There comes a point during almost every season when a mistake begins to feel familiar. For example, a midfielder keeps losing the ball when receiving under pressure and after seeing it several times, the solution can begin to feel obvious but other times, the action we see at the end of the play is only the final part of the problem that began several seconds earlier.. Understanding that difference can change the way we think about development.
The Mistake We See May Not Be Where The Problem Begins
Imagine that same midfielder receiving the ball with an opponent closing from behind. The player takes a poor touch and loses possession; now, from the sideline, it looks technical. But perhaps the player never looked behind them before the pass arrived. Maybe they looked but did not recognize where the available space was. Or they understood the situation but positioned their body in a way that made the next action difficult. They may even have seen the right solution and simply acted too late.
All of those scenarios and situations can finish in exactly the same way, the ball is lost. What needs improving may be completely different though. Research into skill acquisition in soccer has consistently shown how closely perception, decision making and movement are connected during the game. Players are not simply executing techniques. They are constantly using information from teammates, opponents, space and the movement of the ball to decide what action fits the situation (Bergmann et al., 2021). This is why repeated mistakes deserve curiosity before they receive a solution.
The Action Often Starts Before The Ball Arrives
Many of the decisions that eventually become visible begin before the player touches the ball and when that information is recognized late, the technical action becomes harder.
The player may have a perfectly capable first touch in an isolated exercise and still struggle to receive cleanly during the game because the picture arrives too late for them. This is also why telling a player to “scan more” does not always solve the problem. Scanning only becomes useful when the player begins understanding what they are looking for and how the information changes what they do next. Seeing the field and understanding the field are related but they are not always the same page of development.
Young players are still building an understanding of which information matters. They may recognize the pressure is coming but not know where the advantage now exists. In short, sometimes the player sees the situation but does not yet know how to solve it. Research with young soccer player has found developmental differences in how players generate and evaluate possible solutions to game situations, reinforcing the idea that decision making itself develops as players mature and gain experience (Heister et al., 2023). For the player, those experiences accumulate and eventually, the game starts providing the answers they were unable to see before.
Other times, the player understands exactly what they should do and still cannot execute it consistently.
Performing an action repeatedly without pressure is different from performing it while also reading defenders, recognizing teammates and adjusting the timing of the action. Bergmann et al. (2021) found that different practice designs can improve different parts of soccer performance, while also emphasizing the importance of connecting practice with the perceptual and decision making demands players experience in the game. The question then becomes whether the player needs more repetitions or if those repetitions resemble the problem they are actually trying to solve.
Sometimes The Difference Is Timing
Soccer is full of actions that would have been correct half a second earlier. The player recognizes the pass but waits until the defender closes the lane. The decision itself may be reasonable but the timing changes its value. Timing is difficult to develop without experiencing the situation repeatedly at realistic speed. Players begin recognizing patterns soccer and what once required several moments of thought gradually becomes something they anticipate. For the sideline, the player may appear to have simply become “quicker” and what has changed is that they are seeing the situation earlier.
The Level Around The Player Matters Too
Sometimes the player has not become worse, it’s the problem that has become harder. A player who received comfortably last season may now be facing opponents who close space much faster.
A player might move into a stronger group and suddenly look less composed doing things that previously seemed comfortable and that itself can make development difficult to interpret. The player may be improving while the environment is becoming more demanding at the same time. This is one reason performance alone cannot always tell us whether learning is taking place and now is looking to understand whether the players is gradually adapting to the new demand.
Repeated Mistakes Can Begin To Carry Emotion
The first mistake is usually just part of the game. After several repetitions, the player may begin expecting it and at this point, the original problem and the player’s response to it begin interacting. The mistake has now developed a “history”. This is where the player needs to understand the reason behind the mistake. This then provides the understanding of the error and a player who know what they are working on has something more useful to hold onto than simply saying, “I keep messing this up.”
The Coach May Be Seeing A Different PArt Of The Problem
Parents, players and coaches do not always see the same thing and each perspective can all contain useful information. This is where the conversation around development becomes more valuable than the immediate diagnosis. For instance, when a player says, “I keep losing the ball there” they may eventually learn to ask, “What are you seeing before I receive that is putting me in trouble?”. The question now focuses on the player beginning to investigate the situation around the situation and is part of taking greater ownership of development.
Video can help by slowing the situation down enough for the player to see the sequence more clearly. Soccer happens quickly enough that players do not always know why something went wrong and by the time the turnover happens, the important information may have appeared several seconds earlier.
The value comes from helping the player connect what they felt during the game with what was actually happening around them. Over time, that reflection can help them recognize similar situations earlier when the game is moving again.
The Response Should Match The Problem
When the same mistake keeps happening, families naturally want to help and the response is often more training. Sometimes that is exactly right. If the player cannot consistently execute the action, additional technical repetition may be useful. But if the real issue is that the player does not recognize the situation early enough, repeating the technique without the information surrounding it may not change what happens in the game. The same applies when a player understands the action in training but struggles once speed, pressure or uncertainty are added.
Before adding more work, it helps to understand what the work is supposed to solve.
That question becomes increasingly important as players accumulate club training, individual sessions, games and other demands during the season. More activity is only useful when it connects to what the player actually needs. This is also where parents can become a little slower to diagnose from the sideline. Their observations may be valuable, but what they see is only one part of the player’s experience. The coach may have more context. The player may be feeling something that cannot be seen. Video may reveal a detail everyone missed in real time.
Sometimes the most useful support is creating enough space for the player to explore those pieces rather than immediately supplying the answer. That is not about becoming less involved. This is allowing the player’s understanding to become more involved, which becomes increasingly important as they mature. Even when the problem becomes clearer and the work is appropriate, the mistake may not disappear immediately. The player may know what they need to recognize. They may begin seeing the situation more often in training and execute the action successfully several times before the same mistake appears again in a game. But learning is rarely that clean.
Consistency often develops after understanding. Players need opportunities to experience the situation, attempt a solution, receive information and return to it again. Sometimes the mistake remains visible while the learning underneath it is already moving. Development therefore requires more than correction. It requires enough clarity to know what the player is trying to solve and enough patience to recognize when they are beginning to solve it before they can do so consistently.
A Final Thought
When the same mistake keeps appearing, the easiest thing to see is the final action.
Development asks us to look a little earlier.
What information did the player recognize? What did the situation mean to them? What solution did they choose? Could they execute it at the speed the game required?
The answer may be technical, it may be tactical, it may involve timing, perception, confidence or simply more experience in a demanding environment. Often, it is a combination.
As players mature, one of the most useful skills they can develop is becoming curious about the problem underneath the mistake instead of only judging the outcome. Once they understand where the difficulty begins, the work that follows can become much more purposeful.
Reflection
When the same situation keeps causing problems for your child, what are you currently assuming needs to improve?
What might become clearer if you looked at what happened before the visible mistake?
References
Bergmann, F., Gray, R., Wachsmuth, S., & Höner, O. (2021) Perceptual motor and perceptual cognitive skill acquisition in soccer: A systematic review on the influence of practice design and coaching behavior. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Arivle 77232301. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.772201
Hamoud, M., Sæther, S. A., & Bjørnebkk, G. (2024). Self regulation and performance among elite youth soccer players: The role of approach avoidance motivation. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, Article 1416931. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1416931
Heisler, S. M., Lobinger, B. H., & Musculus, L. (2023). A developmental perspective on decision making in young soccer players: The role of executive functions. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 65, Article 102362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2022.102362
