(This page is the sales page for the SELF-PACED version of MMA only. For a full explanation and deep dive into everything the Mindset Mastery Academy has to offer, go here.)

What is the Mindset Mastery Academy?

The Mindset Mastery Academy is a 12-week mental skills program for youth soccer players. I started this program because I was seeing so many of my own players struggling to navigate some of the harder pieces of the competitive youth soccer world that they were a part of. The pressure and expectations that they were putting on themselves to produce certain results on the soccer field was taking a huge toll on not just their confidence and their performance, but on their sense of self-worth and their love for the game 😔 ⚽️💔

(Some quick background info on me. My name is Jenn Ireland, I’m a USSF C Licensed soccer coach and Mental Skills Coach. I founded Expand Your Game and the Mindset Mastery Academy in 2020 to help female soccer players enhance their performance and mental wellbeing. In addition to running my mental skills program I have also worked as the Mental Skills Coach for Minnesota Aurora FC (USL W League) and as the Mental Skills Coordinator at Berkshire Soccer Academy in Massachusetts. I have coached youth teams on the field at Seattle United, Chattanooga FC Academy and Sporting Nebraska.)

But NOW we are super excited to offer the same game-changing, transformational mental skills content in a self-paced, independent version! 🙌

SCROLL DOWN FOR SPECIFIC CURRICULUM DETAILS

"This program is exactly what our daughter needed. Technically she is a very sound player, however, lack of confidence really impeded her ability to apply that skill on the field. Through the Mindset Mastery Academy, she has unlocked her potential and is truly enjoying the game even more. She learned how to set controllable objectives – freeing herself of the outcome of the game. She worked on self talk, learning how to coach herself into the right headspace for championship games (which came into play twice recently). We are THRILLED at how she is now able to play with the confidence and skill set we always knew she had. We HIGHLY recommend the Mindset Mastery Academy to anyone seeking to improve their game."

- Shannon and Conn, parents of 2010 ECNL player

Curriculum Outline

Unit 1 - Building a foundation

Lesson 1 Topic: You are MORE than a soccer player

Week 1 is all about establishing a baseline for where players are currently at in regards to their mental performance skillset and how they view themselves. They will be introduced to some of the vocabulary and themes that we will be working with throughout the mentorship. Players will begin the MMA program with foundational self-reflection work in this first week. They will be exploring their performance and relational skills and starting to see that who they are as a person is ultimately what will drive their success in the long run.

This week's conversation will help players understand that they are more than an athlete and that allowing their identity and self-worth to get tied to how they perform as a player, instead of to their character, can be detrimental both to their game and to their wellbeing. Players will engage in activities in this lesson to start identifying what type of person they want to be known as and learn how choosing to show up as that person will actually help them play better soccer, cultivate self-belief and most importantly, enjoy the game more. When players are given the space to learn about themselves and focus on identity and character development alongside their soccer game, they come to see their worth beyond the bounds of their performance - understanding this is crucial to the mental skills work we will do inside of this program.

Unit 1 - Building a foundation

Lesson 2 Topic: Growing your self-awareness

Week 2 is all about starting the hard work of growing self-awareness through reflection & guided discovery questions. Self-awareness is the foundation of mental skills expansion because without it we are unable to see things objectively and begin the process of change. This week's session will start by introducing players to the concept of 'the default mode'. For many players, self-doubt, the inner critic, perfectionism and overthinking ARE THE DEFAULT MODE. Meaning that when players aren't being diligent about protecting their mental space, their brain automatically has a negative bias - especially in the environment of pressure, expectations, and comparison culture that have become a consistent part of competitive sports.

This week's conversation will help players understand that they can OPT-OUT of this. They do not have to listen to their default mode. They have a lot more power than they think they do - and it all starts with the nonjudgmental awareness of their thoughts. Once players are able to notice when they are actively overthinking, or actively self-defeating in any way, they are ALREADY PROGRESSING, because this is the only place they can effectively start to use any intentional self-talk or mental skills tool. This is the only place they can start to be their OWN-BEST-INNER-COACH.

