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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here, thank you all.  He knows that he needs to perform differently at the next tryouts.  Even if he does, I'm  not sure it will be sufficient.  He would be happy with an offer from any level of our league's travel teams.  If it doesn't happen this year, I'll encourage him to do the summer futsal offered through our county, play rec next year, keep practicing, and try again next year.  [/quote]

As another poster mentioned earlier, best thing you can do is help him shift his focus.  Two general points - people perform best when they focus on (1) things they can control; and (2) the present.  If he is at the tryout and thinking about whether he's going to make it or not, his focus is on a future event that is beyond his control.  So no wonder he's nervous.  Then the lack of focus on the present has the immediate consequence of reduced performance level, which makes his confidence plummet even further, ... it's a vicious cycle and can be incredibly painful to watch.

In my experience if your player has anxiety issues it's important to talk to them about these things.  Help them understand what is happening when they allow their thoughts to drift that way.  Assure them that feeling nervous is normal, and OK.   Point out that there are many things about the game they can't control - what the coach thinks, how good the other players are, whether anyone passes to them or not, ... even whether they play well or not.  Everyone has bad days.  So it does no good to worry or focus on those things.  What they can control is their effort and focus.

"Do you believe you can work hard and give your best effort for all 90 minutes of the session?"  
"Do you believe you can pay attention and listen to the coach every time he or she speaks?"  
"Can you try to be one of the 1st to come back after every water break?  Can you jog back every time instead of walking?"
"Can you try to have a positive reaction every time you make a mistake?"

Depending on their level and experience in the game, you could also add some technical things to focus on.

"Can you try to remember to stay on your toes, move to open space, and be vocal when your team has the ball?"
"Can you remember to keep looking around the field and try to think about what you are going to do before the ball gets to you?"  
"Can you remember to stay low, keep your feet moving, eyes on the ball and force the attacker one way when you're defending 1v1?"

These are just examples, but the point is it's useful to give them some specific and helpful things to focus on, rather than just generally "you need to play better".  And really, really emphasize the importance of effort.  Remind them that no matter how well or poorly they play, they will still feel good about themselves afterwords if they can walk off the field knowing that at least they tried their best.

Hopefully that helps, but don't expect that you're just going to be able to just give your kid one good pep talk and all of his issues will magically go away forever.  It's a process, but you have to start somewhere.

Good luck.

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