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Sporting Life
Inspiring athletes is not about movie-style speeches. It’s about the little things coaches say
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The best advice Joseph Schooling ever got before a race was from coach Eddie Reese: "You’ve done the work. Just go out there and be smart.”
PHOTO: Simone Castrovillari
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Life is not a Hollywood movie and sport is not an Al Pacino speech. In Any Given Sunday, the kinetic Oliver Stone film on an American gridiron team, Pacino plays an ageing coach who delivers a four-minute, pre-game motivational speech.
“We’re in hell right now, gentlemen, believe me. And, we can stay here – get the s*** kicked out of us – or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb outta hell one inch at a time.”
