What do we do
Our aim is to help young footballers achieve their potential by showing them how to train, think and live.
We know what it takes because we are on the same journey as you. We have spent years in academies and professional environments but also know what it is like outside that world and how hard it is to break in. We have also taken that giant stride from youth to senior football and learned the hard way playing non-league football as teenagers.
We have learned a huge amount on that journey and a lot of it you won’t find in any coaching manuals.
We have learned the value in creating and maintaining good habits and realised the importance of developing habits in coordination with your goals. Even small changes and tweaks to the way you live, eat and train can lead to significant improvements on the pitch. Our aim is to help you develop the right mindset to reach your potential. We’ll give you practical coaching tips as well, of course. But we think the combination of proven practical advice on how to train combined with a re-set on your psychological approach will make the difference. The difference between success and coming close.
How do we do it?
We focus on a number of different areas to make you a better player physically, technically and psychologically.
Our philosophy
Repetition, repetition, repetition…
We believe creating habits through repetitions of an action is the best way to progress.
Clay Helton- football coach at the university of Southern California, summed this up by saying: "Any time a young man is confused on a particular play, it's going to slow him down because there's doubt." You want players to say, 'I’ve been through the scenarios so many times that I take my [conscious] brain out of it. I know exactly what to do based on the experiences and the repetitions that I've had!’
This quote from Clay Helton just underlines our philosophy for training and seeing progression.
Motivation is overrated...
Will power alone often isn’t enough to keep you motivated to make continued sacrifices to achieve your goals. Which is why it is important to develop good habits to keep you constantly working and practising. Persistence is vital in football because you have to keep going even when it is tempting to take it easy by skipping training, not going to the gym or not eating the right things.
Struggle with confidence and self-belief when on the pitch?
We have come up with a formula to improve your psychological side through building habits in 3 different areas: skills, mindfulness, and challenges.
· Mindfulness focuses on the present because it is the only thing that matters. Everything in the past and the future is your pride telling you what you’ve done or what you might do. By just focusing on your daily tasks, you’ll find yourself really progressing.
Includes meditation, self-care, gratitude, journaling.
· The skills area is about learning something new or improving a non-football skill. Learning a skill requires commitment which in turn trains discipline. It doesn’t have to be a big commitment but the challenge in learning a new skill is the ability to remain focused while your egotistical thoughts try to slow your success down. “I’ve done this for a few days now, I deserve a break”. Are you able to remain focused on your tasks?
Includes doing things such as learning a new language, cooking, reading or anything else you’re interested in.
· The challenge area focuses on not having an ego. Your ego makes excuses for yourself which in turn diverts you from reality. Each challenge is designed to push you out of your comfort zone and for every time you leave that zone and are successful, you build belief.
Includes things such as an early morning run/walk before sunrise, fasting (food, phone) for certain parts of the day, a cold shower, giving a presentation to someone, having a conversation with someone you might not usually have a conversation with.
(All of this is part of our mentor programme and will be involved in your personalised programme).
People we've helped
Ben
Bristol City
Done a few sessions with Tom and they’ve been great, helped me with some of my receiving skills and ability to play passes and shoot off both feet which is vital for a midfielder. As well as this we did some work around second balls which is very game related and is an underrated aspect of being a midfielder.
Was a fun and informative session and definitely feel it benefited me and would recommend to anyone looking to improve at any age!
Ben
AFC Wimbledon
The lads at Habits2Progress have been brilliant with me. I've had some great sessions with them working on position specific skills such as crossing and heading. They took time to understand what I wanted to work on and what they felt would benefit me the most.
I got lots from it and have continued to speak with them about different ideas they have and where I can improve. My physical attributes have improved since working with them and they have a great attitude and mindset to developing players. Would definitely recommend to any athletes!
David
Peterborough
Tom's sessions are of a really high standard and quality. He tends to focus on key & effective drills that are very match related and helpful in game situations. As a result of these sessions, I'm feeling explosive and technically ready for the new season ahead.
Cameron
Haywards Heath
I’ve worked a few times with H2P now and they are great. We’ve worked on a variety of effective runs to make from my position as well as different types of finishing drills to complement the sessions. As I’m a striker I find this really useful in match day scenarios.
Great service and a good team who I can trust. Feeling a lot more confident during matches thanks to their work.
