John Wooden Quotes

Like an athlete, [dance] is an everyday job. You have to stay in shape - unless you just want to loaf through a couple of hoofing routines. But that just didn't satisfy me.

If you're training in a combat sport, deliciousness takes a backseat.

Ninety percent of hockey is mental and the other half is physical.

Top athletes are like warriors.

The truth of basketball is done in competition and fundamentals and team, but there's a lot of other junk that goes around the game.

After one Olympics, if we invest in sports and say we will get a gold medal in the next Olympic, it doesn't work like that in sports. How it works is that you provide the infrastructure, provide education about nutrition and health.

Your primary job is to be a football player, and you've got to accomplish that task before you go out and do anything else, really.

It doesn't matter if a footballer is earning £100,000 a week or £1,000 a week the first thing you need to do is work hard for your team.

There is only one thing I want to do here, and that is play football to the best of my ability. If I let things start distracting me, I'm not going to be able to do that, which will jeopardise the team as well.

Tactics are just a part of football because the players are playing.

For every athlete, it is very important to be able to engage in their favorite thing, give all the best in training, performing in competitions, defending the honor of the motherland.

Accountability is huge and everybody has a job to do on every play and that's the really only thing you focus on.

As a football player, you would like to play each match.

If you look at all aspects of all sports, everything comes down to basics and fundamentals.

You don't get to the highest levels of the sport without having the basics in order.

When you're an athlete, you've got the horse blinders on pretty thick. Your exploration of other things in life tends to be limited because you have to have such a focus on what you're doing. I wasn't a good enough player to stray from that focus and still keep my ability.

I love making the big play. I love being out there with my teammates. I love the camaraderie. I can't say I always love practice. But it's a means to an end.

If I am on the pitch there is a lot of energy in my body.

When we're not on the practice field, I'm watching tape, and when I'm not watching tape, I'm doing body work or something like that.

I hate missing practice and games, not being out here.

I will have no problem coming to practice on time. The locker room is great, but we have to prove ourselves on the court.

An athlete may run ten thousand miles in order to prepare for one hundred yards. Quantity gives experience.

Many, many times, the kids with the less talent become the better athletes because they're more dedicated to achieving their full potential.

Mental Toughness is doing the right thing for the team when it's not the best thing for you.

Being a great athlete is something that requires a lot of training and dedication, it does not come as easily as some people may think.