The real importance of sports | Sean Adams | TEDxACU

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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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