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“Sport has the power to change the world” – Nelson Mandela

In preparation for talks will be doing this coming weekend for Coach New Brunswick’s Coaching Beyond Conference to wrap up National Coaches Week in Canada, I plan to start my presentation how powerful sport can be and who better to reference that the great Nelson Mandela who transformed a nation.

Below is his speech that he did for the inaugural Laureus World Sports Lifetime achievement awards held in Monaco in 2000.

Here is the full transcript of his speech;

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you

I am happy to be with you tonight at the first Laureus World Sports Award. Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, it has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope, where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination.

 

 

The heroes standing with me are examples of this power. They are valiant not only in the playing field, but also in the community, both local and international. They are champions and they deserve the world’s recognition.

Together they represent an active, vigorous Hall of Fame. A Hall of Fame that goes out into the world, spreading help, inspiration and hope.

Their legacy will be an international community where the rules of the game are the same for everyone, and behaviour is guided by fair play and good sportsmanship. I ask you now to rise and join me in commending the original inductees into the World Sports Academy Hall of Fame.

It is now my great pleasure to present a very special laureus award – the Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award – given to a world athlete who exemplifies the highest virtue of sport, honour, courage, joy and perseverance. Our first honouree is a man who is both an athlete for the ages and a beacon of hope for the millions.

He began life in poverty and rose to the highest level of fame. To watch him play was to watch the delight of a child combined with the extraordinary grace of a man in full.

Ladies and gentlemen

It is my honour to present the inaugural Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award to Edson Arantes do Nascimento or as he is known to world – Pele.
Pele is in Rome tonight to join with other world soccer stars in an international football match for peace.

[PELE]
Thank you very much Mr Mandela. It is a big honour to me to receive this award. And I want to thank also to World Sports Academy for this. Everybody knows I am in Roma. We are here for the peace in the world. Beautiful event, beautiful game. One more time – thank you Mr Mandela , thank you every body for that.
[PELE ends]

Congratulations to the great Pele. You are an enduring model for all athletes. In fact, for all of us, to admire and emulate. Thank you and good evening.

Ladies and Gentlemen

Peace is the greatest weapon mankind has to resolve even the most intractable difficulties. But to be an effective agent for peace, you have to seek not only to change the community and the world.

What is more difficult is to change yourself before you seek to change others. Only those who have the courage to change themselves and to know that in all communities without exception there are good men and woman who want to serve their communities.
In regards to the peaceful resolution of their problems and it is absolutely essential for the leaders of the community and the world to create an atmosphere where those good men and woman can show their maximum abilities in trying to resolve problems in a peaceful manner and that is why a legend like Pele and all of these behind me are our heroes, our hope because what ever they do in their respective fields they are promoting peace. These are monarchs, they are queens and kings, not as a result of heredity, but as a result of their personal commitment and efforts. It is one of the most enjoyable moments for me to be able, as a pensioner take part in a function of this nature.

Thank you

End Transcript

Who better than Nelson Mandela to award the greatest footballer of all time, Pele, the lifetime achievement award at the inaugural awards ceremony. Each year Laureus awards teams, men and women for their contributions to global sport.

One of the teams that has been acknowledged is the South African Springboks, for their accomplishment winning their second world cup of rugby in 2007. The year that the New Zealand All Blacks recognized that they had to change as they “expected” to win the world cup that year, but did so in back to back World Cups in 2011 and 2015 as a result of all the changes they implemented.

Although I played many sports, Rugby my favorite, it is a hooligans game, but it is played by gentlemen.

Sport can truly change the world, see how South Africa’s Sprinbok team transformed their nation with a little help from Nelson Mandela in 1995.

Fast Forward 17 years after Nelson Mandela’s speech at the Laureus Awards ceremony, although the Springboks did transform their nation that was once torn apart by Apartheid leading to his imprisonment for 27 years, we still have a lot of work to do to eliminate racism and intolerance in sport.

In 2008, True sport posted survey results where the second most serious issue facing youth sports today was intolerance and racism.

Intolerance towards aboriginal people, colour, gender, those with disabilities and members of the LGBT communities has been a focus of many organizations in recent years.

Like Nelson Mandela, I also believe that Sport has the power to change the world but it is not sport itself, that develops character, teach life lessons of facilitate change, it is the coaches in sport that does.  Ensure that you have a zero tolerance policy as a coach for any forms of harassment, intolerance or racism.

Although some youth sports coaches and parents are leading to the myriad of issues that go viral on social media literally daily, there are so many GREAT coaches out there that will change it for the better.

We have our work cut out for us, but I believe as coaches continue to add to their toolbaskets, continue their education and recognize there is so much more to coaching than the X’s and O’s we will create the positive youth sports experience so kids remain in the game well beyond current trends where 70% are quitting by 13 years of age.

Kudo’s to all those volunteer coaches that spend 100’s, if not 1000’s of hours to help kids become not only the best athletes, but the best people they can be.

Remember, as coaches you don’t make a living, in lieu your purpose is to make a difference by developing youth into adults.

Thanks Coach – for everything that you do.

 

 

Let’s continue to work together to bring the game back to the kids … where it belongs.