Analysis of the film We are Marshall in the view of sports psychology

This text is about the analysis of the movie “Somos Marshall” with a focus on motivation according to sports psychology. According to Samuski (2002, p. 104): “motivation is characterized as an active, intentional and goal-directed process, which depends on the interaction of personal (intrinsic) and environmental (extrinsic) factors”.

The film tells the story of a football team at the University of Marshall located in Huntington in West Virginia that, when traveling by plane to North Carolina, ends up suffering a crash and all passengers dead (players, coaches, staff, fans). After what happened, the city begins to mourn, and they try to start a new team.

Dean Don of the university ends up finding a single coach who would like to be part of Marshall called Jack, and Jack wonders why he wanted to be a coach at Marshall, since he had no connection with the team:

“Jack, I need to know something. Please excuse me if I seem indiscreet. He’s the first person I’ve come…to see who isn’t very well known. And since you called me, I’ve been wondering why, Jack… It’s quiet here, and there are no titles in Marshall. Why do you want this job? I mean, what in your right mind… Would it be voluntary?

“Hey Don, you want to know why I called you?

– Honestly, I do.

– It won’t be complicated.

“Jack, I’ve had four months of complications. I just need honesty.

– When I heard what happened, your situation. The only thing I could think about was them, how much they meant to me. But after I listened to him, I found a solution. And I thought about it. One team, one university… one city, it’s going to be hard to move on. And I think maybe I can help them. With you. I think it’s something real that we have, like them.

It is clear to observe Jack’s intrinsic motivation in comparing his children with the players who died. As there were only three veterans Jack decides to look for new members with the support of Dean Don of the board who until then did not release freshmen to play, with the release that freshman could play on the team they assemble the team with inexperienced athletes or from another sport (basketball and baseball), after the start, training begins.

“Motivation has two sources: extrinsic and intrinsic. People with intrinsic motivation make an inner effort to be competent and self-determined in their quest to master the task at hand The individual may have numerous skills that enable him to perform tasks, but motivation will determine the degree of involvement and, often, the quality with which the task will be accomplished.” (SILVA; RUBIO, 2002, p.72).

In his first game Marshall loses, and with disastrous passes and lack of experience for a large part of the team, the crowd is saddened. According to Silva and Rubio (2002) the defeat can lead the athlete to develop two types of behavior: either it provokes the abandonment of the competitive life or it produces a strengthening of attitude.

Cagigal says about the defeat:

“that the defeats, the feeling of inferiority derived from them, when they do not crystallize into permanent frustration, are produced in the reorganization of personal forces; and therein lies the principle of overcoming. Defeat overcome means enrichment of the person. In a prepared personality, this antithesis unleashes new energies, discovers unusual abilities, opens horizons, orders a restructuring of mechanisms, enriches differentiations, from which comes a strengthened personality.” (Cagigal apud SILVA; RUBIO, 2002, p.74).

Red and Jack go in search of a new strategy and decide to go to the opposing team to ask for information on how to make their move, the coach of the opposing team releases it for them to stay in the room that contains videos, photos, documents, about the team, and there Red and Jack analyze everything.

Even with the new strategy, they end up losing the game, and a rivalry begins on Nate’s team with another player, Nate, having played a lot even with an injured shoulder, cannot see the possibility of not playing, he is motivated by his values ​​( the death of his entire team, the victory in honor of them).

In training, Red observes that they would have no chance against the next team and says:

“You haven’t met Rick Tally. I met. On the day he died he said:

“The only thing people remember, the only thing that counts, is winning.” Nothing else matters. What are we doing? How are we honoring his memory? We put together a team that doesn’t win. They cannot win. Not this week, not this season. Maybe they never win. We are not honoring you, Jack.

The next day Jack reflects and says:

You were right. Right on what? About Tally. Winning is everything, and nothing has said that so many times to myself that I’ve lost count. It doesn’t matter what sport, it doesn’t matter what country, any coach who works well believes in these words. It’s a fact. When I arrived here, it was the first time in my life, perhaps the first time in the history of the sport, but that is no longer true. Not here, not anymore. Red, it doesn’t matter if we win or lose. It doesn’t even matter how we play, what matters is that we play. May we enter the field, may we be there on Saturday, may we keep this program alive. Let’s Play. Red, I’m telling you, one day, not today, not tomorrow, not this season probably, not the next, but one day we’ll wake up, and we’ll be like any other team, any other sport, where winning is everything and nothing. matters more. And when that day comes… well, that’s when we’ll honor them.

It is important to emphasize this speech between Jack and Red, as he found an intrinsic and not an extrinsic reason when playing, not just about winning, but about playing, staying alive in games and in the future they can care about winning.

In the next game, when the players are unmotivated, believing that there will be no one in the stands to support them, they are surprised by the number of fans going to the stadium to watch the game.

Before going to the stadium to play, the players gather in the cemetery with Jack and Red. And he gives a speech to inspire his players’ motivation:

I want to talk about our opponent this afternoon. They’re bigger, faster, stronger, more experienced, and on paper they’re better. And they know it. Now I want to tell you something they don’t know: they don’t know their hearts. I know. I already saw.

– You showed it to me. They showed it to the practice team, to their teammates. You showed yourself who you really are, inside. When you step onto that field today, you’ve got to play your heart out. With your souls and your feet, with every drop of blood you have in your body, play your heart out until the last moment, and if you do this, if you do this, we will not lose. We may be behind on the scoreboard, at the end of the game, but if you play like that, we can’t be beaten. We came here today to remember, six young people, and another 69, who will not be on the field with you today. But they will be looking. And you can bet your asses they’ll be cheering on every play they make. Do you understand me? How you play today, from this moment forward, is how you will be remembered. This is your opportunity to rise from the ashes and receive the glory.

– We are…

– Marshall

Today we will win.

They then win, and after the game everyone is still on the lawn, feeling the victory sensation.

Jack walks up to Don and hands him the ball as it’s tradition to hand the ball to the most valuable player, and Don says he’s not a player. Jack replies: We are Marshall, we accept anyone.

Marshall lost more games in the 1970s than any other team in the United States. But even so, the team kept playing. In 1984 they earned their first winning record in 20 years. They then won 8 consecutive titles, 5 state championships, and 2 national championships.

One can understand the story of the film as the myth of the phoenix, the bird of fire that dies, and is reborn from the ashes, and creates a new life.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES

SAMULSKI, DM Sport psychology. 1 ed. Publisher Manole, 2002.

SILVA, M. L; RUBIO, K. Overcoming in sport: individual or social limits? Portuguese Journal of Sports Sciences, 2003, vol. 3, No. 3

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