Introduction and Dr Joseph Braysich
Communicating effectively within a football club has never been more important and it is clear that many teams are missing a trick when it comes to the study and utilisation of body language. Body language is how you present yourself in the entirety of your life and learning to understand and manage it can have real benefits.
Dr Joseph Braysich argues amongst many other experts that body language (55%) over tone of voice (38%) and actual words (7%) is the most crucial way we communicate, with further research showing that non-verbal communication outweighs verbal in accuracy and viability. Body language reveals much internally in terms of achieving performances levels and to the outside world, where commercial opportunities could be lost or gained at any second.
“Once you start studying body language it’s like seeing the world in high definition.”
Seven reasons body language is so important:
- Learning body language can bring real short and long term benefits to a football club. It can go as far as shaping a clubs identity and can bring a greater cohesiveness and understanding on and off the pitch.
- When body language is understood and encouraged, it helps to bring about a positive working environment which inspires education and improvement. Training sessions will improve dramatically.
- It brings about better self-awareness and with that comes confidence to improve and try new things.
- You can learn a lot from the study of your opposition’s body language within a 90-minute game. When facing a penalty a goalkeeper needs to be aware of the takers body language to help read where the shot is likely to go. Body language allows management a unique opportunity of an in-game identification of strengths and weaknesses which should form part of a game plan. From these readings, games can be won or lost.
- Getting the message through. For a team that is full of players of different backgrounds, cultures and educations – body language is a universal tool that allows constant, quick and effective communication.
- Understanding body language will enable you to read your teammates better, pick them up when they are not quite at the races before it has a detrimental impact on the team. For example, you may spot a player not focused during a manager’s pre-game talk, arms folded and minimal eye-contact along with a half-hearted warm up with their shoulders hunched. Spotting this and taking action is crucial in being proactive and not reactive after a mistake has been made.
- In cases where a team or individual get body language right it inspires confidence and trust.
“Body language is the art of seeing what others are thinking”
In Summary
With a long history of teaching the use of body language to improve; Intelligent Football helps teams understand what body language is, what good and bad body language looks like and how it can improve performances and results.
Using the learnings in observation and implementation from Dr Joseph Braysich, Intelligent Football helps clubs get a grip around teaching the underutilised facet of nonverbal communication. It brings this crucial communication tool to the forefront of a team’s game planning to enable greater reading of opposition, teammates and their immediate environment.
