Encouragement and support

February 12, 2009 at 10:21 am · Filed under Public Musings and tagged: anfield, belief, coaching, encouragement, nike, support, the kop, torres

I recently read an interview with Fernando Torres about his time to date at Liverpool. One of his comments about playing at Anfield and in front of the Kop really stood out for me:

“With just 45,000 fans there, that roar they give makes you think you have wings on your feet.”

Torres scored the winning goal for Spain in the final of the 2008 European Football Championship, and is widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest strikers (if not THE best! 🙂 ) He was made Club Captain at the age of 19 at his previous club, Atletico Madrid, so we are not talking about a guy you think might be lacking in confidence and self belief.

Which makes his comments about the roar at Anfield and the effect it has on him all the more interesting.  He clearly believes that the encouragement and support he receives from the Liverpool fans helps him raise his game and produce that extra level of performance.

This is someone who is already at the top of their game, and they still feel that encouragement can help further improve them. Just how much of an impact can we have on our family, friends and colleagues if we vocalise our support and belief in them on a regular basis?

Too often we seem to operate on the basis of  finding things wrong, telling people what they need to do better.

In the various roles we have in life, Manager, Mother, Father, Friend, Colleague etc, how often do we take time out to tell someone we care about, that we believe in them, that we value them?

It works for Torres, why can’t it work for them?

To finish on Torres, here’s one of my favourite ads:

Comments