Tips to Increase Inner Power for Women Soccer

For some female soccer players, inner strength seems to be a given. For others, strength must be built over time. Even as a great a player as Mia Hamm was famous for her bouts of loss of confidence and noted that "the most important attribute a player must have is mental toughness." Hamm was part of a legendary U.S. women's national team that pioneered the use of sports psychology at the team level and considered mental skills as important as physical ones.
Step 1
Take the pressure off yourself and take your soccer game a step at a time, as women's coach Tony DiCicco once had to tell a sobbing Hamm during a scoring slump. Attempt incremental improvements in your physical and mental game, as Hamm did when she evolved from hiding in fear during penalty kicks to demanding the ball for them.
Step 2
Listen to motivational phrases on a CD or MP3 player or play your own mental video of confidence-inspiring moments when you made a save, scored or otherwise contributed. Visualize yourself succeeding due to your patience, acumen and fitness. Kristine Lilly, Hamm's teammate, listened to phrases on audio recordings that include "I will make an impact," "I want the ball" and "I made a difference," Jere Longman writes in his book "The Girls of Summer: The U.S. Women's Soccer Team and How It Changed the World."
Step 3
Develop your strength and fitness to the best of your ability to create mental confidence. Lilly describes a mantra of noting that she wants to be one of the fittest players of the field, which gives her the confidence that she can outlast her opponent.
Step 4
Develop your internal road map to what works for your own successful soccer performance. Recall a time when you were on the field and performing at your highest level, advises the National Academy of Sports Medicine in "NASM Essentials of Sports Performance Training." Ask yourself what you did to perform at your highest level. Follow this process to understand your ideal mindset during peak play. Become your own expert on what works when you are facing a stressful or decisive moment when you are "required to rely on personal inner strength and wisdom," the NASM suggests.
Step 5
Focus on the present to perform your best. Ask yourself what you can do to increase your physical intensity and mental intensity while simultaneously staying calm. Ask also what you can focus on to bring out your personal best and "what can you say to yourself right now to generate confidence," the NASM recommends. Engage in positive self-talk "to retain confidence and the mind-set of a winner," writes Bill Beswick in "Focused for Soccer."