Mental coaching activities in football this season
My mental coaching activities for football players have developed throughout my career, and it is with great pleasure that I will be embarking on my seventh season as a sports psychologist at the Sporting Charleroi youth academy. I will be working with the club’s young talents, whom I have been supporting for several years toward their first professional contracts. I will also be working with certain teams, as well as with individual players upon request.
All football players have the ambition to become professionals, but few are chosen. Awareness of the mental skills to be developed and the sacrifices to be made is essential.
Maintaining a balance isn’t always easy, and my role is multifaceted: psychological support, coaching, mental preparation for matches, recovery strategies, emotional regulation, maintaining focus during frustration, errors, or ball losses, confidence in duels, alternating between combative and relaxed states, managing situations when not (or less) selected for matches, and injury management. Collaboration with the coaching staff, particularly the head coach, is essential. While the bulk of the work is focused on mental preparation, psychological support, psychotherapy, or family support is sometimes necessary.
I also continue training for the ACFF (Association Francophone des clubs de football), where I train coaches on the psychological aspects of football: UEFA A training courses. The main thing is understanding the psychology of players but also the psychological issues in terms of communication (pre-match talks, half-time, debriefing, training, bench management, integration of young people, etc.)
