Thanks

Thanks

 I think good organisation is an excellent motivator. If each player knows and understands his/her role, the teams role and shape then that can help them with something to focus on. They need to stick to what you tell them and not give too much thought on the opposition. Close down opponants obvious threats but concentrate on your own teams good points and addressing the bad points. I have heard team talks where its practically 100% about how to stop the opposition, all the players have in their mind then is who they are playing and not what they are supposed to be doing.

 I'm sure we would all love to give Churchill like speeches that inspire players to run through walls and i genuinly believe some people think that is possible but in the real world especially with youngsters that just doesnt happen.

 I always tell my team to forget the result and to just make sure that aslong as they give their all as individuals and a team then no more can be asked. I believe that if the team is organised and the players have faith in your organisation then sooner or later the positives will start showing not only in performance levels but also in actual results.

No team can stop you running and putting in effort. However good your opponant is at marking, tackling shooting etc they have no control over your players effort.

As human beings some of us are naturally more enthusiastic and motivated than others and no matter what we tell them in a motivational sense some will naturally have more determination than others.

 Whatever the result if our opponants come off the pitch with an obvious respect for us as a team then i feel we have achieved something and have a platform to build on.

If every opponent needs to give 100% against you then you will achieve more positives than negatives, most exceptional teams at junior/ youth level go into games with that psyhcological advantage so they are practically a goal up before the game even starts. If these teams are closed down and dont get it all there own way i find that these are the teams to get frustrated and make mistakes.

 But overall my motivation is organisation if they believe they are doing the right thing then the belief it will give them is better than any speech. 

If anyone still is then thanks for reading - didnt mean to get so into it.....!

I agree with a lot of what Swift1 says....you have to get your kids focused on what they are doing - if they are up against better/stronger teams, in reality there is little that they can do to influence the opposition, other than making the opp work for their victory, so remind your kids of what they have learnt in training/ previous games, & try to repeat this.

the end result is often the key focus - when it ought to be how they play the game and what fun they get. I'm not sure what age groups your kids are- but my U10's seek to win each game, but something I read once that i think was attributed to Dave MacKay ( ex Spurs/Derby player of the 60's) that I say to my kids is - "its not winning that counts, it's trying to win"..or something like that.

The point is - you can't win every game - but you can try to win every game...if your kids can believe this, then you'll find that as long as they give their best, and know that they have, then they'll take pleasure and hopefully a little inspiration.

Good luck...

Actually, the quote was...."Its not winning that counts but what you become by TRYING to win"

Motivation is a 2 way structure: Its a co existence between the Motivator and the player/s being motivated.

In team sports, motivation should be viewed in terms of REMINDING players what their respective jobs are,(I like the word job instead of role as job promotes the ideal of work). Then confine your talk to cover the three main areas:-DEFENSE,MIDFIELD & ATTACK. Guage the emotions of the players and either end with a positive reinforcement of the team against the world style of by calmy down players who are overhyped.

ANY negativity you turn into an advantage. I once was the last one into the dressing room at half time where we were 0-1 down against bitter rivals.As i shut the door I asked everyone to be deathly quiet. I then asked them if they could hear anything. The players said they could hear laughter coming from the opponents dressing room. I then said "Yes, I overheard them saying that they would win this match easy because our defenders couldnt tackle, the midfield couldnt pass and the forwards didnt know how to shoot". I then asked them to think about all those supporters who were at that moment being ridiculed in the stadium. I told them to remain quiet while I was going to tell them HOW they were going to turn the game around. I then let them have their drinks and left the dressing room so they could decide whether they were going to win or be knocked out.

They won the match 6-1. Was it tactics?? ... not really. Was it decisions from me???...not really. I just used a possible negative situation to motivate and remind the players what they SHOULD be doing instead of worrying about WHAT had happened.