Mentality mentors for talented teens

WSC: Who is the program aimed at and how were the participants selected to take part?

KG: Our mentorship program is aimed at girls 12 and up. We find that at around age 12, female athletes are beginning to feel the pressure of competitive soccer already.

Most girls hit adversity closer to 13 or 14 and begin to create bad mindset habits at this time.

We try to work with them at a younger age to provide tools for preventing bad habits, rather than working with them at 18+ and fixing the bad habits around their sense of self later.

WSC: What does the program involve? What can those taking part expect from it?

KG: The program is centered around six themes: self-awareness, self-talk, self-care, body image, response to failure and goal-setting.

Each theme is one week of content that we roll out through Google Classroom, because it is the platform that most female athletes are used to using from their own school environment.

All players aged 12 and up can sign up for it. As I say, we feel competitive players aged 12+ benefit most from it.

WSC: How many players have been involved so far and what has the feedback been like? 

KG: We had a cohort of 28 players this past round. We kept it fairly small as it was our second round, we wanted to make sure it was the right timeframe and we had enough mentors without it feeling too generic or impersonal.

WSC: Why is it so important to provide these mentorship opportunities for young female players in particular?

KG: This program is severely needed among female soccer players. Our players are thrust into a system that isn’t set up for their social, emotional and mental wellbeing, but rather for their technical and physical skills to flourish only.

They are expected to be mentally strong despite never getting the opportunity to discuss and practice these concepts openly with anyone.

When a female athlete connects with another female who has been in her shoes, on the outside of her normal environment, it can be very powerful for these young players.

Most teenage female players feel very isolated in their experience and knowing they are not really alone in how they are feeling and seeing someone who has found success and made their way through it, can be a very empowering experience.

WSC: What are the future plans for the program?

KG: We plan to continue offering this program throughout the year, both in summer and winter for now.
As time goes on, our hope is to offer it year-round and provide mentors for many players. 

Our goal is to always remain about connection.

There are a lot of great apps and other services available for mental-skills training but we find that, with female athletes, mentorship connection, representation and visibility can take them to new heights of success.

 

You can find out more about Female Footballers and the mentorship programme via www.femalefootballers.org

 

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CASE STUDY - FEEDBACK FROM A MENTEE

"I scored a header this weekend - for the other team. I was trying to clear a ball out. The score was now 3-2 with five minutes left in the game. 

 

"I was upset. I was exhausted. I was on the verge of tears. Then I thought to myself: ’I’m gonna get that goal back!’.

"I did everything I could and created three chances in the last few minutes - and one of those chances ended in the tying goal, exactly one minute and 50 seconds after my own goal.

"I was so relieved and proud of myself for not letting that lowlight ruin my mindset. I owe a lot to Female Footballers and [mentor and former Bayern Munich player] Gina Lewandowski (pictured right) for helping me all summer to prepare for moments like this."

 

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