2010 World Cup. Great teams rise to the top.
It’s well known that negative feedback can affect a players performance. Brazil weren’t favourites to win in 1970. They hadn’t played well in 1966 and it seemed the majority of their supporters doubted the teams ability to improve on that performance. Even their coach questioned their abilities to form an effective team because he considered the top players to be too similar in their abilities. In sports psychology terms, the players were subject to a great deal of negative external feedback.
So how did they prevent that negativity from affecting their performance? A change of coach in the last few months before the start of the 1970 World Cup gave players the opportunity to make decisions - decisions that provided a powerful source of positive internal feedback, and in effect defined the team. Adjustments were made and playing positions changed to create a team that made the very most of its strengths.
That’s the key right there, the team made decisions. The players - that powerful mix of seasoned professionals with top level experience and youthful talent with boundless energy - worked with their coach to develop a team in which everyone could play to the best of their ability; a team that they, the players and their coach, could believe in. They knew their strengths, they believed in their abilities, and they went out there knowing what they had to do as a team. Sports psychology wasn’t a common practice in 1970 but what they achieved is now known in sports psychology terms as team spirit.
If you’re a coach hoping to produce a winning team, understanding the importance of developing the sort of team spirit seen in the World Cup winning team of 1970 is crucial. Sports psychology 2 can show you how.
-
Sign up below to receive your
FREE copy of The 7 Keys
and our newsletter,
The Winning Edge:
We will never share your information with anyone. Ever.