Unit 2 - Tuning into the controllables

Lesson 3 Topic: Navigating the pressure

Week 3 is a big week for self-discovery, perhaps the hardest lesson in this program. This week players will be diving into the shared experiences of pressure, expectations and comparison culture and exploring the impact that these things have on their performance, their confidence and their overall mental wellbeing.

During this lesson, players will be guided through a conversation where they will reflect on the pressure they personally feel, on and off the field. From there, players will take a deep dive into expectations and start exploring whether the high expectations they have of themselves are actually high expectations, or instead impossibly-high-unrealistic-expectations-of-perfection. They will work to identify what specific standards they hold themselves to on the soccer field and dig into whether every element of this expectation is within their control or not. Players will start to see that self-worth can very easily get tied to outcomes that are not fully within their control, and that when this happens, low & inconsistent confidence becomes the norm. In this lesson, players will begin to understand that how they build stable confidence and trust in themselves is by moving away from OLD unrealistic results-based expectations (no mistakes, winning every game, etc.) and to really start to tune into controllable aspects of their soccer game (NEW expectations).

Unit 2 - Tuning into the controllables

Lesson 4 Topic: Redefining success

Week 4 will introduce players to the idea that there are other ways to define success beyond the ones that we have all been taught to believe. We can actually define ‘wins’ as anything that helps us get better at soccer and move toward being the player, and person, that we want to be - we do not have to only define success based on things like eliminating mistakes or winning every match. While striving to win is a crucial component of the game, it doesn’t have to be the only thing that DEFINES SUCCESS. Meaning, you CAN lose a game and still have gained in leaps and bounds if you do things to move you towards becoming the player you want to be. This is possible EVERY game & training.

This week, players will be learning that focusing on smaller, controllable pieces of the game is what will help them start to move AWAY from the heavy expectations that cause pressure and low confidence, and lead them towards being able to maximize their impact and feel good about themselves after a game. Doing the controllable things each day IS THE WIN. Players will be identifying a specific part of their game that they want to improve at and then breaking it down into controllable objectives (elements they have full control over). Players will be introduced to instructional self-talk, one of the most effective on-field tools to help enhance performance and override overthinking.

Unit 3 - Expanding emotional intelligence

Lesson 5 Topic: The optimal performance zone

The Week 5 meeting will start off with a check-in on the controllable objectives and instructional self-talk that players set last week. Players will be reflecting on how things went and talking about what needs adjusting.

After that, players will be taking a deep dive into the optimal performance zone and reflecting on their ability to self-regulate their focus on the field. In this lesson, players will be working to identify what things take them away from this optimal performance zone. They will start to see what those distractions do to their focus and composure, and how accessing their top level of play is dependent upon their ability to learn the skills to stay in control of their mental environment.

A big piece of this work, of learning to get into our optimal performance zone, comes from expanding our emotional intelligence. This means gaining awareness of what we are currently feeling and experiencing, and then using that to inform our next decisions and actions. Player’s will learn the difference between responding and reacting and how self-regulation is key to staying in charge of our headspace. This week's lesson is when players start to learn the secrets to elite level mental toughness: regulating attention, thoughts and actions under pressure, in any circumstance. No matter what the distraction, they can still LOCK IN. 

Unit 3 - Expanding emotional intelligence

Lesson 6 Topic: You can do hard things

The Week 6 conversation is a game-changer. While players most often DO understand that mistakes are a part of the game & playing perfect isn't possible, majority have not truly INTERNALIZED that perspective. They know it in their head, but in their heart they still feel the need to put in a flawless performance. In an effort to help players reframe this limiting belief and stop keeping themselves small, this week's lesson will have them navigating the complex feelings that come up when they are asked to look at the weaker pieces of their game. Their mistakes. Players will also be exploring where accelerated growth comes from (challenges and pushing yourself, NOT from staying comfortable). This conversation will guide players toward discovering that true, authentic drive and motivation comes from doing something hard, which is leaning into OBJECTIVE observation of their game with curiosity and BRAVERY (which requires turning down the default mode & choosing to activate the inner coach).

Accelerated growth comes from reframing our perspective on mistakes. Every hard moment on the soccer field is actually just an opportunity for progression towards becoming the player you want to be. This viewpoint also helps you play better TODAY because it helps you move through the hard moment quicker, which is MENTAL TOUGHNESS in a nutshell.

