Perhaps we need to redefine our idea of role models; they're not always elite athletes whose success might seem too distant or unachievable. Sometimes it's our friend who just smashed her first 10k, or our Zumba teacher who is enthusiastic, encouraging and real.
Interpretation
Role models can be everyday people who inspire us through their achievements and support.
In this quote, Tanni Grey-Thompson emphasizes the importance of redefining who qualifies as a role model. Rather than solely focusing on the elite and famous figures, she suggests that we should also acknowledge the achievements of ordinary individuals in our lives, such as friends or teachers, who motivate and uplift us by their genuine efforts and relatable successes.
In practice
In a motivational speech to encourage young athletes.
I wouldn't have had a sporting career if it hadn't been for the volunteers who agreed to coach me, as a teenager, growing up in south Wales, at a time when others were telling me that wheelchair racing wasn't really athletics.
As a disabled person I have to think and plan far more than anyone else. If I want to catch a bus I have to consider whether the ramp works, whether there will be someone in the one space who doesn't want to move. It can be a constant worry.
Disability sport came about largely because of exclusion, because mainstream sport didn't want disabled people to be part of it.
Why do men delight in work? Fundamentally, I suppose, because there is a sense of relief and pleasure in getting something done - a kind of satisfaction not unlike that which a hen enjoys on laying an egg.
Nobody who takes on anything big and tough can afford to be modest.
Don’t just stand there, let’s get to it, Strike a pose, there’s nothing to it...
I found that when you start thinking and saying what you really want then your mind automatically shifts and pulls you in that direction. And sometimes it can be that simple, just a little twist in vocabulary that illustrates your attitude and philosophy.
To show your true ability is always, in a sense, to surpass the limits of your ability, to go a little beyond them: to dare, to seek, to invent; it is at such a moment that new talents are revealed, discovered, and realized
You're not in a fight until there's pressure. Resistance. Overcoming something. Otherwise, it's just an exhibition.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.