Inspirational Sports Quotes

 

 

Below is our collection of inspiring quotes directed at athletes, coaches, and others who are looking for inspiration, motivation, or encouragement. They are about achieving goals, building teams, finding passion, revealing character, and finding the true lessons of sports. Take a few moments to read some and reflect on how it may apply to you or your team.

 

 

“Sportsmanship is not just about being nice. It is much more important than that. It’s about realizing that you could not compete without an opponent and that she has the same goals as you.” —Stephanie Deibler

 

 

“To achieve in sports you first have to have a dream, and then you must act on that dream. The best athletes are those who truly enjoy what they are doing and display a tremendous amount of work ethic. They continue to persevere in spite of setbacks and never lose sight of their ultimate goal.” —Dianne Holum

 

 

“On a good team there are no superstars. There are great players who show they are great players by being able to play with others as a team. They have the ability to be superstars, but if they fit into a good team, they make sacrifices, they do things necessary to help the team win. What the numbers are in salaries or statistics don’t matter; how they play together does.” —Red Holzman

 

 

“Play like you’re in first, but train like you’re in second.” —Unknown

 

 

“Luck is not something that happens by chance. Luck is earned through dedication, work and determination.” —Katie Mickley

 

 

“Trust. Without it, there is no team. Of the teams I’ve coached that have been successful, all have had an unbelievable amount of trust in each other.” —John Cook

 

 

“To win the game, you don’t have to be the most athletic or talented. To win, you must have passion for the game, determination and complete faith in yourself and your team.” —Unknown

 

 

“The values learned on the playing field–how to set goals, endure, take criticism and risks, become team players, use our beliefs, stay healthy and deal with stress–prepare us for life.” —Donna de Varona

 

 

“The trophies mean nothing. The glory will fade. In the end all that is important is your happiness.” —Unknown

 

 

 

“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.” – Jimmy V

 

 

“I am the person you’ll see everyday training when everyone else has gone home. I live for the one moment of glory when I save that goal or sink that 3-point shot and score the winning basket. I am the sport, I am the glory, nothing can change that. I am an athlete, no one can forget that.” —Alexa Wilkinson

 

 

“Almost all of our limitations are self-imposed. Those that are not can be overcome by cooperation with others whose strengths compliment our weakness.” —Bill Koch

 

 

“Sports for me is when a guy walks off the court, and you really can’t tell whether he won or lost, when he carries himself with pride either way.” —Jim Courier

 

 

“Champions separate the important from the unimportant. They know that good press, playing time or individual honors aren’t as important as knowing that you and your teammates have responded to the challenge together.” —Don Shaw

 

 

“High school sports: where lessons of life are still being learned, and where athletes still compete for the love of the game and their teammates.” —Michael Powers

 

 

“Individual commitment to a group effort–that is what makes a team work.” –Vince Lombardi

 

 

“Sports can do so much. They’ve given me a framework: meeting new people, confidence, self-esteem, discipline, motivation. All these things I learned, whether I knew I was learning them or not, through sports.” —Mia Hamm

 

 

“In life, as in sports, you will try, and you will sometimes fail. There will be no apparent reward except to know that you did your best.” —Charles Lawrie

 

 

“I don’t need to be the Number 1 on the team. This is what I train for day in and day out. I am the support player. If I need to hit, pitch, run, whatever, I will do it. If everything was going to be about me, I think I’d quit.” –Michele Smith

 

 

“The values learned on the playing field–how to set goals, endure, take criticism and risks, become team players, use our bodies, stay healthy and deal with stress–prepare us for life.” —Donna de Varona

 

 

 

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” -Theodore Roosevelt

 

 

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. – George Bernard Shaw

 

 

“The roots of true achievement lie in the will to become the best that you can become.”   -Harold Taylor

 

 

“Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.” –Vince Lombardi

 

 

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” –John Quincy Adams

 

 

“Every team requires unity. A team has to move as one unit, one force, with each person understanding and assisting the roles of his teammates. If the team doesn’t do this, whatever the reason, it goes down in defeat. You win or lose as a team, as a family.” —Jack Kemp

 

 

“Outstanding leaders go out of the way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” –Sam Walton

 

 

The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor. – Vince Lombardi

 

 

We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible. – Vince Lombardi

 

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.” – Abraham Lincoln

 

 

“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” – Theodore Roosevelt

 

 

“A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive, and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.” – Vince Lombardi