Mental attributes, how does improving them work?

[elvolante]

How do you improve 'mental' attributes like leadership, decisions and communication in younger players.

Can they only be improved by mentoring?

Is it futile to focus training young players on those attributes?

Can they pick them up by just being around players who have those attributes(incase you can't assign a mentor for all) or from motivational coaches?

[Marc Vaughan]

Mental attributes will generally naturally improve somewhat as players age if they apply themselves ... unlike physical attributes these will keep improving as a player passes their younger years, presuming they are interested in improving them and have the right personality to do so (ie. some players just simply aren't leaders and don't want the limelight that comes with such a role).

You can specifically improve and influence them positively in the following ways:
* Talking to a player and encouraging them in a constructive manner, and also equally importantly being strict if they aren't applying themselves (if you let them get away with being lazy then they may get even lazier if there is no push back).

* Giving them a mentor who has characteristics you think might help them (so pairing them with a professional player for instance will be more likely to improve someones professionalism).

* Young players will automatically tend to pick up characteristics from the environment they're in - so whatever your 'squads' personality is (look at your dynamics area to get an overview) is how they are likely to develop - if your senior players are lazy then your youngsters are more likely to think that is the way to be etc.

* Media interactions - now and again an event involving a player will come up, this might affect their view of you and can affect their personalities.

* Disciplining them if they get sent off or miss training - If you don't do this then they are likely to get even less professional/dirty/undisciplined (depending on the offense).

* Training - Young players can improve through training in leadership and such as much as older players, however some may not be interested. See my previous comment about personalities limiting some things.

Finally one thing people frequently do which can seriously hurt a young player is to give him a huge contract - this 'might' cause him to become cocky and lazy, generally try and give them semi-frequent small rises for good performance/behavior rather than a bumper huge one because they've become unhappy ... otherwise they might start to believe they have all the power in the relationship and become unruly.

[elvolante]

Thank you for elaborating