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SEAN ADAMS: I love sports.
I've loved them from the time I was a young man.
I loved them even though I didn't grow up
in a sports family.
I think I fell in love with sports
because I saw it as honest.
If you can produce, you get to play.
And it was that simple.
I come to you today to talk to you
about maybe an importance in sports
that we haven't recognized before.
I've been able to do a ton of things because of sports.
I was able to represent my university.
I was able to become an All-American.
I won watches.
I was in magazines.
And all of that pales when we talk
about the importance of what could be in sports right now.
Historically, there's been four ways by which
we raise men in this country--
in the home, in the church, in the military, and in sports.
Cultural changes have changed the mix
on the importance of how those things work.
In the home-- right now, one third of American children,
about 15 million children, grow up in a home with no father.
That's a lot of young boys growing up
without a daily example of manhood in their home.
In church-- census tells us that less than 20%
of American citizens go to church, attend a church
service, on a regular basis.
And if social trends in America follow
Europe, like they usually do, by 2025,
the number could be 12% or 13% of American citizens
attend a church service on a regular basis.
Because of technology, cyber advancements,
the current administration's desire
to bring the number of active military down
to its lowest point since World War II, 80% of applicants
to the military get turned away.
We're not raising a lot of men in the military either.
What we're left with is sports.
Could be the last bastion by which we
give the characteristics and the virtues
with which we raise men.
In sports-- where we learn the virtue of the huddle, where you
take north and south, east and west, conservative and liberal,
black and white, you put them in the same huddle,
you give them the same color Jersey,
you give them a common goal.
And you let them sweat, tear up, and work hard together.
And special things start to take place.
Where we learn teamwork, community, fidelity.
We care about each other, don't let each other down.
The old coach's term that says teams that play for a great fan
base win a lot of games.
Teams that play for a great coach win a lot of games.
Teams that play for each other win championships.
It's a concept we could use in our families right now.
What about pride, where I'm constantly reminded that pride
is the worst of the seven sins?
And I constantly have to remind people, unfortunately,
I got a lot of it.
But I don't think I'd get anywhere in this world
without some pride, without some passion,
without some accountability.
Where pride for me means personal responsibility
in daily excellence.
That's my pride.
We talk about failure, the virtue from failure,
sports, based in failure sometimes, those under virtues
that allow us to succeed in life because we've experienced
some failure in other places.
I wanted to be a national champion.
I've been blessed enough to be an All-American.
I've done a ton of stuff.
But I've never been an individual national champion.
We get to my senior year.
We're at North Carolina state.
And I have a shot to be a national champion
in a number of events.
I get second place.
I get third place.
So I'm All-American again, but I'm not a national champion.
And that's what I wanted to be.
We get to the four by four relay.
I'm the anchor, and I want it on me.
I'm the kid.
I sat in front of my house with my Walter Mitty stories
thinking I'm putting myself in places where I can be the hero.
I counted down 3, 2, 1 and shot the basket.
I wanted to anchor that four by four relay.
We get down to the anchor, and I'm waiting like this.
And I'm waiting for my guy to bring me the baton.
He gives me the baton, I take off running.
I'm in third place by about 12 or 13 meters.
Within the first 50 meters, I go pass the guy in second place.
Somewhere along the back straight,
I pull up next to the guy in first place.
And for the life of me, I have no idea why I don't go by him.
My coach had always told me, if you get up next to him,
you have to go by him and make him run your race.
If you sit next to him, you'll end up running his.
I run tied with him for about 200 meters
until we get to 50 meters to go.
I'm closing in.
About 40 meters to go, he starts pulling in front of me,
and he's pulling a little further away from me.
And finally, I'm getting the notion
with about 10 or 15 meters to go that I'm going to get my team
second place again.
I was miserable.
I was crushed.
At that moment, it was one of the toughest things
I ever had to experience.
But you know what I learned from it?
One, do what your coaches and your teachers and your parents
tell you to do, because they usually
know a lot more than you do.
If I'd done what I was coached to do that day,
I win that race.
Two, failure is not permanent.
Failure is like a rain cloud, and sometimes it rains on you.
And you got to ride it out.
And three, if you don't internalize it
and you don't personalize it, you'll
realize it's just a part of life,
and you will grow and become better for it.
All those lessons I learned in sports to manage failure,
to be in community, to understand the characteristics
of diversity, to understand the interconnected relationship
between preparation and success, all of these virtues
that we have learned in so many other places in life
that seemingly we have to learn in sports now, where are we
going to get them from?
How important does sports become?
Four, Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes,
probably more popularized for coining
the phrase "clear and present danger,"
also said, "The place for any man
completing all of his powers is in the fight."
And I don't know if I'm completing all of my powers.
But having the opportunity through sports
to fight for the growth and development of young people
when seemingly every historic fixture around them is breaking
is a fight that I'm honored to be in.
Thank you very much.
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