When Tragedy Strikes
(A tragedy can take many forms leading up to a sporting event... an injury of a key player, a death in the organization, a punishment against a teammate, or the suspension of a coach. Times of tragedy are times filled with emotion and passion. As head coach it is your responsibility to re-focus and re-channel this emotion and passion into positive energy and adrenaline to create peak performance.)
When Tragedy Strikes
Adversity...
it's that feeling in the pit of your stomach right now. It's
that ach inside of you that wants to cancel tonight's game
and take you elsewhere to suffer. You have to fight it! Do
not let it take you away from this contest. They (the
person(s) in question) wouldn’t want that to happen. They
would want you all to play tonight's game and they would
want you to play the best game of your life tonight! Put
yourself in their shoes for a moment. Picture yourself where
they are. Would you want to have affected tonight's night in
a negative way? Would you want the team to suffer because of
what has happened? No, you would not want that to happen and
neither do they! They would want this game to happen. It's
up to you to make this game happen! Dedicate your effort
tonight to them, play your heart out, and make them proud!
In times of adversity true athletes perform! In times of
tragedy true athletes overcome and persevere!
(permission granted to reproduce this speech as long as
author and website are sighted. Thanks! - author - Mike
Sellers, website - PreGameSpeeches.com)