Motivational Talk to HS kids??

[CRUNCH]

Need some help here.

The local HS football coach asked me to give a motivational talk to the team, plus some demonstrations of power cleans and maybe a few other core excises.

Demonstrating the exercises will be no problem at all. But what the heck am I going to talk about in a motivational speech??? The talk is about an hour. I'm thinking about 20-30 minutes with the exercises, the rest speaking.

I've done a lot of public speaking and it always went well, just never to HS kids. I am drawing a complete blank here about what to discuss, or how to discuss it.

The coach wants me to motivate them to keep lifting hard over the summer. Aparenty in the past, the kids have been pretty lazy in the summer, and I think they don't have total respect for the coach.

Any ideas?????????

 

[size]

Tell them that all the crap they think is important now, is not.

Consequently, encourage them to lead a healthy lifestyle and remember that every action has a reaction. So rather than directing their youthful energy towards negatives, direct that energy towards positives. In doing so, they will be rewarded in the future.

 

[Jayhawkk]

Also the traits they pick up with continued and dedicated lifting, that will assist them through life. No short cuts, hard work, dedication, pride, etc etc.

 

[diamonddave]

High School huh????? That's a tough one. Maybe you could explain that they will get laid more if they hit the weights hard.

I wish I had some advice, but I don't. Giving a 30 - 40 min speech to a, historically, lazy group of kids that don't have respect for their coach isn't going to motivate them to do a 180 for the entire Summer. If you go in there and kick ass, most will have lost their motivation within a few days of hard work and a few may hang in there for a couple of weeks. I think you're being asked to perform a miracle. The coach is there every day, he needs to figure out how to gain the respect of the players and motivate them on a daily basis.

Tough job, man... I wish you luck.

dd

 

[CRUNCH]

High School huh????? That's a tough one. Maybe you could explain that they will get laid more if they hit the weights hard.

I wish I had some advice, but I don't. Giving a 30 - 40 min speech to a, historically, lazy group of kids that don't have respect for their coach isn't going to motivate them to do a 180 for the entire Summer. If you go in there and kick ass, most will have lost their motivation within a few days of hard work and a few may hang in there for a couple of weeks. I think you're being asked to perform a miracle. The coach is there every day, he needs to figure out how to gain the respect of the players and motivate them on a daily basis.

Tough job, man... I wish you luck.

dd

That's exactly what I've been thinking and why I'm struggling with this. If I come in there like Mr Know-It-All, I'll get no respect from these kids at all.


Jayhawkk and Size, not bad. It's giving me some direction on where to take this.

Thanks guys!

 

[Mulletsoldier]

I think whatever the subject matter you choose to speak about, I think it is imperative you speak with them, not to them. You have to remember they are males, in high school no less, and are inherently antagonistic and adversarial so anything less than an equal connection may just be brushed off. In my experience at least, if an adult was condescending, even if they attempted to be intimidating I merely brushed everything they told me off, as it seemed like I was being dictated to. However, when I was connected with, I retained the knowledge b/c I wanted to. Now, you might not care that much, but I figure if you are going to do this you may as well impart some knowledge on them

 

[Jayhawkk]

Throw in some jokes and you have to go in there that when you're done no one could say that you let them down. A lot of people go into thinking teens/kids are just brats that won't listen and they will pick this vibe up and immediatly turn you off.

For example:

"Guys I could stand here and feed you full of bull and that this doesn't take any work and that impressing girls/boys should be used as a motivational thing or that the size and strength would make you king of the parkinglot. But the truth is that it takes hard work and continual trial and error and self motivation to do the right thing over what your friends do, which is hard enough as it is with drugs,alcohol etc. You may be able to initially attract a boy or girlfriend but if you're a jerk or an idiot then that will only keep them so long. And let's face it...You go around bullying or beating up on people you're going to end up in jail. So using that as a factor to get fit and healthy is a temproary one that is probably the main reason that the gyms are packed every year from jan to mar and then empty again for the rest of the year.

Achieving a fit and healthy look on both the inside and outside is just materializing the core values of hard work, dedication, motivation, self-reliance, commitment,discipline, among others. YOUR values are tested, tried and put through hell but because YOU decided that your golas were set, failing to achieve them was not an option. The only possible outcome is success. The success of achieving and the success of turning your values into a living, breathing, model of health and fitness.

