I’m not sure where I came up with this idea… but, it has been effective with our players in the past.
I have mentioned before on this site that my background is in psychology and counseling. How the mental part of the game of football operates has always fascinated me! Looking for a psychological advantage is one of the fun parts of coaching for me. I have found one that I want to share.
One of the most important aspects of a well-executed offensive game plan is: Turn-overs! One of our Offensive Game Objectives that we set each week is to have no more than 1 T-O! If they have 0 T-O’s, the Offense earns a bonus point. However, I was looking for a motivational tool that might get our Offense to realllllllllllly strive for NO turn-overs. What I came up with is pretty cool! No turn-overs earns all of the offensive guys a couple of donut HOLES! The hole looks like a fat “0!” My hope was that the symbolism would be significant.
Welllllllll, we had a T-O in our first game so no donut holes. I heard a couple of players saying, “we need to get those donut holes this week, guys!” THAT is what I wanted to hear! Good news— we had 0 T-O’s in last week’s game. When we broke from our Thursday Pre-Game Ceremony yesterday, (get a copy of my book and you’ll see what the “Ceremony” is all about!!!) I called the offensive players over. When they saw the box from Dunkin’ Donuts, they started smiling. I broke open the box and started handing out Holes!
We’ll see tonight if it makes a difference!!!
