Athletic Progression Quotes

In my day, 20-year-olds already had 150 first-team appearances under their belts.

Fitness is just a stage you pass through on the way to becoming a racer.

I'm trying to take wrestling to a whole different level.

First of all, in any sport where you can measure distance, height speed and all of that, you see how athletes have changed their sport and made it better. I believe, with every generation, the sport has improved. Certainly, in the men's game, that has been the case. I think that I played Pete [Sampras] at his best, I played Roger [Federer] at his best.. I believe wholeheartedly that Roger and [Rafael] Nadal have pushed the game much further than myself or Pete ever did. Their options on the tennis court are considerably more than ours.

Throughout my athletic career, the overall goal was always to be a better athlete than I was at the moment – whether next week, next month or next year. The improvement was the goal. The medal was simply the ultimate reward for achieving that goal.

In my career, there've been three stages really. There's been the stage when you come into a team, you don't feel the nerves, you just go out and play. Then through your 20s you start thinking a lot more about the games and what's at stake. And then, as you get more experienced towards the end of your career, you enjoy it a lot more and you're a lot more relaxed.

I didn't play JV because I went straight to varsity and started as a 10th grader - that was back in the day when you could not play varsity as a ninth grader. I went right from playing junior high football to varsity.

'A' tours can be considered as a stepping stone to getting into the national team, so they are really important.

For so many years, I wished it could have been different. I wished I could have gotten the opportunity sooner. I would have loved to see what had happened had I got to the NFL right out of college and all of those different things.

I have gone from training by myself to having a team of professional people that have been building athletes for years.

International rugby is a step up, and this is somewhere you come to get better and improve as a player.

My whole life I have just ran track and I have just continued and taken it to the next level.

Our job is to find players younger, where they are able to play from 11 years old and grow up playing the game. Rather than, you start playing when you are 17 or 18 and you don't get the opportunity to do anything with your career.

At ten I was playing against 18-year-old guys. At 15 I was playing professional ball with the Birmingham Black Barons, so I really came very quickly in all sports.

The bottom line is I'm a football player, and I played three years of college football, and I produced all three years. I also got better every year, and I just felt like it was time to move on.