When you have put so much work into turning your body into something to be proud of, you are less likely to abuse it with drugs and alcohol. And let's face it...turning away from peer pressure is hard enough if not almost impossible so any new reason or excuse to help you stay the course, is a God send. "naw man, can't be drinkin that tonight, I have to hit the gym at 6am".

And let's not forget the end result. A body you are in tune with and one that will not easily let you down because you know through extensive hard work and training, its limits. A body that has been fine tuned will allow you to better cope with the realities of life and stress. Why? Because having to deal with obesity,high blood pressure, heart issues, cholesterol, are in themselves, enough to cause stress that can kill. A preoccupied mind dealing with a unhealthy body can not handle what the outside world can throw at it. However, a healthy body frees your mind to not only cope with the world but also to explore and conquer areas that you may not have previously been able to achieve. You all have a long life ahead of you. Why not make those years ahead of you filled with joy and passion instead of agony and regret?"




How's something like that?

 

[CRUNCH]

I think whatever the subject matter you choose to speak about, I think it is imperative you speak with them, not to them. You have to remember they are males, in high school no less, and are inherently antagonistic and adversarial so anything less than an equal connection may just be brushed off. In my experience at least, if an adult was condescending, even if they attempted to be intimidating I merely brushed everything they told me off, as it seemed like I was being dictated to. However, when I was connected with, I retained the knowledge b/c I wanted to. Now, you might not care that much, but I figure if you are going to do this you may as well impart some knowledge on them

I couldn't agree more Mullet! I want to come across as a peer to them, but not a parent or teacher. One of those "older" people that they feel they can talk to without being judged or preached to.

I'll be working with many of these kids throughout the summer also.

Jayhawkk...I liked that example a lot. It's got some good stuff in it.

 

[Jayhawkk]

Yeah, it was just a spur of the moment thing to get more points

 

[Rage (SoCal)]

A couple other funny ice-breakers could be:

"If you get stuck on the toilet because your legs are noodles, you had a good leg workout"

"If your ripped the ass out of your shorts doing squats, you probably have good form"


Jokes will break the ice. Also, I would bump to Mullet's advice. If you act young and talk with them, they'll love you. You look pretty damn ripped, make sure they know you are, they'll respect you even moreso. Ummm, since they are at the point in life they are, you probably want to make everything relevant to what they are doing now while steadily tying in the future. These guys are most concerned with the upcomming season, not three years from now.

Your best bet is to be relaxed and make it a fun and laid back talk. And of course, teach them that good habits will make or break them, even during their season. Bad form = injuries = no game time.

It may seem tough, but just look at it like your going back to talk to yourself. Good luck, man.

 

[CRUNCH]

WAIT!!! I've got it! Why didn't I think of this before???

I'll give a demonstration on how to make crystal fina and then show them proper injection techniques!! How to brew a good transdermal could be helpful as well.

LOL!

On a serious note. I'm thinking of starting off by asking them what kept them from sticking to their program last summer. Did they not like the workout, were they too busy with a summer job, etc... Maybe talk about overcoming some of the obsticles they feel they have to staying on a program this summer. As opposed to asking them why they were so freaking lazy last summer, which I don't think would go over so well. I know the HS gym hours are fairly limited, so that could be an issue. That should be a start with speaking "with" them instead of "to" them.

 

[Markio]

On 'Mike Tysons Greatest Hits' video, he was asked why he was up at 4:30am training, his reply was along the lines of "because nobody else is" and that's what gave him the extra edge in the Cus Dmato days. As soon as he got lazy, Buster Douglas floored him. You could apply that to football in that if they train hard during the summer not only will they be better prepared to take the hits, but more importantly give them back, because you can bet that the other team are training hard.

I also like the famous Muhammed Ali quote: "suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion".

If you can use any of that cool. p.s I know nothing about public speaking, HS kids or football training!

 

[Jayhawkk]

I don't think using that particular ali quote is good oncsidered how he's had to live through the years. Sort of like sufer now and for a long time to come.

 

[Markio]

b@lls you replied whilst I was typing - not sure I fully understood the situation first time round!

I would personally say your last paragraph is spot on, asking lots of questions on a peer level will open them up nice and early, and introduce lots of questions and discussion. How many are there, and would any of them be embarrased about asking questions? For example if I was at school and you came to do a talk I'd probably be wanting to ask 'how long did it take to build them arms'! But I'd never do it as everyone would take the p1ss. is it like that, or are these guys all at least interested in sport and just have lazy periods?

