Quotes & Sayings About Leadership In Sports

Even though he lived on the beach in college, he didn't have a tan. Now that's a serious player! — Bill Fitch

In many U.S. schools, sports instilled leadership and persistence in one group of kids while draining focus and resources from academics for everyone. The lesson wasn't that sports couldn't coexist with education; it was that sports had nothing to do with education. — Amanda Ripley

Invincibility is in oneself, and vulnerability is in the opponent. Invincibility is a matter of defense, vulnerability is a matter of attack. Therefore skillful warriors are able to be invincible, but they cannot cause opponents to be vulnerable. That is why it is said that victory is discerned and not manufactured. — Sun Tzu

I am not looking for perfection. I look for the best in me. — Martina Navratilova

I don't know, but I stepped on a scale that gives fortunes and the card read Come back in 15 minutes alone. — Frank Layden

I got put into leadership roles very early in life from fifth grade, sixth grade. I always ended up being the quarterback or the leader of the sports teams, and it's kind of benefiting me now. — Tony Dungy

A serious athlete to me is one who is committed to excellence at any level, at any age, in any endeavor and in either sex. This commitment begins with a dream and a sense of talent and skill and determination to make that dream come true. — Carol Mann

It may sound strange, but many champions are made champions by setback. They are champions because they've been hurt. Their experience moved them, and they pulled out this fighting spirit, making them what they are. Sometimes in life, God gives us a difficulty in order to bring out the fighting spirit. Everything that happens to you can happen for good if you have this spirit. The essential thing in life is not in the conquering, but in the fight. — Bob Richards

You can only make so much money in life and only enjoy so many creature comforts. The important thing is to do something meaningful-to leave something behind. — Roone Arledge

In my book success and winning are not always the same thing. To me, success is playing - or working - to the best of your ability. — Joe Torre

It is so important for young girls to be fit. I think sports is the key to success, because the challenges you face in sports prepare you for the rest of your life. — Gail Devers

It was always fun for me, I loved baseball so darn much. By the hours I practiced, you'd have to say I was working a lot of hours, but it was pretty near tireless fun for me. I'd rather swing a bat than do anything else in the world. — Ted Williams

You've got to realize that in any competition there is always a winner and loser. When it turns out that you're the loser on a given day, you can be a graceful loser, but it doesn't mean that you're a loser in the sense that you're willing to accept losses readily. Concede that on that day you weren't the best and that you were beaten in competition. But that should make you more dedicated and hard working. It's wrong to accept defeat as a loser. Be graceful about losing, but don't accept it. — Nolan Ryan

From an athlete's perspective, to cancel the Olympics in regards to the threats would be absolutely devastating - especially since the Olympics - it's really about people meeting together through sports and putting aside their countries' differences for that time. — Brian Boitano

In order to be successful at anything you choose to do, you must make a 100 percent commitment to what it is you are trying to do. If you put 50 percent of your ability into it, that is all that you will get out of it. You must discipline your body and your mind to work towards the goals you have set. Once you have made this decision, then the work begins. — Johnny Unitas

If you're a good experienced player, you wknow what it takes to do. If you're in trouble, you know how to change. One hundred percent of my game is instinct. I never stop and think I'm going to hit a ball crosscourt or down the line. I just do it. — Bjorn Borg

We're in a leadership position in sports. People look up to the National Football League. — Roger Goodell

Strive for perfection - never be content with mediocrity. You don't win until you conquer the little flaws. You don't beat these great ones until your form is perfect. This is true in all of life. A flaw in a product can ruin a business. A personal failing, a little one, can ruin a person's life. Don't be content with mediocrity - strive to live up to the greatest within you. — Bob Richards

Review and question what you already know or have. In most ball sports and games, you confirm whether you have scored by checking whether the ball has gone into the goal or hit its target. So evaluation of results means that you must look at your goal to see if the ball has hit its target. Look at your educational aspirations or dreams and say "am I on track to meet my 2020 PhD target? — Archibald Marwizi

If there is something a coach might wish to see changed in a player or team, the first place to check and see if it could not be done better is in yourself. — John Kessel

There's no disgrace in failure, the disgrace is not to try. — Cathy Rigby

I am often asked if leaders are born or made. The answer, of course, is both. Some characteristics, like IQ and energy, seem to come with the package. On the other hand, you learn some leadership skills, like self-confidence, at your mother's knee, and at school, in academics and sports. And you learn others at work-trying something, getting it wrong and learning from it, or getting it right and gaining the self-confidence to do it again, only better. — Jack Welch

