The Industry Column – John Amaechi
John Amaechi tells SportIndustry.biz about the power sport can have to change lives, both on and off the court, ahead of addressing delegates at the Beyond Sport Summit.
It doesn’t seem so long since I had the honour of speaking to many of you at the Sport Industry Awards, introducing Sir Philip Craven as he won the Lifetime Achievement Award for his tireless work in so many aspects of sport, as an athlete and coach, as an administrator and in governance, but always as a competitor.
We often hear tales of the ‘power of sport’ and I believe we were all fortunate on that night to bear witness to a man who has sought to use sport to challenge, empower and educate those who participate and watch.
In that respect, while I think I still stand in Sir Philip’s shadow, we are a little alike. We both see how sport – when artfully applied with great focus and intent – can be a tool for good that manifests in amazing ways, on and off the field of play.
This is no passive process though, we can’t revitalise our inner cites, reverse the obesity epidemic or improve lifetime participation in sport and physical activity by throwing a ball at the feet, or into the hands of our ‘target market’ and walking away. Sport isn’t magic on its own, but I am hoping I can convince enough people that sport can be used to help young people find the magic in themselves.
Many years ago, I was an overweight 17-year-old living in Stockport. I loved nothing more than reading a book hidden in the corner of the library. I spent my days avoiding opportunities to sweat at all costs and eating pie whenever possible. Then one day, a man came up to me and asked me if I wanted to play basketball. Many people think it was the sport that somehow transported me, but rather it was the people I met: my first teammates – who from the first moment they laid eyes on me, looked at me as if I were made of unlimited potential – and when they saw it in me, I felt it inside, perhaps for the first time.
I started to play basketball aged 17. I knew after six weeks that I wanted to play in the NBA and it was six short years after my first practice at a dilapidated community college in Chorlton that I stepped onto the court for the Cleveland Cavaliers to laser lights, confetti and cheers.
It’s important to mention there were more days than I’d like to admit when doubt tormented me; fear and uncertainty dogged me, as they do so many of our young people today. These emotions tempted me to pace myself when I was tired, to surrender to hopelessness when the odds seemed stacked too high and to run away when opportunity knocked, lest I publicly fail.
We all face doubt at times like these and doubts like these stalk our young people, so aware of their own disadvantage and unsure if they have enough magic inside to overcome their circumstances.
This doubt inspires questions that threaten to drag us back to average, to stop us all from aiming too high – whether a young person in sport or education, or an aspiring executive on the corporate ladder, these doubts hinder us all.
For me at 17, I worried daily if it was even possible for a poor, fat kid from Stockport to get to America, never mind make it to the NBA?
Luckily, in one of those moments, I was given very sage advice that I now attempt to impart through sport and every other means at my disposal. The answer was considered but swift from a mother who knew nothing about sport. She said, “The most unlikely of people, in the most improbable of circumstances, can become extraordinary.”
There has never been a day since then when I have attempted any task, where I have imagined myself unlikely enough or improbably enough located, to stand a chance of failure. From that day on, my goals were clear and the pathways to achieve them suddenly illuminated. It didn’t become easy to make it at that point, but the process of staying motivated, maintaining my standards and developing as a person and a player, just made sense.
I am really looking forward to my opportunity to speak with and learn from so many influential and inspirational sporting, political and cultural icons at the upcoming Beyond Sport Summit. Hopefully we can all play a part in engaging and empowering a new generation of young people to overcome their doubts and become extraordinary.
To learn more about Beyond Sport, and the Beyond Sport Summit on 23rd to 25th July, go to www.beyondsport.org/the-summit
