It was early in the basketball season and the team was doing quite well. But they were about to face a team which had humiliated them last year by thirty points. The coach knew he had to motivate his players, so he pulled out the film of last year's game. The game looked as bad on film as it had that night. It even captured the fans' shameful expressions, disgusted with their team.

At first that may not sound like the best motivational tool, but then the coach pulled out a film of the team winning a big game. This time the fans were screaming and cheering. "Look how well you played against that other team," the coach said. "This year you can play just as well against the team that embarrassed you last year. What do you say? Let's go get 'em!"

The coach's purpose was to help his players visualize beating the opposing team. He wanted them to see and hear the fans cheering for them, to see themselves out on the court, to recall the joy of beating a tough foe and the pain they would suffer if they failed.

A very popular high school football coach in Southern California motivates his players by finding out what each boy wants out of football. One boy might want to please his father, another wants to impress his girlfriend, while a third hopes to win a football scholarship at a major university. During practice, he might take the boy who wanted to please his father off to one side and say, "You know that play you've been working on? You're not quite getting it right. Now if you use this technique, can you imagine how proud your dad would be when you shoot through the like and make that tackle? Can't you just picture your dad cheering, jumping up and down in the stands?"

To the player who wants a scholarship the coach might say, "College scouts will be impressed if you use this technique. They spend hours trying to teach it to their players. Can you imagine them smiling as they see you make that play? They'll put a special note in their reports about that."

We've watched our son Michael's eyes and facial expressions as he admiringly follows his older brother's footsteps. We know he wants to be as good as Greg in everything, especially in sports. The main reason we encourage our children in sporting events is because it can help build inner character such as patience, humility, and learning to lose and win graciously.

I witnessed the force of this motivational tool while Mike was telling me how much he wanted to be a tight end on the football team, like Greg. But he was in gymnastics and several years away from being in high school. I said to him, "Mike, can you just imagine how fun it will be to go out for a long pass in football, catch it, and do a flip completely over the defender because of your gymnastics skills? I can see it now. I'll jab the person in the stands next to me, 'Did you see my son! He jumped completely over that guy—great move!'" Michael was laughing and I could see he was right with me; he was getting motivated.

© Copyright 2006 Smalley Relationship Center

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