Athletic Expectations Quotes

I was really good at a young age, but every day I had to walk in the house, and walk past my dad's jersey framed on the wall because he was an Olympian, so I was like, all right, I haven't done anything yet.

College coaches, you know how they are - they want you to go 1,000 percent every second of the day.

I was always cast doing something athletic. I can't do a cartwheel.

Growing up in the 1950s, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, boys were supposed to be athletic.

I'm as proud as the next guy, but I've always been a little skeptical of the daddies who walk around talking about what great athletes their kids are.

The problem, as a female athlete, is that you don't want to come across as negative and moaning.

I do have a son. He's out of school now. He never played football. And it had nothing to do with me. I was actually crushed that he didn't play football. I thought, 'Oh my God, this is awful.' My brothers all played football. My dad played football.

We're in a very individual sport, but they like us not to be so individual. They'd rather have you look like every other cookie cutter guy and have you believe that you're replaceable when you're really not.

At the combine and at my workouts, I tried to be the perfect player. I tried to promote my strengths and conceal my weaknesses, and on paper, I kind of succeeded: I was the first pick in the draft. And with that, I inherited this big shiny trophy that I carried around, and it had one word engraved on it - anxiety.

I was disappointed in everything - my start and the team's start. People got down on me, but I never got down on myself. I still believed I could be the type of player everyone, including me, thought I was going to be.

When you take over at Kansas, they've always won, so you're expected to win.

In football in this country, we want to be able to check off every box of a soccer player. You have to be good at this and this and this. Because of our society, and the way that I grew up in soccer, I had to become well-rounded-but I also cherished the parts of me that made me special.

And the other was this: the doctor did want to take off my leg because he thought it was necessary. But you must remember boys in those days were raised for two things: work, and then they made their play; and if you couldn't play baseball and box and play football, why, your life was ended. That was in our boyish minds.

I got a lot of flak; in Texas, football is not only the social thing you must do, but you do it also to prove your manhood. They all couldn't conceive of why I'd want to stop to do 'The Importance of Being Earnest.'

All American males are failed athletes, and it was big time even if it was Little League. It meant a lot to you.

I remember running at school sports day, and I would win everything, but I wasn't a super athlete or a superstar at high school.

People expect that you will play well and score a lot of goals, but it is not always possible.

In the playoffs, the best players are supposed to play better. I did. It made no difference.

I've got a lot to prove because of the criticism over my weight and moving back down a division.

Everyone will expect me to score in every game, which probably isn't realistic, but I'll go out trying to do that.

You have to do your talking on the pitch. I don't talk much in England - mainly because of the language.

Growing up wrestling, you get injured, and they expect you back on the mat in a couple weeks unless it's really bad.

My mom is an elementary school gym teacher and a track and cross-country coach, so she really wanted me to be a runner. But I was not a runner. I was horrible at running.

I think sometimes there's this perception that players are supposed to be robots.

I'm not the perfect model of what an athlete should be, mentally or physically.