Preparation.
Step onto the pitch focused and ready.
Performance, when it matters.
Nervous system training for footballers, built around the moments that decide matches.
Piloting with football clubs and a small group of invited players.
Inquire about a pilot
The mobile app is in development, with limited pilot capacity.
Prediction and performance
What the mind anticipates, the body prepares for.
Neuroscience offers a view of the brain as a prediction engine. For footballers, it draws on past experience and present cues to anticipate what comes next and prepare the body to respond.
When it predicts a threat, such as a costly mistake, being judged or the moment going wrong, the nervous system shifts the body towards a state built for survival, not performance. Attention narrows towards the danger. Energy goes to being ready to fight or escape, not to the fine control the game demands.
That state shows up as:
- Focus pulled away.
Attention shifts towards what might go wrong, or to who is watching, rather than the next action.
- Less mental bandwidth.
Holding and working with information in the moment becomes more difficult.
- Reduced adaptability.
Shifting focus or changing an athlete's approach as the situation unfolds becomes harder.
- Familiar skills become conscious.
A movement that flows in training gets checked step by step, losing its rhythm.
- Body working harder than the moment needs.
Breathing and heart rate rise out of step with the task, making it harder to settle between actions.
- Movement loses fluency.
Muscles tighten, and the fine control a first touch, a finish or a penalty demands becomes harder to find.
- Energy spent before the event.
The build-up of worry beforehand leaves less available when competition starts.
None of this reflects a lack of skill. It is a protective state doing its job, but at the wrong moment.
There are evidence-based techniques to train the nervous system to meet pressure differently.
Statework offers a way to practise these on-demand, with sessions personalised to the player and their match.
Built for all stages of the game.
Regulation.
Stay engaged, find composure, reset.
Recovery.
Support mental and emotional recovery.
How it works
Personalised to the player.
Built around the match.
The player provides context around their upcoming match or moment, with optional coach input. Statework produces personalised sessions.
Player input
The player's context.
The situation. How the player is feeling and how they perceive the match or moment.
Statework output
A personalised session.
Sessions are built around the player and what's coming up, from a league match, cup final or derby to a penalty, a selection trial or the next game after a mistake.
Techniques include
- Guided imagery
- Cognitive reappraisal
- Attention control
- Controlled breathing
- Progressive muscle relaxation
- And more
This is for you if…
You're a sport psychology or mental performance practitioner
looking to help footballers practise the arousal regulation and psychological skills you teach between sessions.
You're a coach
looking to make preparation for pressure part of your players' training, with sessions personalised to the situations they face.
You're part of a football club or academy
and want to explore arousal regulation and psychological skills training for your players.
Measurable by design
Clubs and players need to see whether it works.
Statework asks players to check in briefly on nerves, focus and readiness: any time before a match or event, and any time after.
Repeated check-ins become a trend the player and club can see: how readiness changes as a match approaches, and how the player settles afterwards.
Every reading is the player's own against their own baseline. Never a ranking of players. Never a guarantee of results.
Register your interestAbout Statework™
Who we are.
Statework is an Irish startup.
We research and apply performance science through development of products across various domains.
FAQs
A few questions
When can I try it?
The mobile app is in development, with limited pilot capacity. We are starting with football club pilots and a small group of invited players in Ireland. Submit a pilot inquiry to register your interest and receive availability updates. Inquiring does not guarantee a pilot place. Launch timing, pricing and arrangements for clubs and other organisations have not yet been announced.
Does Statework replace coaching or professional support?
No. Statework is being developed to support your existing preparation. It does not replace physical practice, technical coaching, medical advice or professional mental health care, and it does not guarantee a particular outcome.
Who is Statework being built for?
Footballers, and the coaches, sport psychology and mental performance practitioners, and club or academy staff who prepare them. Pilots are starting in Ireland.
What does nervous system training mean here?
Practice intended to support the focus, confidence and readiness a player brings to their game. In sport psychology terms, this is arousal regulation and psychological skills training: neuroscience-informed practice using evidence-based techniques such as guided imagery, cognitive reappraisal, attention control, controlled breathing and progressive muscle relaxation. Preparation, regulation and recovery describe how that practice fits before, during and after a match.
How is my session made personal?
Sessions are personalised around the player's match or moment, how they're feeling and how they perceive the situation, with optional input from their coach.
How does Statework measure progress?
Through the player's own check-ins: brief self-reports any time before a match or event, whether it is weeks away or immediately before, and any time after. Checking in at different points shows how readiness and composure change as the match approaches and how the player settles afterwards. Over time, these become a within-person trend for that player. Statework never ranks players against each other and does not guarantee outcomes.
Do I need a big event coming up?
No. You can bring regular training, a recurring pressure moment such as penalties or set pieces, or an upcoming cup final, derby, selection trial or league match.
What do you mean by recover?
Here, recover primarily means coming down after a demanding situation, making space to unwind and returning to the rest of your day. Refocusing after a mistake while the situation is still unfolding sits within regulate. Recover does not refer to injury rehabilitation.
Inquire about a pilot
Ask about a place in the Statework pilot.
The mobile app is in development, with limited pilot capacity. Register your interest as a coach, practitioner or club contact, or as a player.
Bring Statework to your club.
Limited pilot capacity. Football clubs, academies, coaches and practitioners are encouraged to inquire early.
Inquire about a pilot