This from Championship Performance's January newsletter:The following suggestions will help make your locker room talks more compelling by dispelling athlete doubts and instilling greater motivation.
1. MAKE EYE CONTACT
People equate eye contact with honesty, and honesty is the key to success in motivation.
2. BE SURE OF YOURSELF AND BE DIRECT
Avoid such flabby terms as "sort of," "maybe," "perhaps," etc. Be firm and precise. Show confidence in yourself, your goals, and your team. All this is an integral part of motivation.
3. DON'T YELL UNNECESSARILY
Yelling can be effective, but certainly not before every contest. Change-ups in tone can be useful, however. You may shock and surprise the players when they least expect it -- yell when they expect a whisper or whisper when they expect a yell. A silent stare or a sly smile may also work effective.
4. BE CAREFUL ABOUT HUMOR
Decide upon a mood and then stick with it. Don't rain a serious mood with a joke. Sure, your team can use a laugh from time to time, but it shouldn't come in the middle of a serious motivational talk.
5. STEER CLEAR OF STRONG, EMOTION APPEALS IN MOST CASES
Overly strong appeals can defeat the purpose of a speech. When fear or emotion is strongly aroused and not fully relieved, the audience tends to shy away from the speaker.
The important constants in any speech are to keep everything simple, unwavering, and altogether credible. A team has to believe in the coach to accept his philosophy and to talk it up with others. Good attitudes and good relationships make for good morale, good practices and good games.
Tom Osborne explained: "All that fire-up emotion is good, but any time we line up in a formation we're not prepared for, all that emotion won't do any good. We believe that a highly motivated team is a team that is basically very soundly prepared."