I believe in women. I believe in myself. I believe in my body. — Evelyn Ashford

The greatest leader in the world could never win a campaign unless he understood the men he had to lead. — Omar N. Bradley

Inner peace is not found in things like baseball and world championships. As long as I feel I've done the best job I possibly could, I'm satisfied. — Sparky Anderson

From 143rd Street in Harlem to the center court at Wimbledon is about as far as one can travel. — Althea Gibson

Searching for funds to continue my skating career when I was 17, I called the Women's Sports Foundation in New York. The intern who answered the phone suggested that I might be a great candidate for the Travel and Training fund, and she sent me an application form. I applied for a grant. With the funds I was awarded, I bought a new pair of skates and a plane ticket to the 1988 National Championships, where I achieved my highest national finish. Four years later, I won the gold medal at the 1992 Olympic Games. — Kristi Yamaguchi

Teachers who are not actively involved in the learning process themselves, force their students to drink from stagnant water — Jean-Baptiste De La Salle

Australia has got some of the best sports people in the world, but we've also got some of the best scientists and innovators too, and that needs to be celebrated more. — Fiona Wood

When I was in the batter's box, I felt sorry for the pitcher. — Rogers Hornsby

The only reason these kids keep score in these games is for the parents and coaches satisfaction. Who cares? They're 10 years old. — Peter Jacobsen

In a team sport like basketball, every time you help somebody else, you help yourself. — Pete Carril

I think that in any group activity - whether it be business, sports, or family - there has to be leadership or it won't be successful. — John Wooden

I was fortunate enough to have baseball to teach me the values relative to success. The sport gifted me with leadership and team building skills that translate in a relatable way in the world. — Willie Wilson

I found out from my own experience that the best way to involve my daughter, Joanna, in sports is to participate with her. Recently, a mother asked me how I got my children to swim laps. The truth is, I've never asked my children to do laps. They see me do laps and want to do it with me. Parental participation is one way. — Donna De Varona

Persistence is important in every endeavor. Whether it's finishing your homework, completing school, working late to finish a project, or "finishing the drill" in sports, winners persist to the point of sacrifice in order to achieve their goals. — Lee Ellis

Girls playing sports is not about winning gold medals. It's about self-esteem, learning to compete and learning how hard you have to work in order to achieve your goals. — Jackie Joyner-Kersee

I've prided myself on being in excellent condition-as good as any man in my profession. Now this doesn't come from sitting around on your rear end. This comes from hard, hard work. — Wilt Chamberlain

There is no fun equal to the satisfaction of doing one's best. The things that are most worthwhile in life are really those within the reach of almost every normal human being who cares to seek them out. — B.C. Forbes

Practice the game the way you're going to play the game. Practice hard and play hard. Run hard and above all else, hustle every moment you're on the field where you are practicing or playing in a game. — Pete Rose

The successful man has enthusiasm. Good work is never done in cold blood; heat is needed for forge anything. Every great achievement is the story of a flaming heart. — Harry S. Truman

One of the most important qualities for any young athlete is the ability to believe in oneself. If you have confidence in yourself, in your teammates and your coach, you will succeed. — Chuck Knox

A part of control is learning to correct your own weaknesses. The person doesn't live who was born with everything. Sometimes he has one weak point, generally he has several. The first thing is to know your faults. And then take on a systematic plan of correcting them. You know the old saying about a chain only being as strong as its weakest link. The same can be said in the chain of skills a man forges. — Babe Ruth

Until Sammy Baugh - pro football in Texas was a one-paragraph story on the third page of the Monday sports section. — Dan Jenkins

In the name of all competitors, I promise that we will take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by all the rules which govern them in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honour of our teams. — Pierre De Coubertin

I think as far as any kind of pressure on a football team or on an individual in professional sports really depends not only on that individual but the leadership they have on the team and the leadership they have on the coaching staff. A lot of times, they can divert some of those pressures off of the individual and off of the team. — Jimmy Johnson

So what if I never win my fifth gold medal; It's only one end of the string. It's competing that matters. It's proving that there is a place for guys like me in sports. It's a persona challenge to extend myself. — Al Oerter

Lombardi has to have the highest threshold of pain in the world - none of our injuries hurts him at all. — Jerry Kramer

I have a bumper sticker that Bowen created that says Regardless of my kids grades, they have an 'A' in my book'. Without play the child that still lives in all of us will always be incomplete. And not only physically, but creatively, intellectually, and spiritually as well. — George A. Sheehan

