It’s been an exciting season for our young Red2Blue footballer Erica Parkinson who, at just 15 years old, has been playing both club and international level football. Currently playing for the Portuguese team Leixoes, Erica’s had a brilliant year. It was topped off by being selected to play with The Young Lionesses for the UEFA Women’s U17 EURO Finals in Estonia earlier this month.
A goal from Erica helped the Young Lionesses succeed in the qualifying stages, where they won five out of six games. She credits Red2Blue with helping her to deal with all sorts of high-pressure environments and with being able to cope with the things she can’t control.
How Erica uses Red2Blue on the pitch
“Red2Blue has changed my life, with both my academics and my football,” says Erica. ”I have weekly catch ups with my Red2Blue coach and I feel that some techniques, such as Zoom in, Zoom out, help on the pitch, especially when I’ve made a mistake. I just need to zoom out, look at the bigger picture and release the pressure of that mistake – these techniques are very important.” Preparing for each game using the Red2Blue toolkit gives Erica a better understanding and more clarity about what she wants to do and what she needs to do to succeed on the pitch.
Denis’s goal helps Famalicao qualify for the National Championship
Erica’s not the only talented footballer in the family – her brother Denis, another Red2Blue athlete, plays for Famalicao The team made history earlier this year when Denis scored the winning goal against Boavista to cement 14 unbeaten matches for Famalicao in the U19 National Championship Division 1. Famalicao qualified for the final phase of the National Championship alongside Sporting Lisbon, Benfica, Porto and Braga!
Cristiano’s contract extended with Boavista
We’re also proud to support Cristiano Fitzgerald on his amazing journey. Cristiano is the eldest of three brother all pursuing professional football careers. In 2021, he made his first appearance for the Republic of Ireland Under 19s. Cristiano signed his first professional contract with Boavista last September, and, just three months later, was awarded a new four-year contract with the club. Another Red2Blue athlete, Cristiana is a true example of talent driven by dedication and supported by high performing mindset on the path to success.
Tommy discusses Red2Blue’s impact on futbol
We’re delighted to see another of our Red2Blue footballers, Tommy Granitto,enjoying great success in his career. Tommy has played all over America – in Canada, the US, El Salvador and is currently in All Boys, Argentina, 1st National Division B, in addition to having previously been nominated for the El Salvador National Team.
Tommy learnt to perform under pressure at an early age after being shortlisted for the US Under 20 team, and playing the FIFA Sub 20 World Cup in Türkiye for El Salvador when he was in college.
“I always embraced pressure as an opportunity to learn and improve,” he says. “As a mixed midfielder, in both attacking and defensive play situations, I have seen the benefit of Red2Blue – in doing Zoom Out and Zoom In – as it’s helped me make the best decisions in the shortest possible time.”
Tommy recently met with Miguel Simon, one of the most recognized ESPN futbol broadcaster and analysts in South America, where he had the chance to discuss Red2Blue and its impact on futbol professional players.
Harrison qualifies for the FIFA U-17 World Cup
16-year-old Harrison Tisch is another footballer developing his mindset using Red2Blue. Harrison currently plays for the New Zealand Under 17s and his team recently qualified for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Competing against nine teams for two places, New Zealand played New Caledonia and American Samoa and won both games. They went on to play Vanuatu in the quarterfinal, followed by Fiji in the semi-final. Winning the Fiji game secured their World Cup place, but they went on to win the final qualifier against New Caledonia too.
Red2Blue has helped Harrison get through many stressful moments and he views it as an essential part of his training: “It’s very important to not just dedicate time to the technical and tactical side of football, or whatever sport you play, but to the mental side. All the great athletes – Lionel Messi, Ronaldo and all other greats – work tirelessly on the mental side of the game, and they’re able to deal with crazy amounts of pressure. If you aspire to play at a high level in your sport, it’s just as important to learn about Red2Blue and the mental side of the game, as it is to learn about the technical and tactical sides.”
Finally, an update on Ryan Trevitt, another Red2blue footballer whose career is soaring! Ryan scored the opening goal in the Premier League Cup Under 21s final recently, helping Brentford to secure their 2-1 win against Blackburn Rovers and take home the Premier League Cup.
Ryan was introduced to the Red2Blue mental skills framework through Gazing nearly 5 years ago and has worked hard with his coach Andy at developing his mindset alongside his football skills. In a post-match interview following Ryan’s debut for Brentford FC last August, he credited Red2Blue with helping him get to Pro level, giving him the resilience to face knockbacks and rejections from clubs and helping him to stay focused on what the end goal was. “Without Red2Blue I wouldn’t have got through it,” he said.
It’s exciting to see more and more evidence of mindset being adopted as an essential skill to develop, in the next generation of star football players work their way up the ranks. When the going gets tough, keeping a level-head and controlling your mindset under pressure – in other words, keeping your Blue Head on – could well be the deciding factor that keeps a team at top of the league table.