Jake Arrieta Quotes

There is no correlation between a childhood success and a professional athlete.

I just felt all along that if I could get a certain amount of years in the league, have great years and still have my health when I walked away, that would be great.

We have all the money in the world but do not realise how important the body is. A player on average has a seven year professional career, 10-15 if everything goes right. You have to do everything possible to be at your maximum.

Major League Baseball has the best idea of all. Three years before they'll take a kid out of college, then they have a minor league system that they put the kids in. I'm sure that if the NBA followed the same thing, there would be a lot of kids in a minor league system that still were not good enough to play in the major NBA.

I might have played a little bit more in Europe than I have in Japan.

Well, I wanted to play twenty years in the major leagues. I never made it twenty though. I played nineteen.

In sports, people reach their peak very early. You have to move on. I don't know if I will ever surpass what I did at the Olympics, but I'm still doing the work I always wanted to do.

So many people feel that once you reach a certain age then it's time for you to retire from a sport you love. I don't think that's true at all. I think age should not dictate that.

In sports... you play from the time you're eight years old, and then you're done forever.

I always wanted to be a professional athlete, it just took me a while to realise it would be in racing. I played field hockey competitively for Ontario since I was 13, 14. Then I tried for the national side and made it. But it was so competitive. The girls were just so big and strong. I was getting crushed.

My main objective is to prepare candidates for professional baseball; however, the majority of our graduates will go home as much better qualified amateurs.

I don't think longevity gets enough credit when you're talking about a player.

You always think you're one of those players who will be in one place the whole time, one of those guys they'll never let leave because you play hurt, do what it takes. But it's a different age. A lot of coaches, they like having younger guys.

No professional athlete likes to admit that he has played too long. There is too much money involved, rarely enough saved, and there is the eternal hope that age has not withered skills.

The NBA is changing so much. It's not like when I came up, with that old-school mentality that practice really mattered.

If I am still fighting at 35 I will be disappointed.

I don't want to rush into retirement and regret it, because people say play as long as possible until the legs can't take any more.

I can't play football forever.

I want to play until I'm 38.

I think every athlete is afraid for their career to be over.

There are only a certain amount of years you can play this game, and it's even a lower amount for a running back.

I loved football. I'm so glad I played. But I didn't think it was wise for me to play longer.

I've always dreamed of being a professional athlete.

I think as a professional sportsman you're aware that your time is limited.

Nigerian footballers who have played in Russia improved their ability here.