Mental breaks in the sport that never takes one

Turn on the television this week and chances are you’ll stumble across some top-flight soccer (or football, depending on where you’re watching) competition.

The semifinals are underway in both the Euro 2024 tournament in Germany and the Copa America ’24 hosted by the United States. Both tournaments are crucial barometers and dress rehearsals for the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted unilaterally by the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The final fours of both tournaments are littered with football royalty, and with alphabeats’ Dutch roots we would be lying if we weren’t a little biased about today’s Euro clash between The Netherlands and England (3 p.m., FOX). Oranje has been led by the play of goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, who at 21 years old is the youngest keeper to play in the Euros in 60 years. Bart is also the type of athlete we love at alphabeats. Why? He gets the importance of your mental game in sports (he’s been working with sports psychologists since he was 15.)

Needless to say, these regional tournaments rank second only to the World Cup in prestige and thus put pressure on their players to perform at their peak both physically and mentally. But they also speak to a part of the beautiful game that often gets taken for granted – the unrelenting nature of the annual football calendar.

As the Euros build to their crescendo, training camps for the 2024-25 Premier League season are already underway. In North America, the summer schedule of Major League Soccer kicked off back in March, making the Copa America a midseason departure for those on national teams.

Let’s say you’re a top-flight English men’s footballer whose talents earn spots on both a Premier League side as well as the English National Team. A typical year for you likely includes the following:

• The Premier League Season, which is 38 matches from August-May preceded by a training camp
• The UEFA Champions League season, which matches top teams from first division leagues across Europe
• The FA Cup tournament, which is open to every single organized football club in England
• The League Cup tournament, which consists of clubs from the top four divisions of English football
• The World Cup or World Cup Qualifying, something every country outside of the host nation and defending champion has to navigate
• A major regional tournament like the Euros 2024
• International friendlies for the English National Team
• International friendlies for your Premier League club

All of that occurs before you make a single promotional or goodwill appearance on behalf of your club or national team, not to mention the year-round routine maintained to stay in playing shape. It goes to show that football is about as close to a high pressure “regular job” as it gets, which has led to many elite football clubs integrating mental performance coaching. 

For instance, many English Premier League clubs now employ psychologists as part of their support staff while academy teams are obligated to have a full-time psychologist as part of the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP). The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) also offers mental health workshops and provides ongoing care, including a 24/7 helpline for players.

Steve Sallis, a mindset coach who has worked with England Under-15s, AFC Wimbledon, and Cardiff City, said in a recent article in The Athletic, “A professional player might wake up on a Saturday and feel like a six out of 10, but the fans are expecting them to be 10 out of 10 technically, tactically, physically and psychologically — every week.”

In this kind of an environment, finding effective ways to maintain peak mental performance is crucial. Ready to elevate your game? Join us at alphabeats and discover how our neurofeedback and music integration can transform your mental training. Because when you train your mind, you can achieve anything.