Here are some of the quotes highlighted by the Aspen Institute’s Jon Solomon in his coverage of the event. We will have additional quotes from our own coverage coming next week.
“I’ve lived with depression, and without sport, I don’t think there was a way to approach that challenge with such optimism and belief and a hard wire that I can control my fulfilment and what I want to get out of life. All of that came through being a kid and finding play.”
— Kyle Martino, NBC Sports broadcaster and former pro soccer player
“I would challenge those in the room to make a commitment. Don’t have a coaching staff for a girls team that has all men. Don’t serve on a panel that has all men. Insist on diversity because we need you to do that.”
— Nicole LaVoi, Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport co-director
“As a big brand, we have a responsibility to make awareness to the whole world about giving opportunities to everybody.”
— Mariona Miret, FC Barcelona Foundation head of programs
“Here was a gut-punch reminder of how brutal life in the NFL can be. ‘Not For Long’, indeed.”
— Yahoo! Sports columnist Pat Forde on C.J. Anderson, who learned he was cut by the Detroit Lions shortly after a moderated conversation with Forde at the Summit.
“Don’t bet on programs, bet on people. People have values. People have passion. Great programs are the result of passionate people.”
— Dave Egner, Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation CEO
“When you rearrange the letters in ‘listen’ it spells ‘silent.’ In order to truly listen, we have to silence our brains and stop trying to be right and figuring out how to respond. Just shut up and listen to our children.”
— Valorie Kondos Field, former UCLA gymnastics coach
“I’m familiar with how you can get caught up in this (youth sports) mania. You want so much for the happiness of your kid that you’d do anything for that, and this seems like their happiness is being good at this time. But in retrospect, it was mania. In retrospect, my son wishes he had played more sports and not played 100 games of baseball a year.”
— David Brooks, New York Times columnist and executive director of the Aspen Institute Weave: The Social Fabric Project
“I’ve messed up at it (sports). My daughter was a D-1 (college) athlete and I fell in love with it. Who wouldn’t? I think I pressed too much and junior year she burned out of college. It’s hard for parents, but the big thing I want to say is we all have to do what you all are doing here today: We all have to tell our stories.”
— Peter Gilbert, Hoop Dreams filmmaker
“I’d like to see parents who don’t pay to see their kids win, who don’t try to fuel arguments because they may have lost, or their kid may not have won the meet.”
— Daniel Solomon, 12, Urbana, MD
