HALF TIME TEAM TALKS
A great test is to ask a player post-game what
the coach said at half-time. Most of them have
no idea. They may remember one or two
things, or they may just remember the essence
of it or the mood of the coach. If you need to
have some influence, it needs to be simple and
there can only be a minimal number of
changes, if changes are needed at all.’
Tony Smith, a straight-talking Aussie (is there any
other kind?), speaks with great authority on
coaching techniques and philosophies across
all sports. It’s his assertion that, in pre-match
speeches particularly, varying your approach
is vital.
‘If you do the same routine it wears thin pretty
quickly. Do you always need to raise your
voice? No way. If you do the same thing all
the time players become immune to the way
that you end up speaking to them. It needs to
be varied and appropriate to that occasion.
‘I like to get my players to build it up themselves
leading into a game. If I feel that they haven’t
built in the right way, that the mood isn’t right,
that’s when I intervene. I make it their
responsibility to get each other ready. It’s not
just the individual, they’d better make sure that
the person next to them is ready to play too.’
Fostering this collective responsibility for
pre-match preparation takes time, but Smith’s
laissez-faire approach seems to work, if his
trophy-rich stint at Leeds Rhinos proved
anything to go by.
Specific philosophies on half-time team talks
are more difficult to pin down. Clearly their
content depends entirely on what has occurred
‘What I say is never
technical, rarely
tactical. Often
it’s supportive.’
For Smith, the key is to decide almost
immediately what elements (tactics, execution,
morale etc) need changing and to use all the
short amount of time available to prepare
your speech.
‘I try not to let it be too reactionary, to have it
well thought out before I deliver. If it needs to
be a bit emotional, I’ll let it be emotional, but I’ll
have already thought that through. It’s fine to
show emotion, but I think it needs to be
controlled emotion.‘The content depends on
how well they’re performing and how well the
plan is being executed or how the opposition
are handling the plan.
‘It’s the duty of the coach to read what is
needed on each occasion. Quite often I will
speak to my assistant coaches about that and
ask, ’Do I need to alter these people tactically
or is it mentally?’ I try to go into it with some
sort of plan and control over the delivery of it.
‘One of the things that a lot of coaches
become guilty of is a commentary of what’s just
happened,’ adds the 43 year old. ‘That’s the
last thing they need – they already know that.
What we need to do is work on the future,
rather than what’s just gone by.’
KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER:
Keep it simple. Limit any
in-game advice to one or
two specific points.
Adapt quickly and decide what
sort of change is needed –
tactical, mental or none at all.
Don’t be reactionary – use
the limited time available to
structure what you want to
say and communicate it in a
controlled way.
Concentrate on what needs
to happen next, not on what
just happened.
Accept that whatever you say,
ultimate responsibility lies with the
player.
‘No matter what you’ve imparted to them, they have to do it.’