Corinne Zimmerman is a third-year doctoral student in the Department of Kinesiology. Her scholarly interests lie in the psychosocial aspects of sports, particularly examining the effectiveness of pregame speeches and how to measure team culture and climate.
If you consume any type of sports media, it is likely that you have seen images of a coach giving athletes final instructions or getting them hyped up prior to competition. This unique interaction between a coach and their athletes goes by many names: the locker room talk, the huddle or the pregame speech. Pregame speech is considered a pivotal part of the traditional sport experience. Both athletes and coaches share stories of how specific pregame speeches helped drive their team to victory.
But what do we really know about pregame speech? Is it really the all-powerful tool that some consider it to be?
The pregame speech can be characterized by a few components. The first is tactical content. Tactical content includes topics like team strategy, specific skills or techniques. For example, a basketball coach might stress who is guarding who during their pregame speech. Pregame speeches can also include emotional content. Emotional content can be the words spoken by a coach to create an emotional response among athletes for motivation. This can include comments about confidence, preparation or the feelings of a previous loss or win. Both types of content are verbally shared with athletes, but the final pregame speech component, the delivery, involves nonverbal messages. Delivery is the body language used during the speech, as well as the speaker’s expression or tone of voice. Together, content and delivery are used to create pregame speeches like the ones shown on TV.
But what makes pregame speech different than any other talk a coach gives their athletes? Athletes might have different preferences about the content and delivery of pregame speech. Some athletes thrive off the fiery, passionate and emotional pregame speeches. Those types of speeches can help athletes elevate their own energy prior to the game, but others might find that type of speech off-putting. Some athletes prefer a calm, direct and tactical pregame speech to help them focus. Coaches are tasked with understanding the emotional needs of their athletes prior to any given competition and deliver a speech accordingly because as postgame interviews and research have shown, the right pregame speech can lead to incredible performances.
Unfortunately, there is no formula that can help a coach create the ideal balance of tactical or emotional content or the appropriate delivery. Coaches must understand their team and the situation at hand. A cross-country team racing on its home course for a spot in the postseason might not need to hear about the particulars of the course. Instead, the coach can boost confidence by reminding the team members of their own knowledge of the course and how they can use that to their competitive advantage. The context of the competition will impact what the athletes prefer to hear and what the coach might feel they need to say. Who the opponent is, where the team is in the season and the team’s performance so far are all important considerations.
While pregame speech preferences may change from time to time, one thing remains constant: Athletes want their coaches to be genuine, and they want to know that their coaches believe in them. Athletes do not just look to their coaches for skill development or a game-winning strategy; they also look to their coaches for reassurance and a boost in confidence. When a trusted and knowledgeable source tells an athlete that they believe in them, it can make all the difference in the athlete’s self-belief. Simply put, the message of the pregame speech matters.
Sports are competitive and they can push athletes to go beyond what they ever thought possible. Coaches play a role in helping their athletes prepare for that challenge. Their words and actions prior to competition are an important tool to remind, to energize and to reassure athletes before they face their opponents. Pregame speeches really do have the power to be as impactful as TV makes them seem. The message matters.