A friend of mine, Tony Earp, helps run SuperKick up in Columbus. He has a Masters in Education from OSU, and while playing for the Buckeyes he was 2nd Team All Big Ten twice and was voted captain and Most Inspirational Player. He recently published a post about pregame motivation. Here’s what he recommends.

Pregame speech:

“You had a great week of training and you are prepared for today. Today is about you. It is not about me or your parents. It is not about anything that happened before this game or will happen after this game. It is about you, right now, and your opportunity to play the game. Play today the way you want to play, in a way that would make you proud, and in a way that would make your teammates proud. I want you to enjoy every second you have on the field and make the most out of it. I look forward to watching you play and compete today.”

Check out his full article for more context. What do you think?

Addendum:

It may be presumptuous, but today I decided to compose my pregame speech for the next championship game we’re in. đŸ™‚ I watched videos from Rudy, Any Given Sunday, Hoosiers, Rocky, and Remember the Titans. But the film with the best pregame speech for a soccer team is from Miracle, the story of the 1980 US Hockey team. Adapted to U12 girls soccer, it would go something like this:

Championship game pregame speech:

Great moments, girls, are born from great opportunity. And that’s what you have here today.

That’s what you’ve EARNED here, today.

ONE game. If we played them ten times they might win nine. But not THIS GAME, not TODAY.

TODAY, we run with them, tackle them, SHUT THEM DOWN.

Today, we we impose OUR WILL on THEM, because WE CAN.

Today, we are the GREATEST u12 girls soccer team in the WORLD.

You were born to be soccer players, every one of you. And you were meant to be here today.

This is your time. Now go out there and become champions!

Who are we? Cincy SC!

Can’t wait to use it!