Based off of personal experience and those of other athletes I have encountered, I have learned a variety of things through sport. At a young age, I was very active and involved in a variety of activities. By being engaged in multiple sports, it allowed me to be taught by different coaches, interact with an array of athletes, and discover myself through various situations.
As an adolescent the first sport I played was soccer. Since I was still young, I enjoyed playing soccer just to run around with my friends and have my parents cheer me on from the sideline. This physical activity gave me an energy release, acted as a confidence booster and was the beginning of my athletic career. As strange as it may sound, playing on my 5th grade soccer team is what ultimately led me to where I am today. It was my soccer coach who suggested I try out for his basketball team because of how tall and lean I was at a young age. This is where I initially learnt to embrace and understand the phrase “never give up”. When I first began playing basketball it was very intimidating because I had no idea how to play. In addition to beginning this new sport, the first team I joined was full of very talented players that had been playing since they first began to walk. At times, I felt discouraged because I could just play soccer, a sport I was good at, instead of being uncomfortable engaging in a sport I was terrible at. But to this day, I still remember coming home from each practice and my father reassuring me that I had the ability to do anything as long as I put my mind to it. I am very thankful to have such motivational parents that were able to help me develop a sense or urgency and drive at such a young age.
"The ultimate measure of a human being is not where they stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where they stand at times of challenge and controversy."-Martin Luther King Jr.
I also believe the reason I have enjoyed playing basketball so much is because of the amazing people I have been so blessed to meet. From representing my country by playing on the Olympic team to travelling to over 10 different countries, basketball has opened many doors for me to grow as an athlete and a human being. With these many experiences I have learnt: “to whom much is given, much shall be required” (Luke 12:48). To me, basketball has expanded from a mere physical activity to a game I love and live for. A failure to take full advantage of these opportunities would be a waste of God’s given talents. I try to remember that each day is a blessing and because tomorrow is never guaranteed to anyone I must live today to the fullest. As long as I continue to look to improve with each occasion and to remain true to myself, the opportunities are endless.
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference.”
-Reinhold Niebuhr
Natalie Achonwa, ND '2014
Social Foundations of Coaching
ND Women's Basketball
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Little League Baseball Fun and Victory
Everyone has some moment in their lives that they remember and hold in great importance, yet to other people these memories may not seem that important. I will never forget my minor league baseball team when I was 9 years old. When you are a kid sports tend to be far more important than most other things in life. I have always been a very competitive person and this was true this season. We entered the season with dreams of winning the regular season championship. We were all new to the league and we all felt like we had just as good of a shot as anyone of winning. Then the games started.
We got destroyed with great regularity. We realized that we just were not as good as we had hoped. We lost almost every single game and they were not even close. We were focused all season on winning and if we lost we thought we failed. As the end of the season tournament started to approach we realized that we only had a few games left and that we just wanted to have as much fun as possible. What followed was like a cheesy Hollywood movie. We ended up running the table and winning the double elimination tournament undefeated. It was not that we practiced more and got better but instead that we just wanted to have fun. And, as any baseball player can attest to, having the right mentality is vital to success. We played carefree, wanting to do our best, but if we did not we shrugged it off and kept on going. I cannot say that we stopped caring about winning but instead that it was no longer the most important aspect of the game. It has showed me that winning should not be the focus and making sports fun should be. Sport can be a beautiful thing as long as we do not ruin it with what we impose on it.
Thomas Kostielney, ND Class of 2012
Social Foundations of Coaching
We got destroyed with great regularity. We realized that we just were not as good as we had hoped. We lost almost every single game and they were not even close. We were focused all season on winning and if we lost we thought we failed. As the end of the season tournament started to approach we realized that we only had a few games left and that we just wanted to have as much fun as possible. What followed was like a cheesy Hollywood movie. We ended up running the table and winning the double elimination tournament undefeated. It was not that we practiced more and got better but instead that we just wanted to have fun. And, as any baseball player can attest to, having the right mentality is vital to success. We played carefree, wanting to do our best, but if we did not we shrugged it off and kept on going. I cannot say that we stopped caring about winning but instead that it was no longer the most important aspect of the game. It has showed me that winning should not be the focus and making sports fun should be. Sport can be a beautiful thing as long as we do not ruin it with what we impose on it.
