Indiana University Athletics
A Little Golazo Goes A Long Way
11/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Nov. 17, 2006
Every team has a pre-game ritual intended to inspire the players in their quest for victory. Many teams gather on the field or court for a huddle and pep talk. The Indiana football team touches `The Rock' before they run out on the field. Softball players are known for their rhythmic cheers.
For the Indiana men's soccer players, some of their inspiration comes from Golazo, a highlight video the team watches before every game. Goals, celebrations and good defensive plays from previous games are put to a catchy theme song to fire up the players before they take the field.
"Golazo is something that helps motivate us before the game, get our confidence up and show us that we can play good soccer and score goals," sophomore Doug Reisinger said. "When we watch it, it's a little reminder. It helps us get excited to score goals, motivate one another and show the fans that we can play good soccer."
Golazo is a Spanish word that means `spectacular goal.' Although the cry of `GOOOOOOAAALLL!' is familiar to many who have seen highlights of an English soccer match, Latin American announcers will frequently yell `GOLAZOAZOAZOAZO!' for a big goal.
The Golazo tradition began about five or six years ago. The men's soccer team received a highlight tape from Major League Soccer (MLS), entitled `Golazo.' The tape featured goals and celebration shots put to the music of an upbeat, Latin-flavored Golazo song. Former assistant coach Sean Phillips approached video productions coordinator Jim Butler with the idea of putting together an Indiana Golazo, featuring the Golazo music with the Hoosiers' highlights. The video was a hit, and it became a regular part of the Hoosiers' pre-game routine. Watching the video is the last thing the team does before running out onto the field for the starting lineups.
Butler has produced every Golazo since its inception. He starts off the season with highlights of past players and their successes. Butler puts a new highlight film together before each game, adding to the highlights as the year goes along. The theme of the video changes from game to game depending on the outcome of the game before and the opponent the team is about to play, but the Golazo song is a constant in every video. Butler says that the song was only changed once, but it didn't go over so well with the players.
"They won the game anyway but they didn't like it," Butler said. "There have been plenty of other times when something else has been added, but they always hear a portion of the song."
Butler often has a little fun with the fire-up tapes, finding new ways to get the team pumped up. Some of the things that he has shown in Golazo this season include spotlighting Indiana's rivalry with Penn State, recapping a 2-0 victory over Akron in which the Hoosiers defeated two of their former assistant coaches, and reminding the team of their goals to win the Big Ten Championship and the NCAA Championship. A Golazo done in a previous year portrayed former head coach Jerry Yeagley in an Indiana Jones role.
"Jim uses his creative license to do whatever he wants," head coach Mike Freitag said. "He has done a great job of putting in his own little messages for the team also. I enjoy them all.
"Golazo is a good thing because it brings the players together and they get to see positive images of themselves playing. They can make fun of themselves, they can have fun and they can sing and clap together. It's something that we watch right before we go onto the field to put positive vibes in our head."
Butler says that the coaching staff puts a lot of trust in him to produce their fire-up video.
"I try to be careful because I want the guys to be entertained by it and I want them to feel good about themselves, but I also want to remind them that they are about to play a game," said Butler. "The real purpose of the video is that we want you to be fired up and we want you to go out and play hard and give an Indiana soccer effort. I always try to put in a reminder about that. Even if I am in the midst of gushing over whoever played great, at the end I always tell them to go out there and take care of business."
With seven national championships, the Hoosiers know how to take care of business. They'll continue their quest for No. 8 on Saturday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m. against Santa Clara in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
