Confidence coach Tom Bushnell has worked with teams from the Premier League to the Blue Square South, including AFC Wimbledon’s reserve team, managed by Dons legend Marcus Gayle. Tom’s work has been featured across the national media.

You’ve worked with Premiership teams before. That division’s so tight this season; how would you help a struggling team low on confidence?
Chris Yeoman, via e-mail
Yes, I did some work with Leicester when they were a Premiership team. Since then I have developed a confidence-building programme specifically designed for teams – a “breakthrough session” to help them through the mental block of not winning.

I speak with the squad before the game and get them visualising times they have won in the past. I get them jumping on their toes and shouting “Yes”.

Their emotional state and confidence goes through the roof! A few minutes of this and the players start to feel fantastic and like they could beat anyone.

Then I take it up a notch to the breakthrough part. I take out a piece of wood 20 mm thick and I get myself into the zone, blood pumping and full of confidence.

I get a player to hold the wood out in front of me and – with a smile on my face – I smash through the wood with my bare hands … and it feels as euphoric as scoring the winning goal in the World Cup Final!

The players step up one by one and smash through the wood too. Everyone in the dressing room is now bursting with belief and confidence again, then they take to the pitch – and win the match.

This happened when I was hired by Millwall, then a Championship side. The day before a match at Watford, we broke some boards with the squad and they won the game 2-0.

When Cambridge United hired me, they’d been on a seven-game losing run, so Jimmy Quinn called me up.

This time we did the breakthrough session an hour before kick-off. They beat Woking 3-0 and went on a seven-game unbeaten run.

A couple of months ago, we did it again with Marcus Gayle’s AFC Wimbledon reserves.

We did the board-break session at the Thursday evening training session; two days later they won 4-1 away and went on an unbeaten run of five wins and a draw.

Marcus Gayle is a big believer in psychology within football, and that rubs off in a positive way with his players.

So that’s what I would do with a struggling side: implement a series of breakthrough sessions to quickly shift the mental momentum of the team, restore confidence and belief, and get them winning matches again.


Embroiled in a relegation battle? Forget the football - break wood

I’m a central midfielder and I haven’t scored for six years. Every time I get a chance I panic – I have no confidence. How I can change this?
Scott Anderson, via e-mail 
Practise mental rehearsal and guided imagery. Get into a relaxed state of mind; think of a time when you did score, and start to feel again how it felt to score.

Felt good, didn’t it? Start to increase the intensity of that good feeling, make the mental picture of you scoring the goal bigger and brighter, this should make the memory even stronger.

See what you saw, hear what you heard, and feel how good it is to score a goal. What did you do when you celebrated?

Run that through your mind as well, feel all the emotions that go with scoring and celebrating. Hold onto that feeling and at the same time make a fist and say “Yes” while seeing yourself scoring the goal and celebrating.
 
You now have a mental video clip of you scoring a goal that you can re-run whenever you want – and at the same time breath deeply, with chest out, shoulders back, head up and eyes slightly looking up, and make the fist and say “Yes!”

If you feel like you want to start jumping on your toes, do that and shout out “Yes!” if you like, just as if you have scored a goal!

Now you have a vivid memory and feeling of scoring a goal, I want you to keep that feeling and imagine you playing in your next match.

Imagine you have a goalscoring chance; make the fist, feel confident, strike the ball sweetly and see it fly into the top right-hand corner of the net, and shout “Yes!” Feels good, doesn’t it?

Now re-run this again in your mind, but this time make the fist, and hit the ball sweetly into the top left-hand corner.

Keep doing this with different situations and against different teams, have fun with it, and you’ll start scoring.

You can use the anchoring ‘fist’ technique by yourself mentally practise, but also in training and in the game.

When you need that extra bit of confidence, make the fist: the feelings of belief and confidence will come rushing back to you. Aim and fire, and you’ll score.
 

Rediscover your scoring touch

At my club all the teams train together. We have seven teams and I’m in one of the weaker sides, but I think I’m good enough to play a lot higher. However, in training I always try too hard and play rubbish. What should I do?
Wesley Lynch, via e-mail 
Let’s meet up and break some wood, that’ll definitely do the trick! Try the mental rehearsal and guided imagery exercise from the previous answer.

But also practise some breathing methods, like ‘Breath Walking’. This can be done a few minutes a day and will make a huge difference to your game and confidence.

What you do is go for a walk for five to 10 minutes. While walking take four breaths in through the nose and four breaths out through the mouth.

Keep doing this for a few minutes; if your nose runs a bit, that’s fine – it’s cleaning you out. This exercise oxygenates your system and means more blood goes to your brain and will actually alter your brain function in a positive way.

You start to feel clear, alert, calm and centred. Visualise yourself having more awareness around you in a training and match situation.

Visualise that you have more time on the ball and you play well – really well: your team-mates start to look to you as this newly confident player who is strong and calm on the ball but quick and decisive.

It’s great to give your all in training and in matches. Continue to do that – but now with the confidence and centeredness to go out and play with authority and dictate the game in the way you know you can.

Practise the breathing and visualisation and you will quickly see a huge improvement in your confidence and in your game.