***NEW*** 12/01/02
"If you never lose then you can never appreciate the victories."
---Laura Twitchell

***NEW*** 12/01/02
"Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can."
---Richard Bach

***NEW*** 12/01/02
"A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood."
---George Patton

***NEW*** 12/01/02
"I've never known anybody to achieve anything without overcoming adversity."
---Lou Holtz

***NEW*** 12/01/02
"The glory of sport is born at the moment when the game and the person become one, when all the complexity of one's life finds a moment to emerge in the game."
---Timothy Shriver, Ph.D.

***NEW*** 12/01/02
"The power of the human will to compete and the drive to excel beyond the body's normal capabilities is most beautifully demonstrated in the arena of sport."
---Aimee Mullins

***NEW*** 12/01/02
"Victory isn't defined by wins or losses. It is defined by effort. If you can truthfully say, 'I did the best I could, I gave everything I had,' then you're a winner."
---Wolfgang Schadler

***NEW*** 12/01/02
"I love the game. It's fun to play, period. I love running around and getting sweaty. I love trying to lead my team. I love facing the challenge of another team that's better."
---Jamila Wideman

***NEW*** 12/01/02
"I think a lot of our team commitment is a silent understanding that each one of us has poured our life into what we're doing."
---Claire Carver-Dias

***NEW*** 12/01/02
"Those who truly have the spirit of champions are never wholly happy with an easy win. Half the satisfaction stems from knowing that it was the time and the effort you invested that led to your high achievement."
---Nicole Haislett

***NEW*** 12/01/02
"Any guy who can maintain a positive attitude without much playing time certainly earns my respect."
---Earvin "Magic" Johnson

09/06/02
"In our lives we will encounter many challenges, and tomorrow we face one together. How we accept the challenge and attack the challenge head on is only about us--no one can touch that. If we win or lose this weekend, it will not make a difference in our lives. But why we play and how we play will make a difference in our lives forever."
---Beth Anders

09/06/02
"When all is said and done, it's not the shots that won the championship that you remember, but the friendships you made along the way."
---Unknown

09/06/02
"Sports remain a great metaphor for life's more difficult lessons. It was through athletics that many of us first came to understand that fear can be tamed; that on a team the whole is more than the sum of its parts; and that the ability to be heroic lies, to a surprising degree, within."
---Susan Casey

09/06/02
"If you are ever going to achieve as much as you can in a sport, you are going to have to be willing to make a leap of faith to learn how much your body can handle."
---Meredith Rainey Valmon

09/06/02
"A race is not well-run unless you've crossed the finish line knowing that you couldn't have kept going for one more step. If you could have, then you didn't give it everything you had."
---Jackie Dugall

09/06/02
"When you're out on that floor cheering, you don't worry about the judges or the other teams. All you need to worry about is cheering your heart and soul out and knowing that you are doing the very best you can."
---Corey Phillips

09/06/02
"Love the game. Love the game for the pure joy of accomplishment. Love the game for everything it can teach you about yourself. Love the game for the feeling of belonging to a group endeavoring to do its best. Love the game for being involved in a team whose members can't wait to see you do your best. Love the game for the challenge of working harder than you ever have at something and then harder than that. Love the game because it takes all team members to give it life. Love the game because at its best, the game tradition will include your contributions. Love the game because you belong to a long line of fine athletes who have loved it. It is now your legacy. Love the game so much that you will pass on your love of the game to another athlete who has seen your dedication, your work, your challenges, your triumphs... and then that athlete will, because of you, love the game."
---Unknown

07/12/02
"A gold medal is a wonderful thing, but if you're not enough without it, you'll never be enough with it."
---Irv Blitzer (John Candy), Cool Runnings

07/12/02
"An athlete is a normal person with the gift of an undying passion to be the best and achieve greatness."
---Amanda Ring

07/12/02
"It doesn't take talent to hustle."
---H. Jackson Brown

07/12/02
"Courage is not the absence of fear. It is being afraid but being able to control that fear so you are able to perform at your highest ability. That's what makes a champion."
---Cory Lester

07/12/02
"When you are out there on the soccer field playing, nothing else matters at the time. It's like the whole world has disappeared, and you and your teammates are all that matters."
---Amber Massey