 

[Markio]

I don't think using that particular ali quote is good oncsidered how he's had to live through the years. Sort of like sufer now and for a long time to come.

haha, yer very good point!

Maybe someone who didn't get punched in the head for a living made a similar quote he could use

 

[Mulletsoldier]

The Greatness has Parkinsons yo..I don't think it has anything to do with boxing. Sorry for the hijack, I just love Ali.

 

[Jayhawkk]

I like the man myself but the quote just seemed odd considering his current condition. No disrespect intended.

 

[Markio]

Ali was/is a legend! I've seen a few documentaries on him and they all made it clear that they thought/assumed that the beatings he took later on in his career exacerbated his illness. Personally I wouldn't know, but took it as read that they done at least some research so I didn't question it...

Still like the quote though, or at least the message that it conveys (that hard work pays) rather than the unfortunate actualites of the great mans illness.

 

[Iron Warrior]

Send the message that "failure to prepare is to prepare for failure".

As a football coach, I get the feeling that this isn't a very successful program and they probably have a losing history. The coach has to put his foot down and let them know that if they're not willing to pay the price then they won't play. You can give them the most motivational speech ever but at the end of the day it's the coach who has to set the rules and environment for the team to at least be competitive and give the players an ultimatum to get with the program or transfer to another team.

IMO, if you need to be motivated to play football then you're playing the wrong sport.

 

[CRUNCH]

Send the message that "failure to prepare is to prepare for failure".

As a football coach, I get the feeling that this isn't a very successful program and they probably have a losing history. The coach has to put his foot down and let them know that if they're not willing to pay the price then they won't play. You can give them the most motivational speech ever but at the end of the day it's the coach who has to set the rules and environment for the team to at least be competitive and give the players an ultimatum to get with the program or transfer to another team.

IMO, if you need to be motivated to play football then you're playing the wrong sport.

The coach attempted to put his foot down a couple years ago. He told the kids that they had to show up X number of times over the summer or they wouldn't be allowed to play. Well...about two of the kids made it the required number. So he had to eat crow and let everybody play, this just caused the kids to lose respect for him since he didn't back up his threat. Now anything he says along those lines, the kids blow off. It's going to take him a while to recover from that screw up! I think he's hoping I can put a different spin on the summer motivation, kind of a tall order to hope I can fix his stuff. But, I'll talk to the kids, tell them I'll help them out, show them some new things and see what happens. I really don't think I can make things worse, but hopefully I can reach out to at least a few of them (especially the captians). It's a start and this coach is desperate. He does seem like a decent guy that just learned a big lesson about kids.

 

[CRUNCH]

The talk was pretty good. I spoke for about 15-20 minutes. The kids had a lot of questions, which I take as a good sign that showed interest. Then we went over form on squats and power cleans. Their clean form sucks, that coach has no idea how to teach them.


Thanks to everybody that responded here!

 

[CDB]

Need some help here.

The local HS football coach asked me to give a motivational talk to the team, plus some demonstrations of power cleans and maybe a few other core excises.

Demonstrating the exercises will be no problem at all. But what the heck am I going to talk about in a motivational speech??? The talk is about an hour. I'm thinking about 20-30 minutes with the exercises, the rest speaking.

I've done a lot of public speaking and it always went well, just never to HS kids. I am drawing a complete blank here about what to discuss, or how to discuss it.

The coach wants me to motivate them to keep lifting hard over the summer. Aparenty in the past, the kids have been pretty lazy in the summer, and I think they don't have total respect for the coach.

Any ideas?????????

Speak with them as you would an adult audience. Engage them though, nothing will put them to sleep faster than if you just kind of talk at them. Questions work well, make them a part of the presentation as much observers.

 

[CRUNCH]

See my post right before yours CDB, it's already over and went well. And I did talk to them like adults, tried to avoid sounding like their coach or a parent.

 

[CDB]

See my post right before yours CDB, it's already over and went well. And I did talk to them like adults, tried to avoid sounding like their coach or a parent.

Coolness. This kind of stuff does make a difference in people's lives. Good thing for you to do. I wish someone with more knowledge than my gym teacher had come in and shown me how to workout properly when I was younger.

 

[CRUNCH]

Coolness. This kind of stuff does make a difference in people's lives. Good thing for you to do. I wish someone with more knowledge than my gym teacher had come in and shown me how to workout properly when I was younger.

I agree big time. I think of all the years I was doing everything wrong because there was nobody to teach us anything.