The Passion of an Olympic Athlete

Will Michael Phelps pass Russian gymnast Larisa Latynina's 18 medals and become the most decorated Olympian in history? Will he take back the role of America's Best Swimmer? The world will be watching Phelps this month at the Olympic Games in London, England to see if he has what it takes.

Earlier this spring, Phelps told the Baltimore Sun that he was burned out after winning eight gold medals in Beijing. As a result, his training suffered as he struggled to find the motivation to keep going. Says Phelps, "The last couple of years my training hasn't been great, but I've recently been able to get the excitement back in the water. It's going to be a fun summer." Swimming fans certainly hope so. Phelps' 16 Olympic medals are two short of Latynina's record. If he pulls it off, and becomes the new record holder for the most medals, Ray Lewis, a linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens probably deserves some of the credit.

Phelps, a native of Baltimore and a big Ravens fan, has become a close friend of Ray Lewis' and a familiar sight at M&T bank Stadium when the Ravens play at home. Listening to Lewis' pep talks and seeing the passion that Ray Lewis still has for his sport - even after 16 seasons - helped Phelps rediscover his passion for swimming. Ray Lewis has the reputation for motivating his team on the field and other teams off the field. Here's a glimpse into Lewis' ability to inspire.

Passion isn't something that can be taught. It is innate - something that a person develops over time. It is possible to be inspired by passion - experiencing Ray Lewis' passion reinvigorated Phelps desire to be the best swimmer that he can be - but if Phelps wasn't passionate about swimming, no amount of convincing or lecturing would change it. "I have goals that I want to accomplish," Phelps said. "I know it won't be eight medals again. I'm going out there to accomplish the things I have in my mind and my heart. If I can do that and have fun, that's all that matters to me." .

If we at Ty Boyd, Inc., could enforce one public speaking rule it would be: never speak about anything with which you have no passion. You may have the world's most important message, but if you deliver it without energy, without passion, it falls on deaf ears. The same thing applies to Olympic athletes: their energy and drive comes from their passion for the sport.

Phelps has proven in the past that he has the ability to harness his passion. He has found that thing that gets his blood pumping, that thing that he wants to share with the world. And the world will be watching, once again, to see him feed his passion in London.

The Power of a Good Story

The Olympics hold our attention for two and a half weeks every two years. Hours and hours of media coverage are dedicated to the Games and the stories that elicit emotional responses and capture our hearts and our imaginations. Some people have difficulty remembering statistics, but few forget a good story. A well told story gives you the power to attract and hold the attention of your audience while establishing credibility and delivering your message.

Sportscasters at the Olympic Games weave athletes' stories into their sports commentating. Al Michaels was the broadcaster calling the 1980 Olympics ice hockey medal round match between the United States and the Soviet Union. The US team was comprised of mostly college players, yet they managed to defeat the Soviet team who had won nearly every world championship and Olympic game since 1954.

We didn't have internet back then, we didn't have cable television as we know it - we didn't even have a national newspaper (USA Today came years later), but we had Al Michaels giving his play-by-play. In the final moments, the crowd began to count down the seconds left in the game. Al Michaels picked up the countdown in his broadcast, "...eleven seconds, you've got ten seconds, the countdown going on right now! Morrow, up to Silk...five seconds left in the game..." as the crowed went wild.

Years later, Michaels would re-do his commentary for the movie "Miracle", but when it came time to say that final memorable line, the director decided to go with the original recording of Michaels screaming,"Do you believe in miracles? Yessss!" as time expired on the 4-3 U.S. victory. That line earned the game the media nickname of "The Miracle on Ice" and is one of the greatest Olympic stories of all time.

In 1994, the whole world tuned in to Lillehammer, Norway, to watch the drama unfold as Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan competed in figure skating's ultimate Olympic showdown. The story actually began several weeks earlier when Nancy Kerrigan was attacked by a baton-wielding assailant as she left a practice session. The injury she sustained caused her to miss the 1994 U.S. Figure Staking Championships, and in her absence, Tonya Harding, captured the title and secured a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. It was later learned that Harding's ex-husband had hired the assailant to get Kerrigan out of Harding's way, but Kerrigan recovered in time for Lillehammer and the story took off.

Heading into the Olympic finals Kerrigan was in first place ahead of Ukrainian's Oksana Baiul and France's Surya Bonaly while Harding was a distant 10th. A controversial 5-4 split amongst the judges gave the gold to Baiul by the slimmest of margins. Nancy Kerrigan won the silver and Tonya Harding got to stay out of jail (unlike her ex-husband and his hooligan accomplices.)

When telling a story, be conscious of your gestures - you want to show the story as a well as tell it. Try incorporating different voices for different characters. Keep in mind that attention spans are short. Know your audience and know what they want. If the story doesn't mean anything to you, chances are it won't mean anything to your audience, either - and it certainly won't come across as genuine.

As with any speech format, storytelling takes preparation and practice. As you adapt your story, remember that good story tellers don't memorize their story word for word and they don't read their story from note cards. Instead, they think of their story in outline form. Learning a story episode by episode ensures that you will deliverer a spontaneous and authentic presentation every time you tell your story. The more you practice, the better you'll become at using stories to sell your product, service or idea. If you need help crafting your story, the coaches at Ty Boyd, Inc. can help.

The Influence of a Good Coach

At Ty Boyd Executive Communication & Coaching, we offer effective communication courses as well as individual one-on-one coaching. Neither approach is superior to the other, they are simply different. Both will get you started on a path to becoming a better communicator.

"I have worked with clients who have gone form completely avoiding public speaking to thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to present to a large audience. Their confidence grows in leaps and bounds and as a result, their audience sees a magnitude of improvement in their speaking effectiveness," says Anne Boyd-Moore who facilitates Ty Boyd's Excellence in Speaking course in addition to providing one-one-one communications coaching.

Anne's positive approach recognizes potential in every client whether she's coaching in groups or one-one-one. She works with the characteristics and skills that her students already possess, and then coaches them to the next level to get the results that they want and need to be effective communicators.

Our Excellence in Speaking course is a tool used by many companies and individuals who want to reap the benefits of group coaching. A group that comes together in Excellence in Speaking shares the same goal, but the emphasis is on the individual. Not only do participants learn from our experienced faculty, they benefit from the camaraderie and support of the group. But the group does not serve as a crutch to lean on or hide behind; our coaches make specific requests of each and every participant.

Our clients have told us that the shared experience provides them with greater confidence as they realize that their concerns and fears are not unique. The nature of this effective communications course - where participants speak in front of the group several times during the two and half days - promotes powerful group synergy and bonding between employees. As a result, many of our clients use our Excellence in Speaking course as a team building opportunity.

One-on-one coaching works best for clients whose schedules prevent them from enrolling in a course or who want to fine tune a particular presentation skill or speech, or who prefer meeting with a Ty Boyd coach on an on-going basis to work on overall communication effectiveness. Many clients follow up on what they learn in Excellence in Speaking with a little one-on-one time with our faculty.

 "One-on-one sessions are highly personalized," says Anne Boyd Moore, "I am able to hold the agenda and focus on the issues that are specific to my client. There is a heavy emphasis on action and accountability and clients benefit from dialogue as well as reflection."

Coaching someone for performance involves more than technical excellence. A great communications coach is empathetic and patient as well as a good listener and teacher. If you are ready to take your presentation skills to the next level, the faculty at Ty Boyd Executive Communications & Coaching can put you on the right track.