"Winners never quit and quitters never win" Vincent Thomas "Vince" Lombardi Named "Coach of the Century" by ESPN
Everyone on the planet will have to go through set-backs and obstacles in their lives. Some people will have more severe challenges than others. However, the one who can go grow from and use their set-backs and obstacles, will always succeed. Obstacles can come in many forms; losing a game, failing a test, getting ill, or losing people we love.
Here are a few stories of great athletes who overcame their set-backs and obstacles:
Lance Armstrong
World re-known cyclist Lance Armstrong has won the hearts of millions overcoming his setbacks. When he was at the top of his game he won the USPRO Championship title, stage victories in the Tour de France, A World Championship, multiple victories at the Tour du Pont, and a spot on the U.S. Olympic team..
In 1996 he entered as the No.1 ranked cyclist in the world, and competed as a member of the U.S. Cycling Team in the Atlanta Summer Olympic Games. Lance had just signed a contract with the French-based Cofidis racing team when he received devastating news that would make many people to not only quit racing, but quit life. One day while cycling Lance was literally forced off his bike in excruciating pain.
Doctors gave him the devastating news that he had cancer. It was advanced testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and his brain. He had less than 50-50 chance of surviving. Over time he was able to undergo treatment that worked, but while he was going through the pain and shock of cancer, it left him scarred physically and emotionally.
Lance says now, "...it was the best thing that ever happened to me." He knew he couldn't feel sorry for himself. He had to get back on his bike. This new way of looking at his set back helped him to see beyond cycling. He formed the Lance Armstrong Foundation to help others with cancer. Lance finally recovered and returned to racing but he no longer had a contract with the Cofidis. He found himself without a team until the United States Postal Service took a leap in faith and signed him. He had to prove himself. But Lance was devastated again when he physically couldn't go on, and had to quit in the middle of race.
People thought his career was definitely over. It took time, but he learned to love the bike again and build up the courage to try again. "Through my illness I learned rejection. I was written off," says Lance. "That was the moment I thought, Okay, game on. No prisoners. Everybody's going down." Lance was determined not to give up. His new belief in himself and training, helped Lance finish in the top-five in the Tour of Spain and World Championships. In 1999 he set a goal for himself. The Tour de France.
With strong determination, he won amazing victories, the 1999-2005 Tours de France. How could Lance miraculously win over the odds? He believed he could beat the disease and win. "Pain is temporary," says Lance. "It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever."
Jeanette Bolden
Jeanette Bolden knows all too well about overcoming roadblocks. She won a Gold Medal for the 4x100 relay in the 1984 Olympics with an asthmatic condition. Today Jeanette is the 2008 Olympic coach of the U.S. Women's Track and Field team and the UCLA women's track and field head coach.
"I've had asthma all my life," says Jeanette. "Unfortunately, when I was young my mom used the Emergency Department as the primary source of treatment for my asthma. So I was in and out of the emergency rooms all the time and my asthma was really out of control. Things got so bad that I was actually sent to a home for asthmatic children, where I had to live for 9 months - away from my family. I did learn how to manage my asthma with the help of the people at the home, and learned to be much less afraid of it."
Not only did this extraordinary lady have to overcome her physical limitations, she had to deal with opposition from others as well. "I had problems with other kids picking on me because of my illness," says Jeanette. "I used to carry my inhaler in my sock and one time it fell out and a boy picked it up and started spraying it all over the place and shouting "asthma face" and "spasma girl" and he would tell others not to play with "asthma girl. When Jeanette returned from the home for asthmatic children, she resumed her life as a normal kid running and playing outdoors.
One day she was with her younger sister at a park and they met a local track and field coach. Jeanette refusing to let her asthmatic condition hold her back, she boldly asked the coach if she could join the team and explained that she had asthma. This was a gamble. She worried that he wouldn't want her on the team. But she was surprised when the coach simply said, "If it doesn't bother you, it doesn't bother me."
This was the beginning of her extraordinary life as a super-star athlete. She got on the team, and never looked back even though she competed against healthy athletes with her condition. "My mom always encouraged me to do my best and not let it (asthma) hinder me," says Jeanette. "Once I started winning races, my asthma became more acceptable. I don't think I would have accomplished as much in my career if I didn't have asthma - because it drove me to strive harder to prove myself to others and to show those kids who picked on me that nothing would stop me from excelling."
Not only has Jeanette refused to let asthma hold her back, she has embraced it and overcome the odds, and helps others to do the same. Today when she is not coaching, she helps others live a better quality of life with asthma as the founder and director of the Jeanette Bolden Asthma and Allergy Track Clinic. She is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation. Jeanette is the perfect example of the old adage, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade."
Oscar De La Hoya
He has defeated more than a dozen world champions and won six world titles as well as an Olympic gold metal and has been named in the 2008 United States Olympic Hall of Fame. But Oscar De La Hoya would have never achieved his greatness if he gave up like he wanted to do when his beloved mother he was so close to died of cancer.