07/12/02
"One bout doesn't make a champion. One win or one loss isn't reflective of an entire career...Champions aren't made or lost with one battle."
---Kelly Williams

07/12/02
"When you step on that field knowing that everything you worked for comes down to one game, you get that realization: this is what it's all about, and this is why the game was made."
---Unknown

07/12/02
"If what you did yesterday still looks big to you today, then you must not have done anything today."
---Unknown

07/12/02
"Together we stand, together we fall, together we're winners, and winners take all."
---Unknown

07/12/02
"I'm not a yeller. My theory is that no one goes out there trying to screw up."
---Amy Ruley, head woman's basketball coach, North Dakota State (5-time NCAA D2 champions)

07/12/02
"The difference between a good athlete and a top athlete is the top athlete will do the mundane things when nobody's looking."
---Susan True

07/12/02
"Fishing is worth any amount of effort and any amount of expense to people who love it, because in the end, you get such a large number of dreams per fish."
---Fan Frazier

06/02/02
"Individual glory is insignificant when compared to achieving victory as a team."
---Dot Richardson

06/02/02
"It may sound strange, but many champions are made champions by setbacks."
---Bob Richards

06/02/02
"If there is a mutual respect between players and coaches, that keeps the team honest and makes for a very healthy environment which in turn promotes other important qualities such as work ethic, integrity and a positive atmosphere for competing and winning."
---Jillian Ellis

06/02/02
"Being the best that you can be is possible only if your desire to be a champion is greater than your fear of failure."
---Sammy Lee

06/02/02
"Sportsmanship is not just about being nice. It is much more important than that. It's about realizing that you could not compete without an opponent and that she has the same goals as you."
---Stephanie Deibler

06/02/02
"When you need a friend, you can always count on your teammates."
---Jim Brown

06/02/02
"To achieve in sports you first have to have a dream, and then you must act on that dream. The best athletes are those who truly enjoy what they are doing and display a tremendous amount of work ethic. They continue to persevere in spite of setbacks and never lose sight of their ultimate goal."
---Dianne Holum

06/02/02
"There are things about some professional athletes that I cannot stand--the pretense, the egos, the pomposity, the greed."
---Ted Simmons

06/02/02
"Behind all the years of practice and all the hours of glory waits that inexorable terror of living without the game."
---Bill Bradley

06/02/02
"I won't accept anything less than the best a player's capable of doing, and he has the right to expect the best that I can do for him and the team."
---Lou Holtz

06/02/02
"You spend a good deal of your life gripping a baseball, and it turns out it was the other way around all the time."
---Jim Bouton

06/02/02
"I'm a high school player. I'm a team player. I play with my friends and with some of my enemies, but I respect everyone when it comes to my sport. I know I'm not going to get a multi-million dollar contract to play professionally. I know I may not even get my name in the paper. I play for love of the game. For the pride and honor, for the blood, sweat and tears it takes to make the team, to earn the spot, to win the game. I play because I can, I play because I know that my life would be empty without the sport I play. I would have a lack of everything my sport gives me... integrity, courage, talent, fearlessness, pride, strength, stamina, will, and the heart of a champion. If I didn't play, I would lose a part of me. I'm an athlete. I'm a girl. I'm a champion, not because my team always wins, but because when we don't, we learn from our mistakes. We try to fix them, and most of all because we have fun. I have built lifelong friendships and memories because of my being an athlete. I leave everything on the field or court and continue to push myself. I am never happy with second place, but I have learned to accept it. I have learned to get over and through my anger and be the athlete and player I have always dreamed of being. I don't play for my parents, for my family, for my friends; I don't play for my coach or my teachers or my school. I play for myself but when I'm playing I represent them. It isn't about winning or losing, but I hate to lose. I won't settle for a tie, and I am not satisfied with 100%. To play, you have to sacrifice everything, your body, your time, your sweat, blood, and tears, everything... for your team. I am a player, and athlete and a champion, not because I know what it is like to win, but because I know what it is like to lose. I know what it is like to feel the anger and pain that comes along with "second best." I have been that girl with tears in her eyes, walking out to recieve the second place trophy and clapping as the other team, my opponents, receive the first place one. I know what it is like to lose, to win, to want to quit, to want to cry, to not want to get up. I know what it is like to hear the cheers and yells for you. I know what it is like to feel the pressure of everyone on your shoulders, and I know what it is like to choke under that pressure. I know what it means to be an athlete, a true player, and that is why I play. I AM AN ATHLETE, A CHAMPION, A TRUE PLAYER."
---"An Athlete's Pride"

