Confidence, Week 4
Take It Forward
The month is closing. Help your child see how far they have come, small as it is this early; credit them for it, and connect it to life beyond football.
This week is about helping your child see the small shifts since week one and own them, a thing they now go for that they used to avoid. You are doing the same at home, and you are the one who can add the part that makes it stick: the link to life off the pitch.
Practice: The Full Kit
No new practice this week. By now, the players have all three confidence tools: their word, their bank, and their replay. Week four is about using the lot and carrying it forward. The banking does not stop at the end of the month; the word travels to the next hard thing, and the replay is the habit they keep for every big match from here. Remind them that the kit is theirs now and to keep using it long after this month is over.
How To Support your Child
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By now, your child has their full set of confidence tools: their word, their bank, and their replay. There is nothing new to add this week, so just keep them using what they have built, and keep noticing the change. Even in a few weeks, you might have spotted a small shift, a moment they went for something they would have hidden from before. Say it out loud, and put the credit on them and the work they put in.
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On the drive home: mark the few weeks, gently. Name one specific thing they did better than they would have at the start, and if it fits, draw the line to life: the nerve to go for it out there is the same nerve that helps in the classroom and everywhere else. Keep it honest to the timeline: a small real change, not a whole new kid.
What to say, and what to hold back
Say: "A few weeks ago you'd have hidden from that, and today you went for it. And that's not just a football thing." And credit the effort and the choice: "That took some nerve, and you stuck with it," the kind of praise that builds belief that lasts.
Hold back: overselling it into a transformation it is not yet. A few weeks is a small, real change, and naming it honestly means more than inflating it beyond what it is.
Resources
WWPIS — A Conversation with Elliott Newel
Sport psychologist specialising in building mental skills in young athletes across football, rugby, and Olympic and Paralympic sports—covers modelling emotional regulation and using daily life as teachable moments.
WWPIS — A Conversation with Dr Kate Hays
The FA's Head of Women's Performance Psychology, working with the Lionesses. Covers safe environments for kids to learn and make mistakes. Strong UK football credibility, though the content leans elite/pathway rather than grassroots.