Think of a situation where you did not have the true energy or motivation to do something. Do you have the picture and the feeling?

I can use one of my examples, it’s of course from the sports. I played football and had my position to the right on the midfield. On some of the drills on our football practices I was supposed run up on the border and then make turn and run in towards the middle, and then the defenseman would pass the ball on the same side I was running from, to a forward that was meeting up the ball.

I found it totally unnecessary and useless doing that and therefore asked the coach, why I’m running the way I were, I just got the answer that I needed to do so, it was part of the drill… Do you find it exciting?

Ok I did not have José Mourinho as the head coach and I wasn’t David Beckham and as you see I didn’t have the opportunity either.

Explaining Why

What if the coach would have explained it this way? You need to run on the border and turn into the middle to get their left midfielder to follow you to the centre, by doing this you will create some space at the border, since their midfielder will follow you, and therefore we can pass the ball to our own forward in that space you have created through your run, and from there we can start our next move, so you are making an important run to create space for your teammate and for us to make the next move.

So what was the secret? WHY, you are doing something. Can you see the difference in the motivation and energy level of a young player?

Mourinho, do he need to explain why?

José Mourinho is of course not facing this simple problem, but he will still need to explain WHY, many, many times to his players. Sometimes it’s even harder to get your experienced players trying to do some new things, because some of them will be “yesbuts”, yes but, we are used to do it this way, and then you really need to explain WHY, they need to do things differently or your way.

“Yesbut we are different”
“Yesbut we have already tried it in the past”
“Yesbut our people don’t like it”
“Yesbut but my responsibility will change”
“Yesbut it will destroy our game”
“Yesbut it does not fit our structure”
“Yesbut our fans do not need it”
“Yesbut we are obliged to …”

God bless the whynotters!
They dare to dream…. and act, thereby achieving what others see as unachievable.

Why is also important in general terms, for why you are playing floorball, why are you here in this floorball team? You can also ask that question to yourself, why are you coaching, why are you a floorball coach?

Non-professional floorball players (main reasons)

Really young floorball player: Why are you playing?
–         I want to be a floorball pro
–         My parents want me to play
–         I have my best friend David here
–

Young floorball player: Why are you playing?
–         I want to be a floorball pro or at least try to earn some money on it
–         I have my friends here
–

Semi-professional Floorball player: Why are you playing?
–         I get some extra money
–         I like the chat in the locker room
–         I just like it, it’s part of me
–         It keeps me in shape
–         It’s nice to say you are a floorball player, to the girls in the bar
–         I like floorball
–

Professional floorball players (main reasons)
–         I earn my living
–         I want to win the league/big titles
–         I want to be a better football player
–         I like the chat in the locker room
–         I just like it, it’s part of me
–         I like floorball
–         I want to win (game, league, tournament)
–

“I told Adrian Mutu, you are already a rich boy, you won a lot of money, you are still in a big contract. So no problem with your future about money, no problem about prestige in your home country. When you go back to Romania you will be one of the kings. But five years after you leave football nobody remembers you. Only if you do big things. This is what makes history.”  /José Mourinho

When you are coaching floorball on “lower” levels you need to understand why your players are there, to be able to pull the right strings, your floorball players will have many reasons to why they want to play floorball, have you asked them?

Why are your Floorball players there?

What about if you are José Mourinho? Somehow there is no difference, you still need to know why, why are your players there, the main reason is not just that they have a contract with the team (in that case they probably already are sitting on the bench) or that they want to earn a lot of money, because they already are. So what is it then?

That’s a question I can not give you the right answer on, you need to know your players to understand, why they continue their career and what motivates them, and I mean each and one of them, because you will not get the same answer from each and one of the players!

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