03/14/02
"On a good team there are no superstars. There are great players who show they are great players by being able to play with others as a team. They have the ability to be superstars, but if they fit into a good team, they make sacrifices, they do things necessary to help the team win. What the numbers are in salaries or statistics don't matter; how they play together does."
---Red Holzman

03/14/02
"When you talk about an injury and the kind of depression you go through, it's not just because you're out of shape and you can't go out and play. You're missing a part of you. That's what's painful. That's what hurts."
---Jamila Wideman

03/14/02
"No amount of ability is of the slightest avail without honor."
---Andrew Carnegie

03/14/02
"Don't be content with average because average is just as close to the bottom as it is to the top."
---Danielle Ballentine

03/14/02
"With confidence, you have won even before you have started."
---Marcus Garvey

03/14/02
"Play like you're in first, but train like you're in second."
---Unknown

03/14/02
"Luck is not something that happens by chance. Luck is earned through dedication, work and determination."
---Katie Mickley

03/14/02
"The race isn't over until you cross the finish line. You'll be surprised at how much can change in the last twenty strides."
---Jackie Dugall

03/14/02
"Hard work and togetherness. They go hand in hand. You need the hard work because it's such a tough atmosphere....to win week in and week out. You need togetherness because you don't always win, and you gotta hang tough together."
---Tony Dungy

12/31/01
"Trust. Without it, there is no team. Of the teams I've coached that have been successful, all have had an unbelievable amount of trust in each other."
---John Cook

12/31/01
"You are a direct reflection of me. When you lose, I am a loser. When you fight, I am a fighter. When you win, I am a winner. When you and I work together, we are a team."
---Anonymous high school coach

12/31/01
"To win the game, you don't have to be the most athletic or talented. To win, you must have passion for the game, determination and complete faith in yourself and your team."
---Unknown

12/31/01
"To be a successful coach you should be and look prepared. You must be a man of integrity. Never break your word. Don't have two sets of standards. Remember you don't handle players--you handle pets. You deal with players. Stand up for your players. Show them you care--on and off the court. Very important--it's not 'how' or 'what' you say but what they absorb."
---Red Auerbach

12/31/01
"Great champions have an enormous sense of pride. The people who excel are those who are driven to show the world and prove to themselves just how good they are."
---Nancy Lopez

12/31/01
"In sport, part of the game is accepting the umpire's call, no matter how hard that might be. Sometimes the calls go your way, and sometimes they don't."
---Dr. Dot Richardson

12/31/01
"Cooperation is the thorough conviction that nobody gets there unless everybody gets there."
---Virginia Burden

11/30/01
"The values learned on the playing field--how to set goals, endure, take criticism and risks, become team players, use our beliefs, stay healthy and deal with stress--prepare us for life."
---Donna de Varona

11/30/01
"The trophies mean nothing. The glory will fade. In the end all that is important is your happiness."
---Unknown

11/30/01
"Winning is a game within itself. That act of just showing up shows that you've already won."
---Travis Quigly

11/30/01
"I am the person you'll see everyday training when everyone else has gone home. I live for the one moment of glory when I save that goal or sink that 3-point shot and score the winning basket. I am the sport, I am the glory, nothing can change that. I am an athlete, no one can forget that."
---Alexa Wilkinson

11/30/01
"Passion, not pedigree, will win in the end."
---Jon Bon Jovi

11/30/01
"Ah, the glories of women's sports: the camaraderie. The quiet dignity. The proud refusal to buy into traditional stereotypes of beauty."
---Sports Illustrated For Women

