At halftime of a 9th grade conference tournament championship game (A is winning by 12 points against B), the room where my partner and I are in is within B's locker room. As we are sitting there, discussing the first half and enjoying a cold bottle of water, we can hear B's coach talking to his team. He talks about a few "mechanical" things (get the ball inside, don't take quick 3 pointers, call out screens on defense, etc.). Then, he launches into a motivational speech. It was really good. He tells his players that although they are trailing by 12, the pressure is really on the other team. Everyone expects them to win now that they have the big lead at halftime. He goes on about playing one possession at a time, having fun, etc, etc.
He builds and builds the speech until the end and he has all 12 kids shouting and banging on the lockers! They can't wait to go out that door and get some major butt! During the warmups before the half, these kids are pumped and ready to go.
However, they play lousy in the second half and lose by about 20. Great speech, though!
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