What does the psychological program of the academy contain, what goals does it compose?
In our academy, the most important aspect is the continuous development of our players. Accordingly my aim is to measure annually the cognitive functions of our footballers and based on the results, we set development goals together with the coaches. Besides I consider the improvement of the sense of responsibility of today’s generation important, therefore I hold group sessions in this topic for the key age groups. Finally, as part of our talent development program, during small group sessions children learn techniques that are designed to help them to perform in a balanced way both in sports and in other fields of life.
As a psychologist, how can you help the children, what kind of problems do they turn to you?
I don’t want to be a professional, who „drinks wine and preaches water”. I consider the incorporation of my more than 30 years of football experience into my psychological work important. I also suffered, when I wasn’t in the starting eleven, although I felt like I was preparing in every training session with maximum effort. I was also thinking of giving up football and set off for a different direction. I was also anxious before the matches, which I had to learn to turn to my advantage. Today’s young generation is dealing with the same problems, therefore creditibility is the most important thing to me.
Would you mention a case, where as a result of your work one of the young players was able to achieve a better on-pitch performance?
A psychologist is not a miracle maker, only with the help of me, none of the footballers will have a better on-pitch performance. It’s a shared commitment, where the basic goal is for the player to become more aware of his own functioning. Performance can fluctuate, just as anyone could have a good or a bad day. The point is that, the athlete learns how to turn a failure to his own advantage, to learn from it. I wouldn’t mention a specific case in terms of performance improvement, as I tell to every footballer that the more work you put in to achieve your goals, the more you will be able take out from it.
Is there an example of you seeing a child having problems and then going to him and helping him?
I grew up on the football pitch and I have always been sensitive to the vibrations of my fellow players. In most cases, only from a single movement or a manifestation of a football player, you can feel that there is something wrong. However, timing is important and the psychological quality requires discretion, so have to take care of when and how I address the player. Some open almost immediately, some turn to me weeks later. It has already happened that, I have signaled my intention to help, but he didn’t want it and was able to solve it on his own. Basically, the players turn to me, and my door is literally open to them.
How can the coaches benefit from your work, do you deal with them separately?
The coach can be considered as a second reference point after the parent, similar to the teachers. A supportive coach with developmental point of view can get the best out of a child with weaker abilities. That’s why I consider the effective communication with the coaches important. The same is true for my relationship with the parents. I strive to build mutual respect with the coaches working at the academy, so they can and they do turn to me bravely with questions about their team or their own operations. Every one of us has to see clearly that not everyone can be a professional football player. Therefore we have to raise children for life both at home and at school as well as on the football field. In my opinion this can be achieved by acquiring the continuous developmental approach.
Source: http://szeged-csanad.hu/wp content/uploads/2020/10/Toronyirany_2020-04_p01-24_LR.pdf