Unit 4 - The art of choosing to believe

Lesson 7 Topic: Internal vs external validation

Week 7's conversation starts with the 4 stages of development. This conversation will set the tone for the entire unit which is where we will be exploring what a healthy striving mentality looks like in regards to self-belief, courage and learning the skills we need to coach ourselves through hard things. Players will be reflecting on obstacles they’ve overcome in the past and identifying what value they got from them. They will start to see the challenging moments as a crucial part of growth, and a place where character, resiliency and grit are built (things you need to play elite level soccer).

Next, players will be reflecting on how big a role external validation plays in their lives and be introduced to what can happen when 100% of their confidence and self-worth is derived from approval & praise from sources outside of them. This is always a big moment for players, identifying what percentage of their confidence is coming from this. They start to realize that by relying on external validation for ALL of their confidence, they are allowing something outside of their control (other people) to determine the way they feel about themselves. They are allowing OTHER PEOPLE to be in charge of their confidence. Understanding the potential dangers of fully relying on external validation is the starting point for players to develop REAL, true, deep belief & confidence (coming from internal validation).

Unit 4 - The art of choosing to believe

Lesson 8 Topic: Letting go of limiting beliefs

The Week 8 meeting will have players taking a deep dive into the mental wellness side of mental skills training. They will be exploring limiting beliefs (what they are and where they come from) and then working to identify the specific limiting beliefs that are currently holding them back and keeping them from maximizing their potential. This self-awareness is the starting point to actually being able to LET GO of these old beliefs and start to develop true, deep confidence and self-belief.

Our conversation will explore why it is so much EASIER to doubt ourselves than believe in ourselves (it's true, believing is harder because you have to fight against the default mode). One of those reasons is that there's always a next step, there's always some skill to grow towards, something else to accomplish. Tis the nature of sport, and life. And if we are not careful, we end up in a space where we are always looking at that next step as what we LACK and perpetually feel like we are 'never enough'. This week's lesson flips that limiting belief and has players starting to see those ‘next steps’, as simply next steps on the path of moving towards being the player they want to be. Players will be identifying all of the 'next steps' that they have ALREADY accomplished in their soccer career, and using them as proof that they can accomplish their future 'next steps' as long as they stay patient and have grit to keep going in hard times.

Unit 5 - Becoming your own best inner coach

Lesson 9 Topic: Self-talk reboot

The Week 9 meeting is the start of two weeks of content delivering tangible tools players can use both on and off the soccer field to help them become their own-best-inner-coach. The first part of this Week 9 lesson will have players identifying EXACTLY what their default mode looks like, including all of the smaller parts it is made up of. The part of us that is an inner coach is actually us at our core, our REAL self. Our inner coach is at the head of the table and all the other parts are seated. These other parts (our default mode parts) just think they are trying to help us, that is why they are here. This lesson will have players self-reflecting in a BIG way by trying to figure out what each part is attempting to help them with and how they can start to actually appreciate them for that. Players will then be starting to talk to them and get to know them in an effort to help them shift what they are doing and settle down a bit.

The second part of Week 9 is about how identity (how we see ourselves) is actually at the core of our ability to progress and set new habits. Because of that, we have to make it a PRIORITY to ensure that our inner and outer dialogue align with the identity that we want to have. We want to talk to ourselves in the present tense about what we want more of, but phrased as if we ALREADY HAVE IT (ex: instead of saying "I want to make better runs off the ball" we say "I make good runs off the ball").

Unit 5 - Becoming your own best inner coach

Lesson 10 Topic: Overcoming overthinking

The Week 10 conversation is a dive into the HOWS of 'how to get out of your head' on the soccer field, complete with a handful of new tools to keep you mentally in the game when you are feeling the pressure. The idea behind this lesson is that your body will always follow the most dominant thought in your mind, and being your own-best-inner-coach means making sure that the dominant thought is HELPFUL & INTENTIONAL so that this works in your favor and not against you.

