Maybe We Should Be Called Persuasionists Not Coaches

I watched the movie Miracle today. In case you don't know, that's the one about the 1980 USA Hockey team who defeated a superior Soviet team in the Olympics. I don't recall appreciating the story as much the first time. The movie, in my opinion, is really about the coach Herb Brooks and his vision for the team. I love to see how the assistant coach does not buy into what he is doing at the beginning but in the end understands all the things Herb did along the way. In the pre-game speech before the Olympic game against the Soviets (The USA had been defeated by them 2 weeks before 10-3. ouch.), Herb has some compelling words. (This is a paraphrase of what he said in the movie. I don't know how close it is to his real speech.) He basically told them that 9 times out of 10 the Soviets might beat them and that's fine. But that night was their night. They (USA) were the best team in the world and they could beat the Soviets.

This got me thinking back to the Home School National tournament last November. After we were finished with the tournament, one of the parents paid me a very nice complement by saying that I always got them to peak at the right time. I probably said thank you but knew that peaking wasn't really what it was about. All I do at the end of the season is convince them that they are at their peak. It doesn't matter if they actually are. I'm not lying to them, but convincing them that they can go out and play the best volleyball they have played all year. You can always use more practice and reps to get better and become better. But at the end of the season you are out of time. You just have to play hard.

So that's how I took the speech before the Soviet game - persuasion. They all knew who the superior team was, but that didn't matter. He convinced them that they could beat them. And they did.

#coachforhisglory