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Pre-game Preparation. Part 1: Mastering the Pre-game Speech

Coaches and athletes alike are well aware of the individual differences that exist in skill levels on any given team. Some players are better athletes than others, while other players are better defensively, better rebounders, or have better individual offensive skills or passing ability than others. Because of these differences, smart coaches build offenses and defenses and assign roles based on the respective skill levels of the athletes currently in their program. Yet, for as many differences as there are in physical traits within any given team, there are an equal number of extremely important mental trait differences among the players. Unlike the differences in physical traits and skill among players that are typically well understood and effectively utilized, the differences in mental traits among players are not nearly as well understood or utilized. When athletes and coaches do not pay attention to these mental trait differences, the team is often robbed of some of its potential. The result is a team which lacks consistency, often underperforms, and finishes the season with a win-loss column that does not reflect its true potential and ability. Nowhere is this lack of attention to mental trait differences more apparent than in the coaches’ pre-game speech and in each athlete’s own pre-game preparation.

Part 1 of this two part series on pre-game preparation will focus on the pre-game speech, while part 2 (to be published in the next WBCA Journal) will discuss how to maximize an athlete’s own pre-game preparation.

The difference between intensity and emotional arousal

Some athletes perform extremely well when they are on an emotional high, while others are at their best with relatively low emotions. On an emotional arousal scale of 1-10 (with a 1 equal to an almost comatose pre-game state and a 10 equal to the athlete that regularly high fives teammates so hard their hands sting for 10 minutes!) and a performance scale of 1-10 (with a 1 equal to a lifetime worst performance and a 10 equal to a lifetime best performance), I have played with athletes who needed to have an emotional arousal level around 2-4 (very low) in order to consistently perform at an 8-10 level (very high). I have also played with athletes who needed to have an emotional arousal level around an 8-10 in order to consistently perform at an 8-10 level. One of the biggest mistakes that inexperienced coaches and players make is believing that the entire team should be at the same emotional arousal level. Note that emotional arousal level has NOTHING to do with intensity. Athletes do not always have to be ‘jacked up,’ ‘hyped’ or highly emotionally aroused to perform at 100% intensity. Yet many coaches and athletes remove themselves and many of their players from their optimal arousal level, and onto a knife edge of heightened emotions, poor shooting percentages, defensive errors, and mistakes under pressure. Unfortunately, Hollywood caliber sports movies have done an outstanding job of extending a traditional sports fallacy that the team that appears to ‘want it the most’ and comes out of the locker room the most fired up and ‘psyched to the gills’ will get the win. Some coaches even count their fiery emotionally laden pre-game speech abilities among their most useful skill sets. Yet, experience teaches us that while high intensity is critical for most parts of the game of basketball (rebounding and defense as an example), lower intensity is needed for certain types of offensive execution and fine motor skills coordination (try shooting a high percentage from the foul line or shooting a jump shot while ‘jacked up’ with maximum intensity…. your percentage will look like a minor league baseball batting average). This is not to say that there is not a time and place for the emotionally charged percussion of a great pre-game speech. But the great coaches and athletes understand that basketball is like a great symphony, made up of so much more than raw percussion. Varied volume control makes for great symphonic music that balances emotional percussion with the timing and skillful execution and concert of the string, wind and brass sections. A team that understands how to consistently execute a beautifully run flex offense that results in an open, soft, and perfect 12ft jump shot, and then quickly gets into an aggressive full court run and jump defense that consistently results in opponent turnovers, understands how to make this music.

Athletes and coaches should know their own optimal arousal levels and stay at the level that brings out their very best performance. This means that pre-game speeches should sometimes focus almost entirely on game strategy, while emotionally laden messages should be delivered on an as needed and more individual basis. Most athletes know how to get themselves ‘up’ for a game. Take some time to sit back and watch your players at work during your next pre-game. Some players will sit silently, some will talk, some will find distraction and deflect their nervousness with humor, while others love to let their mp3 players shape their game face. A fiery pre-game speech is just what some of your players want and need, while that same speech will just as effectively pull some of your other players right out of their game and into a poor performance (though of course most would never dare admit that to you!).

The truly great coaches and athletes understand that the purpose of a great pre-game session is to bring an optimal level of composure, concentration, confidence and commitment for each individual onto the game floor. These mental skills & toughness traits are called the 4 C’s of Peak Performance, and each athlete will need to arrive at this optimal state of mind through a slightly different route during the pre-game. The coaches that use the pre-game session and speech to accomplish this will start the game with a distinct advantage over their opponent.

About the Author

Spencer Wood M.S., C.S.C.S., P.E.S., Member A.A.S.P., is an internationally renowned speaker, author and trainer of athletes and coaches in the area of Winning Mental Skills and Toughness Training.

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