The Lion's Den Performance Podcast

In this week's episode, my long-time friend Julian and I caught up and had some good conversations for young players about analysis, and its importance in the modern player. We also tried to share some tips on what helps you - the player - develop at a faster, targeted rate. Like always, there are no shortcuts, only the work - don't come here to pump your ego, come here to get better and find that small edge that can take your game a few percent higher. If you do that enough, you'll be a different person and player by the end of the season.Thank you Julian.

In this week's episode, I spoke with Taylor - from Football Entangled - and we had a great chat on player development and his unique approach. Taylor has built a community that consists of players of all levels, and focuses on the deep routed causes such as injuries - or barriers - to performance.You can find Taylor on Instragram and YouTube @footballentangled and also at his website www.footballtruth.com Hope you enjoy! 

In this episode with Arik Duncan (UC Berkeley Men's Soccer), we discuss his journey from club, to DIII, later to Spain and most recently at University of California at Berkeley. Arik is a hard-working and talented individual. I'm sure there are some golden nuggets in here for you all as we take a look into his mindset and approach to his own development.

Social media for athletes

using some internal fuel, listen and find out how. 

In this episode, Mati shares some insights and advice for young players trying to carve their own path in the game

Yes, anxiety can be good, and yes, you can use it to your advantage. Find out how

Meditation. Listen to this, and then go and meditate.

Journaling, the benefits and why you need it in your life.

Why you should take cold showers, if you aren't already.  

In this episode, we discuss rejection and its role within football. You will learn how to manage it better so that you can use it as fuel to propel you forward in your development. Its not a case of "if" you are rejected, but "when" - so you better get friendly with it and learn how to use the experience to your benefit.@lionsdenperformance

today's episode:What kind of relationship do you have with social media - is it one that's serving you, or hurting you. In this episode we discuss what are some realistic ways to filter through all of the stuff we see, read and hear on an incredibly regular basis.

In this episode, we look at ways to consciously analyse your own performance (using video) and learn from each and every action on the pitch. As players we have a habit of looking specifically at ourselves, and then when we aren't involved, we drift and watch the game until we become involved again. Remember that you don't have the ball for long in 90 minutes, and you are leaving so much on the table if you only watch your few minutes of "involvement". We use the framework of: on the ball, off the ball and away from the ball to try and learn from everything that goes on when we are on the pitch.Head over to instagram @Lionsdenperformance for a free analysis document that you can use when watching yourself, or watching the pros.

In this episode, we catch up with one of my closest friends who had a professional playing career beginning in Argentina with Newell's Old Boys, and representing the Argentina National Team at youth levels. He later played in Paraguay, Columbia, Greece and Belgium. Matias gives some tips to younger players, and advice that he would have like to have had as a younger player. You can find Matias on Instagram @Mati.Fondato

Building on from last week's episode on confidence, we discuss a proven tool in more depth to help increase your confidence, and help you unleash the inner beast and learn how to make your confidence work FOR you, when you need it to! Let me know how you get on - good luck! 

In this week's episode, we discuss confidence and different variables that can increase or decrease your confidence. Stay tuned in, because later in the episode, we discuss 3 tools you can apply immediately for working on your confidence, and making it work for you, and never against you. Thanks for listening! Get in touch @lionsdenperformance on Instagram.

In today's episode we tackle the role of anxiety in football, how we can manage it and how it's not always a bad thing. We also discuss how anxiety can lead us up the road to stress and even depression if we don't tackle it and make it work for us. Timestamps:00:00 - Introduction01:00 - Working with the emotion, and not trying to "fix" it02:30 - Episode overview04:00 - Anxiety as an emotion, not a mood (and the difference)05:30 - What to do if you are struggling, talk to someone06:00 -  Anxiety is transient, it goes in and out, up and down06:20 - The dreaded diagnosis07:30 - Why you need anxiety08:20 - Cognitive and Somatic anxiety09:25 - Confidence, the saviour (in football) 10:30 - High confidence and ability mixed with anxiety can be positive11:20 - How to be confident 11:40 - Rising to the occasion vs falling to your highest level of preparation13:00 - What anxiety looks like in pre-competition15:20 - Playing the "perfect" game vs acceptance of mistakes16:00 - Working with anxiety, acceptance16:30 - Setting realistic game metrics and using performance analysis17:30 - Learning how to manage anxiety and stress18:30 - 3 Management techniques19:30 - Its not the exception, its the rule20:00 - Start the conversation21:00 - Get in touch! 

In today's episode, we explore the world of journaling (keeping a written journal) and the amazing benefits they can bring you as a person and as an athlete. Most importantly, we get to the specifics on how journaling will make you a better player. You'll learn the How, What and Why of journaling. Stay in touch @lionsdenperformance

In this episode, we explore the benefits of cold showers (or cold shower/water therapy). As always, we try our best to link it to football, and what are the small percents you can get from incorporating this into your life as an athletic. As always, you'll learn how they help you in you as a person too!