How to Give a Pregame Speech Your Players Will Actually Remember

Players will have heard hundreds of pregame “pep talks” by the time they get to your team. It’s highly doubtful that they’ll even remember one of them.

What makes a speech stick isn’t whether or not you’re loud, it’s uniqueness, timing, and tone. In this blog, we’ll go over the exact things you need to practice in order to give your players a pregame speech they’ll hold onto for the rest of their career. 

Say One Thing, Not Ten

No matter how good your speech is, players won’t be able to remember all of it. Your goal is to focus on what you want them to remember. In order to do this, you must choose one centralized message and build off of this, instead of focusing on a bunch of different topics.

Even building the speech around a single sentence can work effectively. With this approach, players are able to retain and hold on to this short message when they really need it. Anything that isn’t integral and doesn’t go back to this one message, you should cut from the speech entirely.

Anchor Your Speech to a Real, Specific Moment

When giving these pregame talks, most coaches use generic lines to try and get their athletes energized. Think “leave it all on the field” or “win every play”. Kids have heard these same lines a million times before.

In order to get them to remember your speech vividly, think about referencing a specific memory you all share. This can be a moment from practice in the past week, a team bonding event, a statistic from the season, or anything else that the entire team will remember.

By giving a message centered around a specific shared moment, players will immediately feel more connected to the speech. They’re able to picture themselves in the moment and feel important rather than feeling disconnected with a generic, stock speech.

Control Your Delivery

The best pregame speeches are the ones that are delivered correctly - with contrast. Many coaches think that to get players to remember your message, you have to deliver it with extreme volume. The opposite rings true.

Control the pace of your speech. Talk slower than you think you should, so your players can truly connect with every word. A strategic pause is absolutely integral, as well. Right before you get back to the main message - which you should be finishing your speech with - control the room with a pause of decent length. Look around the room, make eye contact with your players, and then hammer home that final sentence.

End on the Line You Want Remembered

As I just mentioned, you’ll want to make sure you end on the line that controls the main message of the speech. The last line is the most likely line to be remembered, whether it relates to the main message or not. You must remember to finish with your central idea.

FAQs

What makes a pregame speech memorable instead of just motivational?

A memorable pregame speech is built around one specific, repeatable line, instead of a list of separate ideas. Anchoring the talk to a specific sentence, as well as tying it into a shared moment, can be the difference between players holding onto the message or forgetting it even happened.

How short should a pregame speech be so players will actually retain it?

The most effective pregame speeches run 60 to 90 seconds, before a strategic pause and finishing with the closing line. The athletes’ adrenaline and energy are already at an all-time high right before gametime, so if you go longer than this, the message becomes diluted and unmemorable.

Should coaches write out a speech or speak from their mind?

A mix of both is the most effective way to approach this. Go into the speech knowing what your main message is, the specific event you plan to anchor it to, and how you’ll close the speech. Let the middle section of your speech flow freely and stay relatively conversational. You talk to these kids everyday. They know you. Keep it simple.

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