They might be wealthy, earning what some see as ridiculous amounts of money, but England’s top footballers are ‘intrinsically unmotivated’ have to find ways to cope with ‘enormous anxiety’ and ‘self doubt’, says their manager Gareth Southgate.
The BBC reported that the England manager had told the Boarding Schools Association conference overpaid players were losing their hunger by getting too much money too early in their careers.
“The biggest problem is that we reward boys without them having had success. We’re taking some of that motivation away,” he said, adding that the national team also faced pressures from unrealistic public expectations. Southgate said players needed to be able to shake off their inhibitions and fears about playing for England and that there have been growing concerns about mental health problems within sport.
“I think the danger is that we forget how we might win – and under pressure, we’ve reverted to worrying about what will happen if we lose. What kind of reaction will we get?”
There have been growing concerns about mental health problems within sport and he added that one of the biggest challenges was to get players, who are successful and comfortable in their club teams, to feel relaxed and integrated in a national squad.
Arriving at the England camp for the first time was an intimidating experience and even having dinner was an ordeal, he said and for modern players ‘the tendency is to go back to their rooms as quickly as possible’.
In the England set-up, he said the women’s team are much better at talking about their feelings under pressure, but the men’s team was hard work as ‘they don’t want to show weakness in front of each other’.
Being open about mental health issues like stress and anxiety is important and clinical hypnotherapy can help people overcome these issues and face what life throws at them, says the National Council for Hypnotherapy, which has almost 2,000 highly-trained therapists across the UK.
The NCH points out that clinical hypnotherapy can be used to treat a wide range of issues including stress, anxiety, lack of self confidence, panic attacks and sports performance, and during the initial session the therapist will take detailed history and discuss what the problems are.
“Using a range of different techniques, your hypnotherapist will relax you, make you feel comfortable and work with you towards achieving your goal. After a session you may feel uplifted, lighter and very relaxed.
“Often change is very subtle, as your hypnotherapist will be working with your subconscious mind, and you may just notice a very positive shift in how you are feeling.”
Hypnotherapy experiences a high success rate in dealing with such issues, says the NCH, adding: “It is as if hypnotherapy unlocks the potential you have to break free of negative thought patterns, and to react more positively and more confidently.”
Talking about his team’s perception of themselves, Southgate said: “We need belief, but realistic belief. What is possible? We’re 14th in the world at the moment.”
But he warned that millionaire youngsters were getting the wrong message from huge rewards before they had achieved any success.
“They are intrinsically unmotivated; they lose a bit of an edge. We’re at fault as a sport and we could have changed that. They are intrinsically unmotivated, they lose a bit of an edge,” said Southgate.