11/30/01
"In every sport there comes a moment when a spell of bitter weeping seems like a fair recess from whatever tough work is going on. It's only the steeliest among us who can fight the urge to turn negative--who instead will make contact and redouble her efforts. Call it grace under pressure. Call it grit....call it excellence."
---Sports Illustrated For Women editor, Susan Casey

11/30/01
"When the playing is over, one can sense that one's youth has been spent playing a game, and now both the game and youth are gone."
---Bill Bradley

11/30/01
"The glory of sport is witnessing a well-coached team perform as a single unit, striving for a common goal and ultimately bringing distinction to the jersey the players represent."
---Dick Vitale

10/31/01
"The fans can make you famous. A contract can make you rich. The press can make you a superstar. But only the love can make you a player."
---Kevin Hartwyk

10/31/01
"Great teams work harder after a tough loss."
---Ron Brown

10/31/01
"You run like a girl. You jump like a girl. You serve 165 km/h in their faces. Like a girl."
---Australian Female Volleyball

10/31/01
"For some people it's the end of the rainbow, but for us it is the end of the finish line."
---Larisa Healy

10/31/01
"Training is what you are doing while your opponent is sleeping in."
---Brian Owen

10/31/01
"Every team requires unity. A team has to move as one unit, one force, with each person understanding and assisting the roles of his teammates. If the team doesn't do this, whatever the reason, it goes down in defeat. You win or lose as a team, as a family."
---Jack Kemp

08/31/01
"Almost all of our limitations are self-imposed. Those that are not can be overcome by cooperation with others whose strengths compliment our weakness."
---Bill Koch

08/31/01
"No matter how many errors you make, no matter how many times you strike out, keep hustling. That way you'll at least look like a ballplayer."
---Tony Kubek, Sr.

08/31/01
"Nobody's more important than the team."
---Rejean Houle

08/31/01
"Sports for me is when a guy walks off the court, and you really can't tell whether he won or lost, when he carries himself with pride either way."
---Jim Courier

08/31/01
"Twenty years from now, I can look at this medal and say, 'I was the best quarter-miler in the world on that day.' If you don't think that's important, you don't know what's inside an athlete's soul."
---Vince Matthews

07/31/01
"I always wanted to be somebody...If I've made it, it's half because I was game to take a wicked amount of punishment along the way, and half because there were an awful lot of people who cared enough to help me."
---Althea Gibson

07/31/01
"Champions separate the important from the unimportant. They know that good press, playing time or individual honors aren't as important as knowing that you and your teammates have responded to the challenge together."
---Don Shaw

07/31/01
"You can motivate players better with kind words than you can with a whip."
---Bud Wilkinson

07/31/01
"There's nothing greater in the world than when somebody on the team does something good, and everybody gathers around to pat him on the back."
---Billy Martin

07/31/01
"The point of the game is not how well the individual does but whether the team wins. That is the beautiful heart of the game, the blending of personalities, the mutual sacrifices for group success."
---Bill Bradley

07/31/01
"The problem with referees is that they just don't care which side wins."
---Tom Canterbury

07/31/01
"My responsibility is to get my twenty-five guys playing for the name on the front of their uniform and not the one on the back."
---Tommy Lasorda

07/31/01
"Never underestimate the heart of a champion."
---Rudy Tomjanovich

06/29/01
"Even when you've played the game of your life, it's the feeling of teamwork that you'll remember. You'll forget the plays, the shots, and the scores, but you'll never forget your teammates."
---Deborah Palmore

06/29/01
"Part of being a champ is acting like a champ. You have to learn how to win and not run away when you lose. Everyone has bad stretches and real successes. Either way, you have to be careful not to lose your confidence or get too confident."
---Nancy Kerrigan

06/29/01
"Teammates are there for each other even after the noise of the crowd is gone."
---Jim Brown

06/29/01
"High school sports: where lessons of life are still being learned, and where athletes still compete for the love of the game and their teammates."
---Michael Powers

06/29/01
"Strive to be the best you can be...focus, watch, listen, and learn. Try never to be satisfied with 'good enough'...and above all, love what you do--share that passion with others, and always stay humble. Nobody likes a 'big head' no matter how good you are."
---Robby Naish

