(Podcast length 5:20 mins)
It’s that time of year – time to be inspired by greatness. Here are snippets of some of our favorite commencement speeches by outstanding athletes.
Transcript
Megan Rapinoe
World Cup winner and Olympic Gold medalist in soccer, Graduate Together: America Honors the High School Class of 2020.
“We’re separated in ways we’ve never experienced and facing a world that will never be the same. So, I’m not going to ask you to come together. I’m going to ask you to demand better together. For many of you this year will be the first time you’ve cast a ballot…I know first-hand the power of a movement led by and for the next generation. You are that next generation. Take the torch and leave your mark. Put your stake in the ground and build the future that you want and you believe in and fight like hell to do it.” DO BETTER, BE BETTER
Magic Johnson
Hall of Fame NBA (National Basketball Association) Player, Commencement address at Michigan State University, 2010
“You can’t control if your boss will like you or not, but you can control if your boss respects you or not. And how can you do that? By being the first one to work and the last one to leave.” SIMPLE BUT POWERFUL
Billie Jean King
Hall of Fame tennis player, Commencement address at the University of Massachusetts, 2000
“Every ball that comes to me is a decision. Do I slice it, do I hit cross-court, do I hit topspin, do I hit sidespin, do I lob? What do I do? But I have to accept responsibility for that. And that’s where sports teaches us to put it on the line, so to speak, and live it. And here remember one thing. It’s everyone’s responsibility to lead, to honor, and to fight, for everyone’s basic rights, for equality.” STAND FOR OTHERS
Kareem Abdul Jabbar
Hall of Fame NBA player, Commencement address at Washington University in St. Louis, 2021
“The other important lesson you should have learned by now is that in life you never stop graduating. Life is an endless series of graduations, during which you feel the same anxious uncertainty, that roiling feeling in your stomach that you experience as the roller coaster goes up, up, up, anticipating curling over the top and the sudden, face-yanking plummet...But they all have similar characteristics in common: they will challenge what you think you know about the world and about yourself. Each time you open that new door, you’re a different person from the last time. You’re graduating but you’re also evolving.” NEW DAY, NEW YOU
Sabrina Ionescu
No. 1 draft pick and WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) player, Commencement address at the University of Oregon, 2020
“Kobe taught me that dedication sees dreams come true. Give it everything you’ve got. This time is teaching us that we are not always in control. Don’t forget to live in the moment, but try to be the best you can. It is so important to control what you can, and just do your best. The rest will take care of itself…Kobe taught me that the most important thing is to inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do. Use your platform, big or small, we all have voices.” BETTER TOGETHER
Sports Curious, presented by Last Night's Game, is here to take the awkward out of the conversation and help you join the sports conversation, even if you don't know the first thing about sports. We break down what's happening in sports in an easy-to-understand, fun way without all of the statistics and jargon, so you never have to exit stage left when the chatter at the office, dinner table or networking event switches to sports.
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