Cliches
A few rambling thoughts while on vacation in California to see family.
I believe that all coaches have their favorite sayings, ones they've either picked up and engrained in memory or ones that they've developed themselves. It's hard to get away from being cliched because often the cliche sayings such as "Winners never quit" or "It's not over till it's over" end up working out. There is a reason nearly every kid has at least one memory of a parent or coach telling them not to quit.
For the past two season I've found myself writing down nearly every thing that I've said to my teams during a race or practice. In 2008 I think I used the phrase "8 minutes" a thousand times when talking to my boats, the theory being that we were capable of doing anything for at least 8 minutes. Most of my sayings are far from original and are usually if not dead on, carrying a very similar tone to famous sayings. I don't know where I first heard, "adversity doesn't build character, it reveals/defines it" or "don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today."
One of the things that always gets me whenever I watch a sports movie such as "Rudy" or "Remember the Titans" is the stirring inspirational speech given before the big game or games. I've always wanted to be able to come up with something stirring and amazing to say just before our big race. My first year I wrote down speeches and practiced them more than I did homework but when the big moment came, the music never played and the speech that I had down so perfectly in my head became more of an embarrassment than inspiring. Moving on to coaching I kept up the same practice working on speeches and then suddenly realized the only reason those speeches sounded so amazing was because they were scripted. And that if I delivered a speech like that, it would sound scripted. I tried it once, reading something that I wrote many weeks before. Instead of coming out awe inspiring about halfway through I realized the material didn't fit the occasion. From then on I started writing simply from the heart and the writing became key things that I wanted be sure I mentioned. As for the rest, the heat of the moment would provide all the material I needed to come up with something.
I believe that all coaches have their favorite sayings, ones they've either picked up and engrained in memory or ones that they've developed themselves. It's hard to get away from being cliched because often the cliche sayings such as "Winners never quit" or "It's not over till it's over" end up working out. There is a reason nearly every kid has at least one memory of a parent or coach telling them not to quit.
For the past two season I've found myself writing down nearly every thing that I've said to my teams during a race or practice. In 2008 I think I used the phrase "8 minutes" a thousand times when talking to my boats, the theory being that we were capable of doing anything for at least 8 minutes. Most of my sayings are far from original and are usually if not dead on, carrying a very similar tone to famous sayings. I don't know where I first heard, "adversity doesn't build character, it reveals/defines it" or "don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today."
One of the things that always gets me whenever I watch a sports movie such as "Rudy" or "Remember the Titans" is the stirring inspirational speech given before the big game or games. I've always wanted to be able to come up with something stirring and amazing to say just before our big race. My first year I wrote down speeches and practiced them more than I did homework but when the big moment came, the music never played and the speech that I had down so perfectly in my head became more of an embarrassment than inspiring. Moving on to coaching I kept up the same practice working on speeches and then suddenly realized the only reason those speeches sounded so amazing was because they were scripted. And that if I delivered a speech like that, it would sound scripted. I tried it once, reading something that I wrote many weeks before. Instead of coming out awe inspiring about halfway through I realized the material didn't fit the occasion. From then on I started writing simply from the heart and the writing became key things that I wanted be sure I mentioned. As for the rest, the heat of the moment would provide all the material I needed to come up with something.
Comments