'The vision of a true athlete is someone who is bent over drenched in sweat, when no one is watching' - Unknown
'If you tell yourself you are a winner
eventually you will become one.
Until then...PRACTICE.' - Unknown
'You play the course; you don’t play the other guy. I try to shoot par, and if the other guy shoots bogeys, I’m okay.' – Todd Eldredge [Champion Figure Skater]
I love this one:
'All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES' - Unknown
'Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.' - Theodore Roosevelt
'Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.' - Henry Ford
TEAM - Together Everyone Achieves More
Don’t compete like you practice, practice like you compete.
"Impossible is Nothing."
"Give up for a second, and that's where you'll finish"
"The team on the top of the mountain didn't just fall there."
"There's plenty of room at the top, but no room to sit down."
"I believe in miracles - I have to." - Terry Fox
"To get to where you want to be tomorrow, you have to start today."
"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary."
'Never compare yourself with others because you will become vain or bitter, for there will always be greater and lesser persons than yourself.' - Unknown
"We trained ours off, so we could kick yours"
"It's supposed to be hard, if it wasn't hard everyone would do it. It's the hard that makes it good"
- Tom Hanks - "A League of Their Own"
'Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small people who find it easier to live in the world they've been given, than to explore the power they have to change it.
Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary.
Impossible is nothing.' - Unknown
Believing That You Can Do It!
By Jessica McDuffie
As the day of our competition nears,
Remember the smiles, forget the tears.
Remember the times we've spent together,
Cherish them now, cherish them forever.
Next year it will not be the same,
Some girls lost, some girls gained.
Doing the routine one more time,
To fix that motion and straighten that line.
We've had many falls and lots of tough breaks,
We took our chances but knew what was at stake.
We are all exhausted and ready to rest,
But first we must show the world who is best.
Regardless of what the judges criticize,
Remember they weren't there to realize,
We sweated, we ached, and we worked all the while,
And we hide all the pain with a convincing smile.
So show them now what we have worked for,
Give a little extra where there needs to be more.
Smile and know that we have finished the race,
Regardless of what we win or place.
"Nobody said it would be easy, but they all said it would be worth it"
"If you encounter difficulty, don't change your decision to go, change your direction to get there"
"No one ever attains very eminent success by simply doing what is required of him; it is the amount and excellence of what is over and above the required that determines the greatness of ultimate distinction."
"Have courage when times may fail. Be not afraid to make a change. Take a chance on the inevitable. Make a difference in everything you do. Be the person who you were meant to be. Success is not born; it is made by those who seek to see the difference in everything, turning the impossible into a possible success."
"Make it happen, help it happen, or get out of the way."
"You can never put in too much work for the cause, for if you don't do the work, you'll never know the outcome."
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall"
"Hard work beats talent, when talent doesn't work hard"
"Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footsteps on the moon."
"When you've come from nothing, you've got nothing to lose"
'Don't be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can make it so.' - Belva Davis
'A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.' - Erin Majors
'Don't watch the clock. Do what it does. Keep going.' - Sam Levenson
'Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs.' - Malcolm Forbes
'I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.' - Jimmy Dean
'Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.' -Will Rogers
"People spend their whole life wishing, instead of just doing something about it"
"It's about being proud of your accomplishments one day and trying to beat them the next"
'A champion is someone who gets up even when they can't' -Natalie Rogers
'The key to happiness is having dreams; the key to success is making them come true' - James Allen
'Victory always starts in the head. It's a state of mind. It then spreads with such radiance and such affirmation that destiny can do nothing but obey.' - Douchan Gersi
'An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.' - Emil Zatopek
'To be a great champion, you must believe you are the best. If you're not, pretend you are.' - Muhammad Ali
'Where your smile is truly painted on
because your lips to your teeth are stuck,
and the only thing the coach can do
is pray you don't run amuck.
So all of us should just think a spell
and see that as teammates we're all the same.
We should root for all and everyone
regardless of the name.
Because if you really think about it,
winning isn't worth a dime.
If you haven't had fun getting there
you've missed the best of times.'
- Alana Sadler
'Remember...there is always a little girl in the stands that wants to be just like you. Don't disappoint her.'
'Losers rely on luck. Winners rely on skill.' - Unknown
"Nobody ever drowned in sweat." - Unknown
"Wrinkles merely indicate where the smiles have been." - 'Following the Equator'
"Other people may not have had high expectations for me... but I had high expectations for myself." - Shannon Miller
"The only thing better than winning is losing knowing you gave your best." -Michael Ip
"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. " - John Wooden
"I firmly believe that the only disability in life is a bad attitude"
"Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look at what they can do when they stick together."
"Excellence is never an accident; it is the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, skillful execution and the vision to see obstacles as opportunities."
"Great achievements are nurtured with the cooperation of many minds with a common vision working toward a common goal."
"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be.
Now put foundations under them." - Henry David Thoreau
"To climb steep hills requires a slow pace at first." - William Shakespeare
"Skill and confidence are an unconquered army." - George Herbert
"You are never a loser until you quit trying." - Mike Ditka
"Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt." - Special Olympics Oath
"Never let yesterday's disappointments overshadow tomorrow's dreams."
"Know your limits, and then break through them."
"The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you have to put up with the rain." - Dolly Parton
"The future belongs to those who believe in their dreams." - Eleanor Roosevelt
"Arriving at one goal is a starting point to another"
'If you're falling off a cliff, you may as well try to fly. You have nothing to lose'
'I never came upon any of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking.' - Albert Einstein
"The contest lasts for moments,
though the training has taken years.
It wasn't the winning alone that was
worth the work and the tears.
The applause will be forgotten,
the prize will be misplaced,
but the long hard hours of practice
will never be a waste.
In trying to win you build a skill,
you learn that winning depends on will.
You never grow by how much you win,
you only grow by how much you put in.
So any new challenge you have just begun,
put forth your best and you have already won."
- W. A. Clennan
These are really figure skating related, but they could be transposed to gym:
'Do you remember why you skate, or has it been too long? Is it because you’ve worked so hard to get where you are, or because you love to be part of this team? Is it because you don’t want to let anyone down, including yourself? Somewhere behind the athlete you’ve become, the hours of practice, the teammates who believed in you, and the fans who cheered for you, is the little girl who put on her first pair of skates - who fell in love with the sport, and never looked back. Skate for her.' - Unknown
'Somewhere behind the athlete you've become, the hours of practice you put in, the coaches who pushed you, the teammates who believed in you, there is a little girl who had her daddy lace up her skates...' - Unknown
'Behind the media and the hype, the rankings and the records, there is a little girl who lived just for the chance to skate...' - Unknown
'Before you put on that dress tonight, remember that girl who fell in love with this sport the day she touched the ice...' - Unknown
"Beneath the mesh and spandex, there are bruises, pulled muscles, sore knees: Everything that would put you on an NFL injury list. This all gets covered up with a smile, because, lets face it, they can't play 4 minutes of music with the ice empty."
'The way I see it people don’t judge you in skating...other than the judges, but really no one judges you for the way you look, the way you act, how much money you have so, if I had a day off from school I wouldn’t spend it on the couch at home, I’d go to the rink.'
Sorry this is so long - I hope they're inspiring though!!
