A Pregame Toughness Lesson You Can Use With Your Team
By Coach Randy Jackson | Adapted from Chapter 55 of A Royal Season
This lesson comes from Chapter 55 of my book, A Royal Season, which chronicles my experience coaching the Potsdam Royals in Germany. I've edited the original chapter to make it more of a step-by-step guide that coaches can use with their own teams.
With the playoffs here, I thought this would be a perfect time to share it.
You'll need about 15 minutes, a way to show your players Round 9 of the 2002 Arturo Gatti vs. Micky Ward fight, and a willingness to stop the video several times to make your players think.
The objective isn't to show your players a great boxing match. It's to teach them what mental toughness actually looks like.
The Story: Pregame in Berlin
We boarded the bus at Potsdam Main Station that morning, headed to Berlin to play the Rebels.
Berlin was 3-4-1 and still mathematically alive for the playoffs. We had beaten them earlier in the season, but I knew they would be ready for the rematch.
Pregame speeches on the road in Germany could be challenging. Most stadiums had several small locker rooms rather than one large room where the entire team could gather.
Mommsenstadion, built in 1930, was no different.
"Team meeting outside in 10 minutes!" I announced as I walked between the locker rooms.
We found a park across the street from the stadium. The players gathered along a railing, and Coach Eric Luster and I prepared to deliver our pregame message.
"The last time we played the Rebels, Coach Luster and I gave you a boxing story. Today, we're getting back in the ring for our rematch."
I explained that we were going to watch Round 9 of the 2002 Arturo Gatti vs. Micky Ward fight, widely considered one of the greatest rounds in boxing history.
But before I hit play, I wanted the Royals to understand who these two men were.
Gatti was a two-time world champion, born in Italy and raised in Canada. He was known as a human highlight reel.
Ward was a blue-collar fighter from Massachusetts who paved roads to pay the bills between fights. He had even walked away from boxing for three years before returning.
Two very different men.
One unforgettable fight.
And an incredible lesson on toughness.
The Coach's Step-by-Step Guide
Before you begin: Tell your players you're going to stop the video several times. You want them engaged, answering questions, and thinking about how the fight relates to what they're about to experience on the football field.
Link to video of Round 9
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
STEP 1: When You're Knocked Down
A. VIDEO: Start Round 9. Pause after Gatti gets knocked down, approximately 26 seconds into the round.
Ward lands a devastating body shot.
Gatti drops to one knee. His face shows excruciating pain. He looks beaten.
Even the commentators question whether he can recover.
B. "PAUSE IT!"
I looked at our players.
"Did you guys catch that? The commentators think Gatti's done!"
C. Ask your players:
"What do you think is going through Gatti's mind right now?"
"What would most people do in this situation?"
D. Teaching point:
Everybody gets knocked down.
In football, it might be a turnover, a missed tackle, a big play given up, or falling behind on the scoreboard.
You don't always control what happens to you.
But you absolutely control your response.
The question isn't whether you're going to get knocked down. It's whether you're going to get back up.
"Hit play!"
STEP 2: Recognize Momentum and Finish
E. VIDEO: Resume and pause after Ward's sustained attack, with approximately two minutes remaining.
Ward senses Gatti is hurt and goes on the attack.
For the next 30 seconds, he throws everything he has at Gatti.
But Gatti refuses to go down.
F. "PAUSE IT!"
"When the fight resumed, what did Ward do?" I asked.
One of our players, Mat, answered.
"Ward's going up-tempo on Gatti. He's going as fast as he can, trying to overwhelm him."
Exactly!
Ward was exhausted himself, but he smelled blood in the water.
G. Ask your players:
"What did Ward recognize?"
"How does this relate to momentum in football?"
H. Teaching point:
Momentum is real.
When you have an opponent in trouble, recognize it!
Don't relax after a big play. Don't celebrate so long that you lose your focus.
Great competitors recognize opportunities and attack them.
But here's the other side of that lesson.
When your opponent has momentum, you have to survive their best shot.
That's exactly what Gatti was doing.
"Hit play!"
STEP 3: Keep Throwing Body Blows
I. VIDEO: Resume and pause when the commentators discuss Ward abandoning his body attack.
Gatti survives the barrage.
Ward is exhausted and stops punching.
One commentator suggests Ward should return to attacking Gatti's body.
J. "PAUSE IT!"
"What mistake did the announcer say Ward was making?"
Jared answered.
"He should continue hitting Gatti with body blows."
"YES!"
I explained that our body blows against Berlin would be physical, disciplined football.
Finishing blocks through the whistle. Taking legal shots when opportunities presented themselves. Playing with relentless effort.
K. Ask your players:
"What are body blows in football?"
"How do we wear an opponent down without losing our discipline?"
L. Teaching point:
Body blows aren't always spectacular.
Sometimes they're a four-yard run.
Sometimes they're a receiver blocking a defensive back for an extra second.
Sometimes they're eleven defenders sprinting to the football.
The little things accumulate.
Tough teams don't just make big plays. They make their opponents earn everything.
"Hit play!"