06/29/01
"Coaches have to watch for what they don't want to see and listen to what they don't want to hear."
---John Madden

06/29/01
"Winning is only half of it. Having fun winning is the other half."
---Bum Phillips

06/29/01
"People always think kids' sports are about fun. The kids have fun playing, but that's not why they play. The real reason they play is to find out about who they are...It's a vehicle for self-discovery."
---Paul Clements

05/31/01
"No matter how much I've won, or how much outside praise has come my way, or where it goes from here, there's one clear fact that has never, ever been lost on me. I didn't do this alone."
---Power Bar

05/31/01
"Wear your battle scars as medals of honor."
---Unknown

05/31/01
"Victory goes to the player who makes the next to last mistake."
---Unknown

05/31/01
"I do good when people doubt me. When someone says I can't do something, I want to do more. I won't back down from anybody."
---Kenyon Martin

05/31/01
"It is better to be defeated on principle than to win on lies."
---Arthur Calwell

05/31/01
"What I've learned in my years as a competitive wheelchair athlete is this--what separates a winner from the rest of the pack is not raw talent or physical ability; instead, it is the drive and dedication to work hard every single day, and the heart to go after your dream, no matter how unattainable others think it is."
---Linda Mastandrea

05/31/01
"The Most Important Thing I Know About the Spirit of Sport... It instills in us the ability to recognize and appreciate the talents of others as well as the gifts we have been given and the ability to work with others as a team. It also allows us to face the challenge of competition, learn from our successes and failures, altogether making us true champions in life."
---Dr. Dot Richardson

05/31/01
"The best thing about sports is the sense of community and shared emotion it can create."
---Bob Costas

05/31/01
"Individual commitment to a group effort--that is what makes a team work."
---Vince Lombardi

04/30/01
"The glory of sport comes from dedication, determination and desire. Achieving success and personal glory in athletics has less to do with wins and losses than it does with learning how to prepare yourself so that at the end of the day, whether on the track or in the office, you know that there was nothing more you could have done to reach your ultimate goal."
---Jackie Joyner-Kersee

04/30/01
"The difference is almost all mental. The top players just hate to lose. I think that's the difference. A champion hates to lose even more than she loves to win."
---Chris Evert

04/30/01
"Win or lose you will never regret working hard, making sacrifices, being disciplined or focusing too much. Success is measured by what we have done to prepare for competition."
---John Smith

04/30/01
"It's blood, sweat, sometimes tears."
---Bob Hayes

04/30/01
"Every time you compete, try harder to improve on your last performance. Give nothing short of your very best effort."
---Elgin Baylor

04/30/01
"Sports create a bond between comtemporaries that lasts a lifetime. It also gives your life structure, discipline and a genuine, sincere, pure fulfillment that few other areas of endeavor provide."
---Bob Cousy

04/30/01
"It's important to respect both your teammates and your opponents. Friendships can make a victory last forever."
---Jamie Koven

04/30/01
"The spirit of sports gives each of us who participate an opportunity to be creative. Sports knows no sex, age, race or religion. Sports gives us all the ability to test ourselves mentally, physically and emotionally in a way no other aspect of life can. For many of us who struggle with 'fitting in' or our identity--sports gives us our first face of confidence. That first bit of confidence can be a gateway to many other great things!"
---Dan O'Brien

03/30/01
"In life, we choose whether or not we want to be a winner or a loser. To be a winner, we must devote time and hard work. To be a loser you do nothing, and that's exactly what you will get, nothing."
---Patrick Boles

03/30/01
Just as in a rainbow--if there was only one color it would not be beautiful. On our team--if there was only one player it would not be victorious."
---Unknown

03/30/01
"Playing your favorite sport is like being able to get candy when you're at the store with your mom. Being on the field and having all your problems drift away for the two hours you play is like the most relaxing thing I can think of."
---Danielle Ballentine

03/30/01
"If it wasn't for failure, we wouldn't have succeeded."
---Lucas Hellmer

03/30/01
"It's really impossible for athletes to grow up. On the one hand, you're still a child, still playing a game. But on the other hand, you're a superhuman hero that everyone dreams of being. No wonder we have such a hard time understanding who we are."
---Billie Jean King

03/30/01
"Each warrior wants to leave the mark of his will, his signature, on the important acts he touches. This is not the voice of ego but of the human spirit, rising up and declaring that it has something to contribute. In every contest, there comes a moment that separates winning from losing. The true warrior understands and seizes that moment by giving an effort so intense and so intuitive that it could only be called one from the heart."
---Pat Riley

03/30/01
"Sport is quite a simple thing. It is play, and in play, people of all ages find the chance to engage their most profound emotions--love, fear, excitement, disappointment, anger and joy."
---Timothy Shriver, Ph.D.

