my way up to living my dream of playing Free Safety. What can I do to physically and mentally prepare myself for this? I am pretty athletic, and very motivated.

ANSWER: Hi Ricky,

Yes, that's a big goal, and people who are absolutely committed achieve big goals all of the time.  What I would ask a client in your situation is this: what do you want, what will that do for you, and HOW BAD DO YOU WANT IT. Are you willing to pay the price?  To overcome your competition, you not only need to impress the coaches, but you need to blow them away with your skills, knowledge, fitness, commitment and determination.  The fitness, skills and knowledge can be addressed by others on this forum.  The commitment and determination, that comes from inside.  A lot of it boils down to one word: CONFIDENCE.  

I would suggest for you that you ramp up your motivation even higher and make getting on the team your world. Learn self-hypnosis and program yourself to get and stay in a success frame of mind.  Make a "success book" where you put down lots of your past successes in other areas, and look at it every day when you wake up and before you go to sleep.  This builds an "I can do it" mental framework and keeps you excited.  When you are feeling down or discouraged or begin to doubt yourself, look at your success book to remind yourself that you've succeeded a lot in life.  Surround yourself with football.  Eat, sleep and dream football.  Build tremendous excitement for football.  Coaches see this, because they can tell by what you do and how you do it whether you are really serious.  This helps them decide whether they should invest their time and resources in you.

Good luck, work hard, and let us know how it goes.

David Kenward, The Mental Coach
http://www.thementalcoach.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: where exactly can i find information on how to improve skills knowledge (ESPECIALLY knowledge) of the game? I really would like to know. THANKS

Answer
Hi Ricky, thanks for your follow-up question.  Physical skills knowledge/training is outside my area of expertise.  BUT, the other experts in the Football Instruction ARE experts in what you are asking.  Please ask them your follow-up question - they'll be able to help you.

Best regards,  David

David Kenward, The Mental Coach
www.thementalcoach.com
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