STEP 4: Toughness Is Acting Differently From How You Feel
M. VIDEO: Resume and pause when the fighters are so exhausted they're leaning on each other, with a little over one minute remaining.
Both fighters are exhausted.
Ward is struggling to stand.
Gatti is barely holding himself up.
When they clinch, they're practically using each other to rest.
N. "PAUSE IT!"
"Do you guys realize what you're watching?"
"Everybody talks about toughness. Everybody says they're going to be the toughest team on the field."
"But THIS is toughness personified!"
Neither fighter has much left physically.
But neither is willing to quit.
O. Ask your players:
"Have you ever been so tired you wanted to quit?"
"What does your mind start telling you when you're exhausted?"
P. Teaching point:
I've always believed something about toughness:
The toughest thing to do in sports is to act differently from how you feel.
It's easy to compete when you're fresh.
It's easy to be enthusiastic when you're winning.
It's easy to encourage teammates when everything is going your way.
But what happens when you're exhausted?
What happens when you're getting your tail kicked?
What happens when your body is begging you to stop?
That's when mental toughness begins.
Mental toughness is being able to fight through the negative to get to the positive.
"Hit play!"
STEP 5: Stop the Fight, Frank!
Q. VIDEO: Resume and pause when the commentator begs the referee to stop the fight, during the final minute.
Ward begins landing punches again.
Gatti is barely responding.
The commentator has seen enough.
"STOP IT, FRANK! YOU CAN STOP IT ANYTIME!"
He's begging referee Frank Cappuccino to stop the fight.
R. "PAUSE IT!"
"Has anyone ever been this tired?" I asked the Royals.
Then I told them where I'd first learned about this remarkable round.
Years earlier, Matt Rhule, then the head coach at Baylor, had shared this toughness lesson with me.
In 2018, Coach Rhule spoke to approximately 400 coaches we hosted at North Forney High School.
He believed so strongly in toughness that he used this boxing match to teach it to his teams.
His message was that if he could find eleven players with even half the toughness of Gatti and Ward, his opponents would leave the field beaten and exhausted.
I loved that message.
S. Ask your players:
"Why do you think the referee hasn't stopped the fight?"
"What separates someone who keeps competing from someone who gives in?"
T. Teaching point:
Gatti and Ward aren't continuing because they feel good.
They're continuing despite how they feel.
That's the difference.
Toughness isn't a feeling.
Toughness is a decision.
"Let's finish it. Hit play!"
STEP 6: Fight One More Round
U. VIDEO: Play the final 25 seconds through the bell.
Gatti looks like a walking zombie.
Ward is stumbling.
Neither man appears to have anything left.
Then, with approximately ten seconds remaining, Gatti somehow finds enough energy to throw another combination.
Ward answers with another punch.
Both men find one final reserve.
DING! DING!
The round is over.
I turned to the Royals.
"Who won the fight?"
Then I answered my own question.
"WAIT A MINUTE. WHO CARES?!"
It didn't matter.
Both fighters had demonstrated what champions do.
They had fought through their bodies' desire to quit.
They had conquered the voices in their heads telling them they'd had enough.
And they fought one more round.
V. Ask your players:
"What did you just witness?"
"Which fighter demonstrated toughness?"
"How can we bring that same mentality onto the field today?"
W. Teaching point:
You don't have to feel strong to act strong.
You don't have to feel confident to compete confidently.
You don't have to feel like giving everything you've got to make the decision to do it anyway.
That's mental toughness.
The Closing Message: Make It Personal
At this point, I asked the Royals to close their eyes.
I wanted them to imagine the courage, determination, and relentless effort they'd just witnessed.
Then I challenged them.
X. "Choose to be Gatti. Choose to be Ward."
"Choose to be the kind of player your opponent has never competed against before."
"Choose to fight one more round."
I closed with a passage attributed to former heavyweight champion Jim Corbett, whose words about fighting one more round have inspired competitors for generations.
Y. The message was simple:
When your legs are exhausted, fight one more round.
When your arms feel too heavy to lift, fight one more round.
When everything inside you is telling you to stop, fight one more round.
Because the man who always fights one more round is never whipped.
Then I called on Jerome.
"Jerome, break us out!"
It was time to play football.
Coaches: Use This With Your Team This Week
You don't need to deliver this lesson exactly the way I did in Berlin.
Make it yours.
Use your own personality, your own coaching language, and examples your players will understand.
The key is to make the video interactive.
Don't just show three minutes of boxing and tell your players to be tough.
Stop the video. Ask questions. Let players answer. Connect what they're watching to the game they're about to play.
And don't rush through the final message.
If you're facing a more talented opponent in the playoffs, this is an opportunity to remind your players that talent doesn't determine every outcome.
Your players may not be bigger.
They may not be faster.
They may not have as many college prospects as the team across the field.
But they can decide how they'll respond when things get difficult.
And they can decide whether they're willing to fight one more round.
TOUGH PEOPLE WIN.
Coach Randy Jackson
Adapted from Chapter 55, "Stop the Fight, Frank!" in A Royal Season.