03/30/01
"Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man's doing but my own. I am the force; I can clear any obstacle before me or I can be lost in the maze. My choice; my responsibility; win or lose, only I hold the keys to my destiny."
---Elain Maxwell

02/28/01
"Sports can do so much. They've given me a framework: meeting new people, confidence, self-esteem, discipline, motivation. All these things I learned, whether I knew I was learning them or not, through sports."
---Mia Hamm

02/28/01
"In life, as in sports, you will try, and you will sometimes fail. There will be no apparent reward except to know that you did your best."
---Charles Lawrie

02/28/01
"Sport, indeed, is a bare canvas to which we present ourselves...fully, completely, and exquisitely."
---Dr. Carole Oglesby

02/28/01
"An athlete experiences the emotions of pain and elation through triumph and defeat, through teamwork and individuality, as nothing more than a human being...that is the true glory of sport."
---Aimee Mullins

02/28/01
"Sports can unite a group of people from different backgrounds, all working together to achieve a common goal. And even if they fall short, sharing that journey is an experience they'll never forget. It can teach some of the most fundamental and important human values: dedication, perseverance, hard work, and teamwork. It also teaches us how to handle our success and cope with our failure. So, perhaps the greatest glory of sport is that is teaches us so much about life itself."
---Ahmad Rashad

02/28/01
"I believe in playing with your heart, with every fiber in your body--fairly, squarely, by the rules--to win. And I believe that any man's finest moment, the greatest fulfillment of all he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out and lies exhausted on the floor of battle--victorious."
---Bela Karolyi

02/28/01
"Sport, at its best, at its most human, is able to inspire an innocence and joy that is unique to each of us."
---Richard Corman

01/30/01
"You find that you have peace of mind and can enjoy yourself, get more sleep, and rest when you know that it was a 100 percent effort that you gave--win or lose."
---Gordie Howe

01/30/01
"When anyone tells me I can't do anything...I'm just not listening anymore."
---Florence Griffith-Joyner

01/30/01
"I remember when I was in college, people told me I couldn't play in the NBA. There's always somebody saying you can't do it, and those people have to be ignored."
---Bill Cartwright

01/30/01
"If you aren't playing well, the game isn't as much fun. When that happens I tell myself just to go out and play the game as I did when I was a kid."
---Tom Watson

01/30/01
"I never gave up, even when people told me I'd never make it."
---Bob Wickman

01/30/01
"Training gives us an outlet for supressed energies created by stress and thus tones the spirit just as exercise conditions the body."
---Arnold Schwarzennegger

01/30/01
"Don't ever forget that you play with your soul as well as your body."
---Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

01/30/01
"All of us get knocked down, but it's resiliency that really matters. All of us do well when things are going well, but the thing that distinguishes athletes is the ability to do well in times of great stress, urgency and pressure."
---Roger Staubach

01/30/01
"In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated to your chosen sport. You must also be prepared to work hard and be willing to accept constructive criticism. Without a total 100 percent dedication, you won't be able to do this."
---Willie Mays

01/30/01
"Sports should always be fun."
---Charles Mann

01/30/01
"The ones who want to achieve and win championships motivate themselves."
---Mike Ditka

01/30/01
"I don't need to be the Number 1 on the team. This is what I train for day in and day out. I am the support player. If I need to hit, pitch, run, whatever, I will do it. If everything was going to be about me, I think I'd quit."
--Michele Smith

01/30/01
"The values learned on the playing field--how to set goals, endure, take criticism and risks, become team players, use our bodies, stay healthy and deal with stress--prepare us for life."
---Donna de Varona