"My mother went to all of my fights even when she had breast cancer," remembers Oscar. "Sometimes she even missed her radiation treatments to support me. She didn't tell us she had cancer. She didn't want her kids to suffer. "Her last words was for me to go to the Olympics and get the gold," says Oscar who remembers it was a lot of pressure on him because he desperately wanted to fulfill his mother's wishes...and at the same time, he wanted to quit boxing.
"That pressure was incredible. I had to do it," says Oscar. "I learned I can go through fire in any situation in or out of the ring."
Manny Ramirez
Manny Ramirez, a 12-time All-Star Baseball Player, says his high school experience was complicated. When he arrived in New York from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic he was never relaxed in class. He had no friends and Manny struggled learning English and fitting into a different culture. "I was trying to learn to speak a different language... I always like to do things correctly, and it was difficult learning correct English, so I lost interest," says Manny. "This got me even deeper into baseball... When I played, I felt good about myself, because I could do my best. I could work hard and help our team to win."
Manny turned to his high school coach and talked for hours to talk about what he needed to do to become an outstanding baseball player. Then he would turn the advice into practice. Manny would wake up at the crack of dawn to run before going to school, and after dinner he went to a friend's house to lift weights. He was a very hard worker. He never missed or arrived late to practice. He was the star of the high school team In 2008 Manny became a Los Angeles Dodger.
He ranks 23rd on baseball's all-time home run list, and is one of only 11 players in baseball history with at least 11 seasons with 30 or more homers (1995-96, 1998-2006). He has also hit at least 20 home runs in 14 straight seasons, including a career-high 45 in 1998 with Cleveland and 2005 with Boston. Manny won two World Series championships with Boston in 2004 and 2007, and was named the World Series Most Valuable Player in 2004.
Michael Jordan
Widely regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan suffered a devastating loss when his father was murdered in 1993. After three consecutive NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls, Michael quit basketball to pursue a lifelong dream to play baseball. Many fans felt the real reason he retired from basketball was his father's death. Michael has led the N.B.A. in scoring a record 10 times (1987-93, 1996-98), earned the M.V.P. award five times (1988, 1991-92, 1996, 1998), and won six championships with the Chicago Bulls (1991-93, 1996-98).
Michael is called "Air Jordan" for his remarkable leaping ability thrilling spectators with his acrobatic dunks and game-winning shots. Off the court, Jordan became a celebrity and one of the most sought after commercial spokesmen in the world.
"I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career," says Michael. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is precisely why I succeed."
Michael Phelps Michael Phelps, who won the U.S. eight Gold Medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympic for swimming, has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Symptoms of this condition include; not able to pay attention, makes careless mistakes, doesn't listen, doesn't finish tasks, does not follow directions, and is easily distracted. However, Michael broke through the odds with his laser attention that was so intense that some reporters called it "other-worldly."
The swimmer used Hyper-focusing to bring home the Gold. This is a characteristic that ADHD people have, but usually they hyper-focus on everything that are distractions from the task at hand. Michael believes he developed the ability to use what others consider an obstacle, ADHD hyper-focusing, because of the upstream battle he had to overcome as a kid being bullied. "I always had a baseball cap on riding the school bus, and some kids would take the hat, or throw it out the window, or my ears were flicked," said Michael in an NBC interview with Bob Costas, host of the Olympics for NBC. "There was always something that I was picked on for, and I guess it made me stronger. All the stuff I had growing up, and all the making fun of (me), made me work harder to get to where I am now.
Today Michael uses people's pettiness to fuel his sport. "If there is trash-talking, it's extra fuel," says the Olympian. "Makes you want to prove that person wrong who says you can't do something." Not too many people can trash talk Michael today. The 23-year-old is now considered one of world's greatest athletes.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE
When we are going through pain and suffering, we often feel that no one else is living with the set-backs and are going through the obstacles that face us. This is not true. We may not know them, but everyone has their problems. The key is that some people choose to change their attitudes and simply deal with their challenges like the athletes in this chapter. It's important to acknowledge your feelings, take time to grieve over a situation, then move on. Start by asking yourself, "How can I make the best out of this situation?" The answer will come to you.
RECAPS:
* * * Set-backs and obstacles can make you stronger.
* * * No matter what challenge you face, big or small, you can still win.
* * * Inside each of us is greatness.
* * * Never say never.
* * * There is always someone going through more pain and suffering than you
* * * Your set-backs and obstacles can make you a better person.
* * * Choose to learn from these challenges.
* * * Ask yourself how you can move on.
* * * Never, ever give up.
AFFIRMATIONS
Today, I will make the best of this situation.
Today, I am learning from these challenges.
Today, I am becoming stronger and better.
Today, I am being led to solutions to my challenges.
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