Growing up coaches would always pride themselves on their ability to rev you before a game.
They’d try and pull on your heartstrings, appeal to your pride, get you emotionally charged.
It was exhausting.
I saw it in the pros too.
How could I forget Paul O’Connell’s speech about putting the fear of god into the opponents of the day?
But recently I’ve witnessed a contradictory approach.
In the Last Dance the team practiced Phil Jackson’s preference for zen Buddhism.
Instead aiming for an optimal level of anger, Jackson encouraged them to get here and now.
In Richie McCaw’s book he revealed that the All Blacks tried to remove emotion entirely from their game, it helped their clinical nature to play dispassionately.
I suppose it’s a personal preference but if you ask me, you make better decisions when calm.
Thomas Duggan 