In whatever sport of field of endeavor you are interested, you should do whatever is necessary to compliment your God-given talent with proper mental preparation so as to do "the best you can." The criterion should be to fully exploit your potential rather than to win at any cost. What more could anyone ever ask of you than to be the best you possibly can? — Bob Cousy

Sport is not about being wrapped up in cotton wool. Sport as about adapting to the unexpected and being able to modify plans at the last minute. Sport, like all life, is about taking risks. — Roger Bannister

It has always been my thought that the most important single ingredient to success in athletics or life is discipline. I have many times felt that this word is the most ill-defined in all of our language. My definition isas follows: 1. Do what has to be done; 2. When it has to be done; 3. As well as it can be done; and 4. Do it it that way all the time. — Bobby Knight

Football is definitely a team sport. Without one person doing the right thing, the whole team falls. At Navy and in lacrosse, the off-the-field leadership comes into play, you know so if one person is slacking off, we've got everyone making sure everyone is pulling their own weight. It's like that in football too. — Sean Price

I do not believe that there is any secret or single formula for success, but there are common threads of thought and action that characterize the successful people that I have been fortunate enough to know and observe. I do know, from my own experience, that our chance of succeeding is much greater when we organize and take charge of our lives. When we are willing to make decisions, we aggressively pursue those things in life that are important to us. — Merlin Olsen

Don't quote me on this, but if they ever manage to ban beer advertising in baseball you can kiss the national pastime goodbye. — Roger Maris

The most important thing in a person's life is his faith and how he translates his faith into practical deeds. — Hakeem Olajuwon

Kids on a team are like flowers in a bouquet, there is always one that wants to face a different way than the arranger desires. — John Kessel

Here's a memonic device that I feel teaches how we can properly cope with failure. Forget about your failures; don't dwell on past mistakes Anticipate failure; realize that we all make mistakes. Intensity in everything you do; never be a failure for lack of effort. Learn from your mistakes; don't repeat previous errors. Understand why you failed; diagnose your mistakes so as to not repeat them. Respond, don't react to errors; responding corrects mistakes while reacting magnifies them. Elevate your self-concept. It's OK to fail, everyone does; now how are you going to deal with the failure — Steve Largent

When I was in high school I asked myself at one point: "Why do I care if my high school's team wins the football game? I don't know anybody on the team, they have nothing to do with me ... why am I here and applaud? It does not make any sense." But the point is, it does make sense: It's a way of building up irrational attitudes of submission to authority and group cohesion behind leadership elements. In fact it's training in irrational jingoism. That's also a feature of competitive sports. — Noam Chomsky

Leadership can be defined in one word - honesty. You must be honest with the players and honest with yourself. — Earl Weaver

Is it or is it not a matter of importance that a young man starts out in life with an ability to shut his jaw hard and say "I will," or "I will not," and mean it? — John William Heisman

But I noted with real satisfaction how well ex-footballers seemed to have leadership qualifications ... I believe that football, perhaps more than any other sport, tends to instill in men the feeling that victory comes through hard - almost slavish - work, team play, self-confidence, and an enthusiasm that amounts to dedication. — Dwight D. Eisenhower

I learned a long time ago that one way to maximize potential for performance is to be calm in my mind. What I try to achieve during the season is a relaxed state of concentration. I simply try to cleanse my mind of the pressures that people are trying to heap on me. — Brian Sipe

It's a game of habit, or repetition. You can't play one way in practice and another way in a game. It's a reflex. The game is so quick you don't have time to think. — Bill Sharman

I believe in a business boarding up early. If you make a mistake, you put the boards in the window of the store and say, "Hey, I made a mistake." Let me take two shots in the arm and a punch on the nose and let me get on to the next thing. I don't believe in worrying over failures. I worry about successes. This is opposite from most people. Most people zero in on their failures. I try to keep all my attention on a pyramid type philosophy rather than the averaging-down philosophy. — Al McGuire

Many high school students are under so much competitive pressure. They are sometimes taught that if they don't have a 4.0 GPA, score in the 99th percentile on admissions tests, and demonstrate leadership in sports and participate in clubs, they won't get into college anywhere. Even highly credentialed professionals get caught up in this. — Elizabeth Thornton

I came out to beat everybody in sight, and that's just what I'm going to do. — Babe Didrikson Zaharias

My sports were team sports: ice hockey and baseball. The whole team dynamic is similar in business. Leadership is earned - the captain earns that role; it's not because he's the coach's son. These are all things we know, but in today's world, it's not a bad idea to remind ourselves. — James McNerney