Athlete Mindset

Well done to Ossett Town U9 Panthers who won the Liversedge Cup 2026 🏆⚽

The boys showed fantastic resilience throughout the tournament and demonstrated real determination in some tough moments. Their attitude and togetherness ultimately led them to the final where they produced a brilliant performance to win 2-0 👏

Having worked with many of these players previously, it was brilliant to see them applying some of the tools, habits and information we’ve spoken about over time.

Seeing players grow in confidence, compete and enjoy their football is what it’s all about.

A massive well done to all of the players, coaches and parents involved 👊🏆⚽

Parent Workshop Reflection 🤔💭

Last night we ran a parent workshop for netball parents to explore the journey their child is on - and more importantly, what they want that journey to look like.

One of the big themes…
Parents often say it’s about development, enjoyment, and confidence, but, in the moment, it can quickly shift to results, selection, and performance.

We also spoke about the role of a parent. Put simply:
• You’re not the coach; your child already has one of those.
• Your role is to create a safe, positive environment—
before the game, during the game, and after the game.

That means:
• Before - reduce pressure / create happy environment
• During - let them.play & support
• After - connect & reflect

Being a parent of a young athlete today is demanding. There’s more pressure, more noise, and more comparison than ever before. Yet very few parents are ever shown how to navigate it in a way that truly supports their child.

If last night did anything, we hope it:
✓ Reinforced what parents are already doing well
✓ Challenged a few habits
✓ Or simply gave a fresh perspective

Because the environment around a young athlete…
matters more than we think!

Reflection isn't an opportunity to criticise or beat yourself up. It's a LEARNING ACCELERATOR!

Most post match reviews focus on outcome -
Win or loss.
Good or bad.
Effort or intensity.

That does not change perception behaviour.

Learning science revolves around prediction error. The gap between what the player expected and what actually happened drives adaptation.

Post game reflection should examine:
• What did you expect to happen?
• What cue did you miss?
• When did your decision timing slip?
• How did emotion affect perception?

Without structured reflection, errors repeat because they are never cognitively processed.

If players train and play without reviewing their perception decisions, the same mistakes will keep on happening.

Reflection is the missing multiplier to understanding and development.

On Saturday we delivered a Mindset & Resilience Workshop for a local netball club.

The session focused on mindset and resilience — two areas that are just as important to develop as the physical, technical and tactical sides of sport.

We spoke about what mindset actually means and the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset, and how the way we think can influence how we perform and respond in different situations.

A big focus of the session was on resilience as a superpower for athletes.
In sport, players will always face challenges — mistakes, pressure, emotions, fatigue, setbacks and outside influences. The key isn’t avoiding these things, but learning how to deal with them and respond positively rather than sitting in the moment for too long.

We explored the six areas that test resilience in sport and then looked at some simple tools and habits that can help players build resilience over time.

Just like improving technically or physically, mindset is something that needs to be trained and worked on consistently.

Hopefully the girls took away a few ideas they can start to apply in training, games and everyday life. Even if they remember and use just one or two things, that’s a great starting point.

Following the workshops, we will also be running four online sessions for the players which will cover additional areas of mindset and cognition.

These sessions will help the players piece everything together and continue developing their mindset over time.

No training tonight unfortunately for some of the RTC age groups, so we used the time as an opportunity to run a couple of Mindset & Cognition workshops.

The first session focused on pre, peri and post-game routines for our youngest groups — the U7s and U8s. It was brilliant to see 30+ players listening, engaging and interacting. If they can take just one small idea from each stage and start using it, then the session has been a success.

The second session focused more on the cognitive side of the game with the U11s and U12s. Just like mindset, cognition is a massive part of football and it’s something that can be trained and developed. The best players are often the ones who are cognitively ahead of others.

We spoke about the steps to football intelligence, including:
👀 Scanning & perception
🧠Anticipation
🤔 Decision making
⚙️ Ex*****on

At the end of the session the U11s also mentioned that they’ve been starting games slowly recently, so we discussed a few simple mental and physical strategies they could use to help start games faster.

I know the U11s and U12s were disappointed not to train tonight, especially with some big games coming up this weekend, but hopefully everyone took something useful away from the evening.

Remember: You are what you think 🧠💭⚽

How good is this...

Last week we ran a workshop with some of the RTC boys focused on what it means to be a good teammate — looking at mindset, behaviours, and how we support those around us to get the best out of each other.

Tonight one of the boys showed us his notes and told us he has revisited them… that’s not just listening — that’s ownership. That’s mindset development in action.

It shows curiosity, commitment, and a genuine desire to improve — which is often the real separator, not just technique.

Well done Thomas and keep striving to be your best 👊⚽

Post-game routines aren’t about over-coaching kids.

They’re about helping young players build:
✓ Better thinking
✓ Better emotional control
✓ Better resilience
✓ Better long-term confidence

The game teaches lessons. Post-game routines make sure kids actually learn them.

And that’s real development. 👊🏼⚽