SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Girls Varsity Soccer Inspiration

It's been a little quiet around here, so I figured I'd stir things a bit by asking people to share some of your favorite quotes and bits of wisdom that can be used to inspire or direct an athlete, team, and/or coach. Originals are more than welcome. I'm always looking to add to my collection!

I'll start it off with one I have at hand:

"Failure happens all the time. It happens every day in practice. What makes you better is how you react to it."
--Mia Hamm

"If you believe in yourself and have the courage,the determination,the dedication the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile,
"it can be done" Vince Lombardi

Whoever said, 'It's not whether you win or lose that counts,' probably lost.
Martina Navratilova

Ahhh so easy from my dear ol' Dad to me.

"Timmy, don't be discouraged that you fail in sports, you just don't have any talent"

You can work a little bit harder and be a little bit better, or you can work a lot harder amd maybe be a lot better, or you can work to the utmost of your ability and leave nothing behind and maybe, just maybe, something truely magical will happen-

“Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” -- Lou Holtz

"Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason"

Jerry Seinfeld

Jim Mora, Indianapolis Colts -- Playoffs???

Good ones, all...keep 'em coming!

"It's amazing how much can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit." --John Wooden

"If you want what you've never had before, you have to be willing to do what you've never done before." --unknown

"Why do big people tell little people what to do all the time?" 3-year old in my church

My Fave
"Hard work doesn't guarantee anything, but without it, you don't have a chance!" -Pat Riley

"Never go for a 50-50 ball unless you're 80-20 sure of winning it."
- Ian Darke, soccer commentator

“It's not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference."
- Coach Paul W. "Bear" Bryant, football coach

"Discipline and concentration are a matter of being interested."
- Tom Kite, golfer

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
- Ernest Hemingway, author

"At a young age winning is not the most important thing... the important thing is to develop creative and skilled players with good confidence."
- Arsene Wenger, soccer manager

"The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club wont be worth a dime."
- Babe Ruth, baseball player

"The country is full of good coaches. What it takes to win is a bunch of interested players."
- Don Coryell, football coach

"The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game."
- Bill Shankly, soccer manager/player

"You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer."
- Frank Zappa, singer

"Sweat plus sacrifice equals success."
- Charlie Finley, baseball owner

"How you respond to the challenge in the second half will determine what you become after the game, whether you are a winner or a loser."
- Lou Holtz, football coach

“Football is a simple game based on the giving and taking of passes, of controlling the ball and of making yourself available to receive a pass. It is terribly simple.”
- Bill Shankly, soccer manager/player

"If you train hard, you'll not only be hard, you'll be hard to beat."
- Herschel Walker, football player

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."
- Darrel Royal, football coach

“A champion is someone who does not settle for that day's practice, that day's competition, that day's performance. They are always striving to be better. They don't live in the past.”
- Brianna Scurry, soccer player

"You cannot say that you are happy when you don't win."
- Arsene Wenger, soccer manager

"Placing blame on others is easy. Taking responsibility for yourself is empowering"

"The first thing a manager or coach needs to learn how to do is listen"

" If it isn't fun, it's not soccer"

"Talent is not enough. It's an important component in a successful performance, but it's really only a starting point"

-Tony Dicicco

It was true 2,000 years ago, it's still true today:

"If the blind lead the blind, they end up in a ditch."
-Jesus

The vision of a champion is someone bent over, drenched in sweat, to a point of exhaustion, when no one else is watching. -Anson Dorrance

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. -Roy Keane

I fell in love with football as I would later fall in love with women: suddenly, uncritically, giving no thought to the pain it would bring. -Nick Hornby (Fever Pitch)

What does Sherman think? Let's take the Wayback Machine to the 1960s and ask him.

So when you're tackling out there today, I want you to throw your body at the girl with such a clattering of bones and gristle that she'll be worried about having a scar from her kneecap to her ankle. I want her wondering, 'If I finish this game, will I ever be able to wear a skirt again?'" -Anson Dorrance

"Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do."
-Pele

"I'm tired."

- Urban Meyer

Oldie but goodie from Bill Shankly...

"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I'm very disappointed with that attitude.
I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”

People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don't know when to quit.-George H. Allen

Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory.-Arthur Ashe

If winning isn't everything, why do they keep score?
Vince Lombardi

Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
Vince Lombardi

And of course my old coach used to say with a grin "winning isn't everything, but it's what we came here to do today so let get to work at having fun!"

"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."

John F. Kennedy

Ask not what you can give to your country, but what can your country give to you.

Barack Obama

"Silence....I kill you"

Achmed

Sun Tzu "The Art of War"

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.

If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

General George Patton:

“You must be single minded. Drive for the one thing on which you have decided. You will find that you will make some people miserable; those you love and very often yourself. And, if it looks like you are getting there, all kinds of people, including some whom you thought were loyal friends, will suddenly show up doing their…hypocritical best to trip you up, blacken you, and break your spirit.”

"You can't just beat a team, you have to leave a lasting impression in their minds so they never want to see you again”

Mia Hamm

"I'll give you a dollar if you score a goal."

- More parents of young players than I ever would have thought imaginable.

classic

"Ill give you ten dollars,if you score a goal!!" Cesa parent

"IIIIII WANNA MAKE A BABY WITH YOU. WANNA MAKE A BABY. WANT TO MAKE A BABY!" - R. KELLY

Big time players make big time plays in big time games! The Ole Ball Coach

Also from the true story bin---

A coach watching his U9 girls team get pushed around all first half by much better team who know how to fight for the ball. Told his girls it was ok to push a little to get the ball and that the ref (who had whistled the other team several times) would only blow the whitle on them just like the other team, no one would get in trouble! In fact he offered to buy an ice cream for the first girl who got a whistle becasue they were trying to get the ball! 10 Min into second period defender gets beat in box so she pushes the girl so she can get the ball....


Coach pulled his hat over his eyes until after the pk (game was a blow out anyway) then after game bought whole team ice cream cones and talked about why we do not push in the box!!!!