3 movie coaches’ speeches that will get you off the couch and teach you how to win

Sports movies inspire us not only with the athletes’ willpower, their successes and their ability to hold their own in case of defeats, but also with the words of coaches before decisive matches. Their monologues motivate not only their charges to win, but also all the viewers. Read about what exactly Tony D’Amato, Frankie Dunn and Mickey Goldmill said in this article.

“Every Sunday,” Tony D’Amato

The Miami Sharks American soccer team is trying to play with big financial problems. The owner of the team thinks only about money and sells strong players, some leave due to injuries, and a former backup who became the star of the team turns into an arrogant and hypocritical man.

Tony D’Amato gives a monologue before a crucial playoff game. He convinces the players to forget their problems and pull together.

“Three minutes to the most important battle of our professional lives. Everything will be decided today. And now it’s either we come together as a team or we fall apart. Inch by inch, game by game, until the end comes. We’re in hell, gentlemen. Believe me. And – we can stay here, letting our feet be wiped on us, or we can fight our way back to the light. We can choose from hell. One inch at a time. Well, I can’t do it for you, I’m too old. I look around, I see these young faces, and I think.

I’ve made every wrong choice a man can make at my age. I’ve blown all my money, I’ve pushed away everyone who’s ever loved me, and in the end, I can’t stand the face I see in the mirror. You know, as the years go by, life takes a lot from you. It’s part of life. But you only realize it when you start losing. You discover that life is a game of inches, just like soccer. Because in every game, life or soccer, the margin for error is so small that a half step earlier or later and you failed… A half second earlier or later and you didn’t catch. The inches we need are all around us. They’re in every period of the game, every minute, every second. And on this team we fight for that inch, on this team we tear ourselves and anyone around us to shreds. For that inch. We’re clawing for that inch, because when we have all the inches, it’s going to make a hell of a difference between winning and losing, between life and death.

I’ll tell you what, in every fight, the one who’s willing to fight to the death, the one who takes that inch, wins. And if I’m still alive, I’m willing to fight and die for that inch. Because that’s what life is! Six inches in front of your eyes, look into the eyes of the guy next to you and realize who will walk that inch with you. You’ll see someone who will sacrifice himself for this team because he knows that if he has to, you’ll do the same for him. And that’s a team, gentlemen. So either we come together now as a team or we die as individuals. That’s what soccer’s all about, guys.”

“Million Dollar Baby,” Frank Dunn

Frank Dunn is a talented boxing coach who owns a gym in Los Angeles. He trains successful boxers, although his life is not so happy: his daughter does not answer his letters, and his best fighter has signed with another manager. During this period of his life, Frank is visited in the gym by Maggie Fitzgerald, a 31-year-old waitress who dreams of becoming a professional boxer. Frank does not agree to train the woman, but her persistence and desire to succeed make him change his mind.

In addition to such motivating phrases as “work while you have strength”, “never give up”, “you will succeed”, the trainer told his student the theoretical basics of boxing.

“With a future boxer, you must first peel off all the husks and teach him the basics. It’s not enough to just tell a beginner, ‘Forget about the skills you’ve accumulated throughout your life,’ you have to make his body forget about them. And all of this has to be shown over and over again until he starts to feel like he’s had these skills since birth.”

“If any miracles happen in boxing, they happen when a fighter keeps fighting despite running out of strength and broken ribs, torn kidneys and retinas falling off. Miracles happen when a man risks everything for a dream that no one else can see but him.”

“Boxing is an unnatural activity. Here you have to act contrary to traditional logic. To move to the left, you don’t step to the left, you turn around on the toe of your right foot, and to move to the right, you turn around on the toe of your left foot. Instead of running away from the pain, as any sane person does, the boxer rushes towards it.”

“All boxers are stubborn. They are sure in their hearts that they know this or that boxing finesse better than any trainer. Even when they are wrong enough that the mistake leads to a collapse, and you manage to out-box them, then they are not fighters.”

“Rocky,” Mickey Goldmill

World champion Apollo Creed, nicknamed “The Bone Breaker,” has decided to fight in Philadelphia, but before the fight, Apollo’s opponent suffers a serious arm injury. But Creed does not want to postpone the fight, so he decides to meet in the ring with a local newcomer. Apollo likes Rocky’s nickname, “the Italian Stallion,” and gives the unknown boxer a chance to become world champion. After accepting Creed’s challenge, Rocky begins to prepare hard for the fight and trains under retired boxer Mickey Goldmill.

After training, Mickey says:

“You know, I was young too and I’ll tell you one thing, if you weren’t here, who knows, maybe I wouldn’t even be here anymore. However, you’re here, working your ass off – it gives me motivation to live. I think people die when they don’t want to live. Nature is much smarter than you think. Little by little you lose friends and you lose everything.

You lose and lose until you say, “Why should I live? “I have no reason to live. But you’ve given me a reason to live, and I will live. I’m gonna see you win. You will! I’ll always be with you, no matter what happens. Because when I’m gone, not only will you fight, but you’ll be able to take care of yourself outside the ring too. I have a present for you. It’s the most valuable thing I own. Rocky Marciano gave it to me. You know what it is? It’s a cufflink. I give it to you, it’ll be like an angel around your shoulders. If it’s bad, if you think it’s over, this angel will whisper to you, “Get up.” Because Mickey loves you. You’ll make them all.”