|
|
| |
Shout it: 'Go Leafs Go!'
JOSEPH HALL - STAFF REPORTER
If you had the power of persuasion, the silver tongue, and the words to move mountains, how would you say it? If, in other words, you were a professional motivational speaker, how would you say, "Go Leafs Go!"?The Star asked two veteran motivational speakers what they would say to the team, in 200 words, if they were given access to the dressing room before tonight's Game 7 against the Ottawa Senators. With the Battle of Ontario down to the wire, are there words that could urge the Toronto Maple Leafs on, that could boost each player's energy or desire, even by the razor's width that might be needed?
| Dr. C. Sturdy: Sturdy, of Conscious Communications, is a Toronto motivational speaker who has been on the circuit for 25 years. He'd say:"Well ... here we are! You're only minutes away from the BIGGEST GAME OF YOUR LIVES. This is what you've played for all year ... and for many of you ... the game you've been playing for over many years. "Use the momentum of the great passes, great shots, great defence or great saves that have lead up to this game! It's today that counts and you MUST play at your very best!!"I was in a local pub Sunday night taking in the excitement ... and what a fantastic night it was. The energy for the entire game was indescribable! There were cheers and screams every few seconds ... every hit, every shot, every save! This city is behind you 100%!!"Someone once said that there's no "I" in team ... I disagree. I believe that a team in made up of many individual "I's" and each one of those "I's" brings their skills, attitudes, and beliefs to the TEAM. Think and play smart on every shift before you choose to make that pass or retaliate from a cheap shot! "Visualize it now ... the game is over, you can't hear yourself think due to the noise level here, and you're embracing your teammates in victory! As you're shaking hands following this series you're listening to Senators' players wish you "good luck" in the next round. Sweet isn't it? Let's go out and taste that victory!!"
Maurice O'Callaghan: O'Callaghan, of Amherstburg Ont., is a retired businessman and former Toronto Argonaut who has been on the speaking trail for 18 years. His speech goes like this:"The first thing you people have to do in this room is think about this: You may never again get this close to something that 50 years from now you can sit down and show your children and show your grandchildren - show them your name on a cup that the vast majority of people who ever played this game will never, never touch."This is a dream that you can make come true if you just decide it will. But it has to be you who decides that. It can't be based on anything anybody else will do."The second thing is you've got to put the past behind you. Forget the time they speared you, or slashed you, or boarded you and the thought that one of these days you're going to get even because you're never going to get even. And this isn't the time to even think about it. Clear the slate when you step on that ice because that crap from the past you drag on the ice will kill you. It will get you focused on something other than the game."The third thing is, you've to play the shift the same way Phil Mickelson plays a golf shot. He doesn't play the course he plays a shot. And each shift you have when you step over those boards you've got to play it like it's the last shift you're ever going to play. There'll never be another shift after this. And you want to play it so, when you come back to the bench, you have nothing left to give. If your career ends at that moment you can say, I finished on the shift I wanted to finish on."
|
