Every great sports team usually has an outstanding coach. The coach has the ability to make you feel like the world depends on you, but they can also make you feel as if you don’t matter. One way that coaches persuade their teams to do what they want them to, is through inspirational speeches. A perfect example of an epic display of a very effective persuasive speech is in the movie, “Miracle.” The speech that Coach Brooks gave to his Olympic team is unforgettable because of the way he used persuasion through loaded words, inspirational wisdom, praise and repetition.

To begin, the use of loaded words was very effective in Coach Brooks’ speech. For example when Brooks says, “Screw ‘em!” (Miracle, 23) this has a lot of emotion behind it which makes it a very powerful word. He also says, “I’m sick and tired of hearing what a great hockey team the Soviets have” (Miracle 20-22) which shows that he’s been hearing for months how his team will never make it into the Olympic finals. So his response, “screw ‘em,” was basically a strong expression of what he had been feeling lately. Loaded words was a huge contribution to the effective persuasion of Coach Brooks’ pre game speech.

Next, the Inspirational wisdom that Coach Brooks’ used was another way that he persuaded his team to win. By starting his speech that way, he not only got his team’s attention, but he used a saying that his team could relate to. The saying came from the first line of his speech, “Great moments are born from great opportunity.” The hockey team knows that they’ve been given a great opportunity to be in the semi finals of the Olympics so that quote was very easy for the team to relate to. So by Coach Brooks telling them that great moments come from great opportunities, he’s reassuring them that the game that night is going to be a memorable moment in all of their lives. Therefore the inspirational wisdom that Coach Brooks’ provided for his team was very effective in persuading his team to beat the Russians.

Another tool that Coach Brooks used in his speech for persuasion was praise. All throughout his speech he was praising his team, trying to pump them up by telling them how capable they were. An example of this is when he says, “That’s what you’ve earned here tonight” (Miracle 3). Here, he’s reassuring them that they have worked hard to be where they are and that they deserve to be in the semi finals. Another example is when he says, “You were born to be hockey players, every one of ya.” (Miracle 10). This is another way that he’s praising his team because he’s telling them that that night is what they were born for. Usually when people are ‘born to do something’ it means that they’re really good at whatever it is, so for Coach Brooks to say this to his team, lets them know that he believes in them. So, by praising his team and telling them that they are worth it, Brooks persuaded them even more to try their hardest.

Finally, the coaches use of repetition was also very useful in his speech. By repeating the same line over again, it puts more emphasis on it which makes it seem more important. On line 12 he says, “This is your time.” And then he repeats himself on line 16. After not only hearing this line twice, but after the whole speech, the Coach makes his point very clear in that he believes in his team and he expects them to win. He also repeats the word “tonight” many times. Once on lines 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 and 9. I think this is kind of a way of saying that it’s all about tonight, and that every thing they have worked for is because of tonight. Therefore, the repetition that Coach Brooks used in his speech was very persuasive.

Overall, Coach Brooks was very efficient in persuading his team to win the semi finals of the Olympics because he used loaded words, inspirational wisdom, praise and repetition. All of which, centered around an emotional appeal. Loaded words made the team realize the importance of what they were about to achieve. The inspirational wisdom got the team excited and ready to play. And by the Coach praising the hockey players and using repetition, it made the team believe in themselves and understand that they deserved to have gotten as far as they did. Persuasion is a very important tool to have in life. Who knows, without it, the U.S. National Hockey Team might have never gone on to win the Olympic gold metal.