This week's lesson will have players exploring new types of intentional self-talk that they can use to coach themselves away from overthinking and towards a healthy striving mentality and improved execution on the soccer field. We've talked about overthinking before and ways to start getting out of your head, but never to this depth. The reason for that is because many of these concepts are SO MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE after players have taken the time to build a foundation of self-awareness and understand a bit more about how their mind actually works. With the knowledge that they've been gaining over the past 9 weeks, they are much more prepared to easily understand the nuances of the different tools and methods of inner coaching. This allows them to figure out which ones work best for them, making this work even more powerful because it’s personalized to them & how they internally operate.

Unit 6 - Consistent + confident game play

Lesson 11 Topic: The 3 steps of mental prep

Week 11's conversation will have players exploring why their very top priority HAS to be getting into blue zone BEFORE the whistle blows. Getting into blue zone before you take the field is the foundation of solid, consistent game play. Players will learn that when things happen in the game that tip them towards red or green, they have a LOT more power to pull themselves back to blue when they STARTED in blue. When you start in red, it's VERY HARD to get to blue, which is why pre-game prep is CRUCIAL for players if they truly want to play their best each and every week. The Week 11 conversation will show players that they no longer have to spend time before a game HOPING that they'll play well, there are actual, controllable actions they can take to MAKE THAT HAPPEN. The most important piece of information players will learn in Week 11 is that the KEY to playing with confidence and composure inside of high pressure games, is CONSISTENCY of mental preparation before ALL games. League games, friendlies, even scrimmages and training. Consistently going through the 3 steps of mental prep during the (seemingly) 'less important' moments, is what makes mental prep an extremely effective tool in the bigger moments, setting them up to lock in and perform well under pressure, no matter what the environment. Players will be working this week to design a solid mental-prep plan for themselves for the next 3 months.

Unit 6 - Consistent + confident game play

Lesson 12 Topic: Your mental fitness plan

Our final lesson in MMA will take players through the ins and outs of how to cultivate consistency, both in their performance and in their confidence levels. Players will learn what controllable things they can be doing to set themselves up to consistently have a solid performance and become a very reliable player. When players can play at their high baseline every day, this sets them up for two things: (1) being able to experience a higher number of GREAT games (where they far exceed their baseline) and (2) NOT having 'bad' games anymore. When players learn the HOW’s of creating consistency, ‘bad' games become simply 'off' games where they still play well and make a difference, even on a rough day.

In the Week 12 meeting, players will also be working to set their own 'If this, then that Plans'. They will be identifying common distractions that come up for them (things that knock them into red zone or green zone) and then they will plan in advance how they are going to respond to those specific challenges. Going through this 'if this, then that' exercise is immensely powerful for players because it allows them to get ahead of the hard moments, things that are guaranteed to show up for them. This makes it so that there are no surprises out there on the field. When we take the surprise out, difficult moments become much more manageable and don't knock us off our game as much as before.

Where does the content in MMA come from?

The concepts, ideas and strategies in the Mindset Mastery Academy are a combination of my lived experiences, on and off the soccer field, as a USSF C Licensed soccer coach and Mental Skills Coach. The concepts, ideas and strategies in here are also from the work of numerous sports professionals, athletic administrators, sports psychologists, coaches and players, personal development and growth authors, mental skills and mindset coaches, and thought leaders across a variety of areas, athletics and beyond.

I myself am not a sports psychologist. So nothing in here should be considered medical advice in any way. What you will learn in the program is for informational and educational purposes only. Although we strive to provide accurate general information, the information presented here is not a substitute for any kind of professional advice, and you should not rely solely on this information. Always consult a professional in the medical and health area for your particular needs and circumstances prior to making any medical or health related decisions. For your health related questions, please seek the advice of a licensed physician or any other qualified health care provider immediately.

What I have done in the Mindset Mastery Academy is pulled together pieces from a vast range of expertise and made the content extremely useable for youth female athletes. Please reach out if you want more detail on anything you come across in the program, I will gladly point you in the right direction to dive further into any of these concepts.

Disclaimer: I am not a sports psychologist or medical professional and the information presented in the Mindset Mastery Academy, is for informational purposes ONLY. I am not responsible for any actions taken or results derived from following anything read or viewed on www.expandyourgame.com or in the course. Full disclaimer here.

TESTIMONIALS for the Mindset Mastery Academy

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