Team GB athletics team captain and world 400 metres hurdle champion Dai Greene used a captain’s speech to inspire his team in 2012 to great success. In short he gave his team captain speech at the team’s training camp in Portugal on the eve of the London 2012 opening ceremony.
He’d had a mighty hard slog to get to where he was in athletics. And he therefore used this sacrifice in the words and personal story he noted in the team speech.
Motivational Team Captain Speech
In his team captain speech he made clear that all the athletes should count themselves fortunate to be fit for the home Olympics. For example, he cited the case of runner Steph Twell who would miss the Olympics through injury:
Use Steph’s story to appreciate what you have and think about how she would give anything to be in your shoes when you get to the start line and use that to inspire you.
Of course, you might expect him to litter his speech with athletics metaphors. So, he duly obliged:
Set the bar high, don’t be content with making the team. Don’t look back in 10 or 20 years and think you wish you’d done things differently. Aim for your own gold medal, whatever that may be.
Excellent motivating stuff on the eve of the Games.
Lastly he also managed to mix some good self-deprecation with an easy nod towards the redoubtable head coach, Charles van Commenee:
When Charles van Commenee called I thought it was bad news … then I thought he had picked me because I was like him … handsome, with charisma and I also can be hard work.
This was good public speaking technique in action. The success of the Games clearly suggests this technique worked for him and the team. Although a 4th place in the 400 metres hurdles was his final result.
Other Ideas To Motivate With Your Captain’s Speech
Dai Greene wasn’t the only Olympian making the news with a motivational speech. Because Dame Kelly Holmes also did her thing for the GB football team. And you too might find further inspiration with the list of motivating speeches prepared for the England 2010 team by LoveFilm since there are some great movie speeches in the list.
Tips to Help You Give Your Own Team Captain Speech
Your job as team captain is to inspire and motivate great deeds, individually and collectively. Beyond your own personal example on or off the field of play your communication skills must be on top form. These tips should help.
- 1Be brief. There's really not the time for a long speech.
- 2Emphasise the collective "we" and and also the collective "you".
- 3Reinforce the personal and collective goals your team has.
- 4Remind everyone they have the skills, they have the means for success.
- 5There's no need to belittle your opposition.
- 6You don't need need to shout. Keep calm, use short sentences, use proper intonation, rhetorical questions and make use of a solid pausing technique.
You can also discover more tips for a great leadership speech with our public speaking tips. And, you always pick up new tips about public speaking with a coaching session. Each session, held at your office, or one of our training centres, gives you the confidence you need for success. So, please don’t hesitate to call and discuss further.
Alternatively, you've also got the option of enrolling on an online public speaking course and master the speech-giving basics in your own time, at your own speed.
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