Personal Goals

S.M.A.R.T Goal Setting Principles

It's a very good idea for people to set goals as they pursue something meaningful. You should organize any goal you have in mind.. Whether it is a process goal, outcome goal, or performance goal, you need to have something you aspire for. Aspirations are essential and should be the focus. SMART goals are another way to organize your goal and keep you accountable and organized. SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time

We want our athletes to take a multi-disciplinary approach to improving. They can set many different goals beyond just improving their performance or scoring goals. Athletes can set practice goals, mental game goals, fitness and conditioning goals, as well as nutrition goals. One warning though.... perfectionists will set goals and see them as a task to master, and this could cause burn out. Instead, athletes need to see goals as general guidelines that can be continually evaluated and adapted.

The staff would like to help all of you achieve your goals. Please take some time to set up your own personal and Team Goals you have for the upcoming season. Click Here to complete personal and Team Goals.

1. Specific

When making goals, they have to be precise and not too general. Saying you want to score goals is not specific. Something like, I want to score 15 goals, and five assists now give you specifics behind your goal. Saying you want to get better at passing is excellent, but saying you want to get better at your forward passing into the striker is even more specific!

2. Measurable

Being able to identify if you're getting closer or further away from your goal is critical. With goals, you're trying to achieve them, and if there is no way to achieve them, that is a waste of time. Scoring 15 goals and having five assists is easily measurable during the season. Running all your Scottish 18’s in 16 seconds by the end of July gives you a specific goal you’re trying to achieve.

3. Attainable

We love to see student athletes demonstrate drive with ambitious goals. However a major part of balanced and realistic goal setting is ensuring that your goals are also attainable.

4. Relevant

Does this goal make sense? Does this goal align with what it is you trying to achieve? If you're trying to become a better one v one defender, you shouldn't be working on your cross. If you're a center back working on passing, you shouldn't be shooting. Make sure you're doing the appropriate drills to get better!

5. Time

Set a specific time that you want to try and achieve your goal. Time is good because it will keep you on your toes because you know you need to put in the work if you want to achieve your goals in the allotted time. Be mindful that even if the goal isn't complete in the timeline you predicted, that's ok, continue to make strides towards this!