Quotes & Sayings About Sports And Leadership

A few mistakes don't worry me; what worries me is when you make the mistakes and then forget your role on the team and start to worry about your ego. — Digger Phelps

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

My responsibility is leadership, and the minute I get negative, that is going to have an influence on my team. — Don Shula

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

I know I am only one, but I am one, and just because I'm one should not stop me from — Edward Everett Hale

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

Sports provide girls with the opportunity to develop a better relationship with their bodies. They can be aggressive on the court, be strong and still be feminine. — Gabrielle Reece

Leadership rests not only on outstanding ability. It also rests on commitment, loyalty and pride. It rests on followers who are ready to accept guidance. Leadership is the ability to direct people and - more important - to have those people accept that direction. — Vince Lombardi

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

When you travel with the team and you eat with the team - you eat what the team eats. — Vince Lombardi

Sport fosters many things that are good; teamwork and leadership. — Daley Thompson

I've always envied the kind of coach who could go completely out of his mind and nobody would know the difference. — Adolph Rupp

We need people who influence their peers and who cannot be detoured from their convictions by peers who do not have the courage to have any convictions. — Joe Paterno

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

My general rule, which I have followed throughout my coaching career, is that everyone doesn't necessarily get treated the same way, because I'm not sure that's possible. But everyone has to be treated fairly. Moreover, they have to know and trust that they will be treated fairly. Dennis Green, NFL Coach There's nothing worse than the feeling of wishing you had another chance at a play because you weren't ready. Every athlete has those feelings to mull over, and over, and over ... Don't even expose yourself to the possibility of being caught off-guard. — Karch Kiraly

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

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

We should learn ... to do our best for the sake of our communities and for the sake of those for whom we pave the way. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Every popular zillion dollar sport has its share of personal scandals around the sport and its leadership. — Rachel Maddow

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

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

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

Longevity is having a chronic disease - and taking care of it. — Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

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

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

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

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

Healthy body, healthy mind and healthy spirit. A Votre Sante. — Kathy Smith

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

Think of yourself as an athlete. I guarantee you it will change the way you walk, the way you work, and the decisions you make about leadership, teamwork, and success. — Mariah Burton Nelson

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

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 have no idea what I did. I heard people talk about dead leg, shake, change of pace and all that, but I did things without thinking about them. — Gale Sayers

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

We've gotten so much as a result of the changes. Part of our responsibility is to give something back to the game and the girls who are just starting to play. — Carla Overbeck

Don't just stand back and play the way you're coached. A great player must rise to the occasion and turn the game around on his own. — Joe Paterno

A truly successful person knows how to overcome the past, use the present, and prepare for the future-but unless we can first surmount the past, we cannot effectively cope with either the present or the future. — Sydney J. Harris

I've swum for my country, I've swum for my coaches and my schools and my teams. I decided this time I was going to swim for myself. — Janet Evans

Concerning the limits and limitations of the women's game - why should we believe there are any? — Helen Wills

So much of what you do physically happens because you've thought about it and mentally prepared for it. — Dan Fouts

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

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

I sought the advice and cooperation from all those around me- but not permission. — Muhammad Ali

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

The most costly disease is boredom costly for both individual and society. — Norman Cousins

Just remember, strength and courage. If you stand on principle, you'll never lose. — Janet Reno

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 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

We will use some kind of option and we will throw the football. I hope it will be at our people. — Lou Holtz

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 needed to do my current job well, keep preparing, and wait on God's timing. I needed to trust His leadership rather than try to force an outcome I wanted. — Tony Dungy

The man who can accept defeat and take his salary without feeling guilty is a thief. — George Allen

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

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

I try to help my athletes visualize their full potential, and then get out of the way as they achieve it. — Pat Roberts

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

First and foremost I am a teacher, I care. Caring is helping the players to develop — Lou Holtz

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

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

Set a goal and make a commitment to meet that goal. Do the best you can, but never forget your roots, never forget where you came from. After you have succeeded, look back and see if there are others that you might help to achieve what you have accomplished. — Larry Holmes

We play with enthusiasm and recklessness. We aren't afraid to lose. If we win, great; but win or lose, it is the competition that gives us pleasure. — Joe Paterno

It's not a case of us against them, it's a matter of melding all people's skills and resources to create a better world for everyone ! — Lyn St. James

I hope I epitomize the American dream. For I came against long odds, from the ghetto to the very top of my profession. I was not immediately good at basketball. It did not come easy. It came as the result of a lot of hard work and self-sacrifice. The rewards, where they worth it? One thousand times over. — Bill Russell

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

You have to find that love within yourself. If you love yourself, you feel good about yourself, and sports help you feel good about yourself. — Gail Devers

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

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

I wish I had played team sports. I think every kid should. Teamwork builds character - teaches people about leadership and cooperation. — Mo Rocca

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

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

Positioning yourself and effective branding should not be left to sports and movie stars. Your need a personal coach, manager or mentor otherwise your expertise, skills or talent will not go far. You might have what it takes but sometimes you lack strategy and some finer elements. — Archibald Marwizi

Girls should go on thinking that there is a world out there and that it is theirs for the taking. — Anne Bancroft