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Elite Sports Champions Motivational & Inspirational Quotes
Greatest Players and Winners
"Before every shot, I go to the movies"
Jack Nicklaus - Golf
"It's the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.
Muhammad Ali - Boxing
"I used a lot of visualization in terms of who I would be guarding and who would be guarding me. When I was walking down the street for, say, lunch, I’d imagine those individuals in front of me. I’d imagine going around them.
Isaiah Thomas - Basketball
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Quieting your mind and allowing your instincts to take over during performance is one of the most effective ways of accessing the mental state known as The Zone.
Craig Townsend - mental trainer
You live during the match, and you have strong emotions, but you dont want to get too overexcited. My body's totally flat now. I cannot move anymore. I am totally exhausted, just because of the tension out there.
Roger Federer - Tennis
Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.
Babe Ruth - Baseball
"Often I visualize a quicker, like almost a ghost runner, ahead of me with a quicker stride. It's really crazy. In races, this always happens to me. I see the vision of a runner ahead of me, maybe just 15, 20 meters ahead of me, and the cadence of that runner, which is actually me in the future, is a little quicker, so if I am going (his rhythm/breathing), then my ghost runner, the vision of me, ahead of me, like opening up and just going for it, is quicker".
Gabe Jennings - Running
"I have a system of ridding my mind of negative thoughts. "I visualize myself writing them down on a piece of paper. Then I imagine myself crumpling up the paper, lighting it on fire, and burning it to a crisp'.
Bruce Lee Martial - Arts
"Some guys need to see things on a grease board, ... I like when you can see it in your mind. And that's what Marvin does, too. He visualizes. He sees things in his mind so well."
Peyton Manning - American Football
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* Listen - 'The Power of Visualization & Belief' - Craig Townsend explains how these transform performance.
Click the 'Play' symbol to start the audio.
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Two things help me be a winner. One is I try to stay on an even keel. I dont get too high or too low. Two is I do a lot of visualization. I never see a bad pitch. I always see a good one.
Ila Borders, first woman starting pitcher in a men's professional baseball.
When I go to the press conference before the game, in my mind the game has already started.
Jose Mourinho - Soccer
"I have been visualizing myself every night for the past four years standing on the podium having the gold placed around my neck."
Megan Quann - Swimming
"Visualization is something I use to calm my nerves. I did something like that before, but when I came to Oregon State they really helped me hone in on those skills of actually picturing the bar routine, the movement and think the exact same thoughts you would be doing it. That makes me more prepared and confident when I compete."
Makayla Stambaugh - Gymnastics
"When I’d get tired and want to stop, I’d wonder what my next opponent was doing. I’d wonder if he was still working out. I tried to visualize him. When I could see him still working, I’d start pushing myself. When I could see him in the shower, I’d push myself harder".
Dan Gable
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.
Wayne Gretzky Ice Hockey
People ask me ..what was going through your mind in the race?.. and I dont know. I try and ...let my body do what it knows.
Ian Thorpe
There is no room in your mind for negative thoughts. The busier you keep yourself with the particulars of shot assessment and execution, the less chance your mind has to dwell on the emotional. This is sheer intensity.
Jack Nicklaus
I play with a fear of letting my team down. That's what motivates me.
Jonny Wilkinson - Rugby
Every kid around the world who plays soccer wants to be Pele. I have a great responsibility to show them not just how to be like a soccer player, but how to be like a man.
Pele
Doctors and scientists said that breaking the four-minute mile was impossible, that one would die in the attempt. Thus, when I got up from the track after collapsing at the finish line, I figured I was dead.
Roger Bannister
The pitcher has got only a ball. I've got a bat. So the percentage of weapons is in my favor and I let the fellow with the ball do the fretting.
Hank Aaron
I'll let the racket do the talking.
John McEnroe
Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision.
Muhammad Ali
An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.
Emil Zatopek
I never looked at the consequences of missing a big shot... when you think about the consequences you always think of a negative result.
Michael Jordan
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"Visualization lets you concentrate on all the positive aspects of your game."
Curtis Strange on golf visualization
I had a clear vision of myself winning the Mr. Universe contest. It was a very spiritual thing, in a way, because I had such faith in the route, the path, that there was never a question in my mind that I would make it.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
The man who has no imagination has no wings.
Muhammad Ali
It is not the size of a man but the size of his heart that matters.
Evander Holyfield
We've got this thing called a wolf pack. Our saying is "the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is his pack. Join the pack".
Willie Loane
The time your game is most vulnerable is when you're ahead, never let up.
Rod Laver
I can beat anyone, either male, female, animal, vegitable, or mineral.
Jim Cornette
I was so surprised. Then again, I was so relaxed in the water, it felt amazing.
Pieter van den Hoogenband
"The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be"
Bruce Lee
"Once I was at the top of top of the start hill, lane 1, it’s the most comfortable I’ve ever been. I just knew I had it. I just envisioned this moment, I visualised being on top of the podium, hearing the national anthem and having the gold medal."
Saya Sakakibara, 2024 BMX gold medallist
"The mental state that I was in - the calm I felt, despite the expectation, despite the pressure,” Fox said, pausing. “To be able to stay composed is the coolest feeling as an athlete, when you’ve worked so hard at training. To be able to pull it off when it matters - that’s what we all work towards, for that one day every four years.”
Jess Fox
"The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent."
Arnold Schwarzenegger
"Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles."
Alex Karras
"Mental toughness is not an athletic skill, it's a quality of life."
Bill Russell
"You have to be mentally strong enough to withstand anything."
Serena Williams
"It's not the will to win that matters - everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters."
Paul "Bear" Bryant
"If you can't outplay them, outwork them."
Ben Hogan
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
Wayne Gretzky
"Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing."
Vince Lombardi
“I have this killer look. That’s how I have to get into my zone. I was just staring down the course. Focusing on my breath. Not really thinking about anything. I just felt calm, and I felt confident, and knew that I just had to go out and do what I know how to do.”
Jess Fox
"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will."
Vince Lombardi
"The only way to prove you're a good sport is to lose."
Ernie Banks
"Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing."
Vince Lombardi
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"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
Muhammad Ali
"It's not about being the best. It's about being better than you were yesterday."
Unknown
"The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination."
Tommy Lasorda
"The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory."
Les Brown
"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever."
Lance Armstrong
"The difference between try and triumph is just a little umph!"
Marvin Phillips
"There may be people that have more talent than you, but there's no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do."
Derek Jeter
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"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
Michael Jordan
"If you want to be the best, you have to do things other people aren't willing to do."
Michael Phelps
"I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion'."
Muhammad Ali
"I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying."
Michael Jordan
"You can't let success get to your head and you can't let failure get to your heart."
Deontay Wilder
"Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character."
John Wooden
"The only easy day was yesterday."
US Navy SEALs
"You can't climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets."
Arnold Schwarzenegger
"I've never lost a game. I just ran out of time."
Michael Jordan
"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."
John Wooden
"It's not about perfect. It's about effort. And when you bring that effort every single day, that's where transformation happens. That's how change occurs."
Jillian Michaels
"I've learned that something constructive comes from every defeat."
Tom Landry
"The greatest victory is the one which requires no battle."
Sun Tzu
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