Thomas Kostielney, ND Class of 2012
Social Foundations of Coaching
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Special Olympics at Notre Dame
As a varsity athlete at the University of Notre Dame, I am constantly reminded to “Play Like a Champion Today.” As a student in professor Clark Power’s ethics class, I am obliged to question the meaning of such a credo. Too often, the definition of “Champion” is reduced to a mentality of winning at all cost and lacks any consideration of the type of character that merits such a title. Fortunately, the work of the Play Like a Champion Today program is replacing this conception with one that emphasizes an athlete’s physical, mental, social, moral and spiritual growth. While Special Olympics Notre Dame endeavors to promote similar values, we seek also to inspire a more fundamental inquiry. Namely, who should have the opportunity to be a “Champion?”
For the past 40 years, Special Olympics has extended people with intellectual disability the opportunity to engage in sports training and competition. Born of a single event involving athletes from two countries, Special Olympics competition is now found in over 180 countries with over 3 million athletes and 700,000+ volunteers. The most recent 20 years, have brought a growing shift in the sports engagement opportunities of Special Olympics. In addition to traditional competition and training strictly for people with intellectual disability, Special Olympics has enriched its offerings to include sport engagement involving people without intellectual disability not as coaches or support volunteers, but as teammates. In 2009, Special Olympics Unified Sports engaged 324,000 athletes with and without intellectual disabilities as teammates in countries around the world.
The effort now is to bring the power and fun of Unified Sports to university and college campuses. Last year, Special Olympics Notre Dame held the first collegiate unified event in the form of soccer game, in which two teams of athletes with and without intellectual disability participated in four weeks of practice and a game in the Notre Dame soccer stadium. The success of this game has motivated Special Olympics Notre Dame to present this model to colleges across the United States to allow for state, regional and eventually national intercollegiate inclusive soccer leagues.
The formation of a champion requires the opportunity to compete. Unfortunately, athletes with intellectual disabilities are often denied competitive venues, not because of their own physical limitation, but because of societal constraints. The average person regards Intellectual Disability with a paternalistic detachment. Although it is true that coaches and volunteers have something valuable to offer the athletes, the goal of the Inclusive Soccer is the expose the fact the athletes are the true teachers. The lesson is simple, yet profound – everyone can be a “Champion.” With the help of Play Like a Champion Today, Special Olympics Notre Dame is committed to using sport to promote both societal and personal growth. We look forward to watching the inclusive soccer program grow and ask that everyone help spread the word. To close, I will leave you with the Special Olympics motto: “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”
Ted Glasnow
Co-President, Special Olympics Notre Dame
SOND@nd.edu
For the past 40 years, Special Olympics has extended people with intellectual disability the opportunity to engage in sports training and competition. Born of a single event involving athletes from two countries, Special Olympics competition is now found in over 180 countries with over 3 million athletes and 700,000+ volunteers. The most recent 20 years, have brought a growing shift in the sports engagement opportunities of Special Olympics. In addition to traditional competition and training strictly for people with intellectual disability, Special Olympics has enriched its offerings to include sport engagement involving people without intellectual disability not as coaches or support volunteers, but as teammates. In 2009, Special Olympics Unified Sports engaged 324,000 athletes with and without intellectual disabilities as teammates in countries around the world.
The effort now is to bring the power and fun of Unified Sports to university and college campuses. Last year, Special Olympics Notre Dame held the first collegiate unified event in the form of soccer game, in which two teams of athletes with and without intellectual disability participated in four weeks of practice and a game in the Notre Dame soccer stadium. The success of this game has motivated Special Olympics Notre Dame to present this model to colleges across the United States to allow for state, regional and eventually national intercollegiate inclusive soccer leagues.
The formation of a champion requires the opportunity to compete. Unfortunately, athletes with intellectual disabilities are often denied competitive venues, not because of their own physical limitation, but because of societal constraints. The average person regards Intellectual Disability with a paternalistic detachment. Although it is true that coaches and volunteers have something valuable to offer the athletes, the goal of the Inclusive Soccer is the expose the fact the athletes are the true teachers. The lesson is simple, yet profound – everyone can be a “Champion.” With the help of Play Like a Champion Today, Special Olympics Notre Dame is committed to using sport to promote both societal and personal growth. We look forward to watching the inclusive soccer program grow and ask that everyone help spread the word. To close, I will leave you with the Special Olympics motto: “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”
Ted Glasnow
Co-President, Special Olympics Notre Dame
SOND@nd.edu
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