Bring the music
Here’s how to harness the power of song with your team
Music has the power to bring people together towards a common interest and culture. However, for athletes, music is a strong motivational force that brings teams together towards the common purpose of competing. For team sports, music is like a drug; it creates excitement and arousal both in the locker room and during the warm up. - Caroline Saros
In the past few weeks I’ve noticed some conversations about the role of music within coaching.
The first came from Kaila Colbin’s podcast. She recently spoke to Sir Wayne Smith about the differences in the All Blacks and Black Ferns.
One team Smith coached had music on speakers, singing songs (All Blacks). The other was quiet with players wearing headphones (Black Ferns).
The louder environment prompted some initial discomfort from Smith, before player conversations led him to realise that it was what the team needed.
Later in the same week, I spoke to a coach who said a player had often requested music for training. We had some chats about them to set up a playlist for the team.
If you’re looking to add some music into your team. Here are some of my thoughts:
Why and when?
As stated in Colbin’s post (linked above), music will bring a collective joy in your team. It also might help them feel at ease.
According to Caroline Saros, quoted at the top of the page, music is a motivational drug for athletes.
On matchday:
You can play music in the team coach on the way to matches, similar to the Black Ferns or in the changing rooms.
I’ve also found playing music during the team’s warm up helps to relax and focus players.
If you wanted to get into the science of music and sport, you could explore what type of music works best.
Several studies state that warm up songs that are 140bpm are most beneficial to athletes.
A study into footballers found that although slower music was beneficial, songs that were 120-140bpm (beats per minute) was optimal for the players.
Another study into taekwondo athletes explored volume and tempo. They found that 140bpm produced the best response when compared to 200bpm.
At training:
Whether it’s training or a warm up, I’ve found that including songs players can sing along to is important.
The power of song can be harnessed by using music that everyone recognises.
At training you can play a team playlist. If you’re running a special session, then you can create a themed playlist.
For example:
A training session near Halloween might feature fancy dress and some spooky songs.
A one-off session themed around movies might feature a playlist that has songs from films and you could ask players to arrive in themed fancy dress.
There’s no rule that says you have to have music for the whole training session. You could also have music for a specific activity.
If training needs an injection of energy, try playing music for a game. If you’re getting players to do a short burst of physical intensity (a timed tackle activity for example) you could put music on to help them.
Your team might also prefer the music in small bursts.
How?
Similar to other aspects of your training, co-creation is an important factor in music.
If your players are adults, creating the playlists becomes easy. Create a shared but empty playlist on Spotify (or similar music apps).
Give the players the link and challenge them to add a maximum of 5 songs each that they would like to listen to at training/on match day.
If you have junior players ask them to make a list of artists or songs they would like on a playlist. You can then compile this for them. (Making sure there are no explicit lyrics included).
When playing music at training or match days, I use a small, but powerful speaker. This means I can then move it around depending on where the players are.
By moving the speaker around the pitch, I can also ensure the music doesn’t overwhelm the training experience, it’s there to enhance not detract.
If you’re unable to sign up for regular paid subscription, you can still buy me a coffee.