Neil Minihane '85
2008 Sixth Form Varsity Dinner
May 19, 2008
When Coach Brown asked me to come back to the Abbey and address the varsity letter winners, I thought he must have missed the memo about my time here at the Abbey and not cleared the request with Dr. De Vecchi.
The reality is I am here because of athletics and coaches and teachers like those around us.
In my day at the Abbey I was 'unpolished,' but the Abbey began my transformation. Just like the story of the couple walking along the beach. They come across a section with thousands of starfish. The lady bends down, picks up a starfish and throws it into the water, as she bends down to pick up another, her husband says, "What are you doing?" "Saving the starfish," she says. "Don't bother, you cannot make a difference -- look at them all." As another starfish drops into the sea she replies, "I just made a difference." The teachers and coaches of the Abbey treat each of you this same way today, and that is why I am proud to be associated with the school. Because of the individual investment they make in the students one at a time.
First off, congratulations - earning a varsity letter is a great accomplishment. I still have my letterman jacket and it still fits!
In the early 1980s the Abbey was struggling. The beautiful school you experience is much different from the one I remember in physical ways yet very similar to the one that gave me the foundation to succeed in my chosen path.
The three Cs (character, Christianity, classics) were and still are the core of the Abbey education. (in my case: the classics almost ended my short career at the Abby in 1982 but I squeezed by Latin 1 and 2 ...; somehow.)
Tonight I would like to talk about two aspects of athletics - either could be a full talk, but giving my 15 minutes of fame I will only briefly speak about each.
1. Articulate what difference athletics can make in a life?
2. What lessons, specifically character lessons, can evolve from athletics?
So what difference can athletics can make in a life?
I came to the Abbey for summer school in an effort to attend Bishop Connolly. (my parents thought I would have self-destructed at the public
Portsmouth
High School). At the time the Abbey was undergoing a tough transition - one that results in your classes being ~80-plus students made up of boys and girls playing school like
Cushing
Academy (good win on Saturday for the boys' varsity lacrosse team) and my class of 60, all boys struggling against much less competitive opponents. I had only dreams of attending the Abbey, and this is where athletics first changed my life. The school (driven, I think, by the Athletic Director Mr. McCauley and the Headmaster Father Gregory) looked at my academic record but rationalized that with my athletic ability, I was a 'well-rounded' student and hence should be admitted. (full disclosure: I GRADUATED, albeit 53rd in my class of 60)
I was one of the building blocks for a larger athletic presence at the Abbey.
And I thank them for any assistance. Athletics helped get me in, but the Abbey experience set me up for the future success I have enjoyed.
When it came time for me to attend college, again, the Abbey and Athletics played a vital role ...; this time in my acceptance to
West Point. The Abbey exposed me to lacrosse - which I had never heard of nor seen prior to summer school. The Abbey had two great lacrosse coaches then, Whit Morrell (a volunteer coach) and Bill Aliber, an Abbey Teacher and Hall of Fame lacrosse player from
Brown
University. The coaches encouraged me to go and watch the college lacrosse playoffs one spring at
Brown
University. At the Brown/Army Lacrosse playoff game in
Providence - I fell for
West Point. I was at that game because of athletics and, more importantly, because of the coaches that cared about my future.
From that game at
Providence, it was a struggle to make my dream of attending
West Point come true. I wooed the hockey coach and finally got an appointment through the sports system. And that is a story for another time.
What difference did athletics make in my life?
a. They swayed my acceptance to The Abbey
b. They changed someone's mind at
West Point and ensured I received an appointment in much the same way.
Today, my athletic background plays a part in my family's daily life (my wife, Bridget, is a classmate from West Point, a two-sport varsity athlete, and an all-American track runner). Sports helps both of us with stress relief, it improves our mental and physical wellness, helps us relax, and is a socialization catalyst. Last year as stress built up at work, I competed in a 50-mile trail run through the mountains of Colorado - the San Juan Solace 50 -- over the Continental Divide - 14 hours and two big toenails later I crossed the finish line - happy, relaxed and hurting, but in a good way. It is, for me, euphoric to push myself farther than you think is possible - this is an outcrop of my athletic experiences - never quit, it is not over until the final buzzer, you CAN win.
Those are three short examples of how athletics has changed and affected my life. We do not have the time to go into the other various attributes that I learned while playing sports - self confidence, teamwork, intensity, energy, work ethic ...; I could give examples of each one of these. But time is short.
Instead let's move to the second point we briefly want to cover: Character is one of the Abbey's big Cs. So what character lessons have I learned / can you learn from athletics?
In the Journal of College and Character (which proves there is a journal for every subject) a West Point LTC, James Doty, wrote about sports building character. I found it fascinating. He said: athletics CAN build character, but athletics do not, on their own, build character. It saddens me that in sports today, at all levels, there are constant problems of improper behavior and poor character. The highest levels are where it is the most obvious: be it the arrest record of NFL players, steroids in baseball, or EPO doping in cycling. There are, without a doubt, good competitors and role models out there, however: one good apple does not make a pie, but one bad apple does ruin a pie.
The Bottom Line: How you act on the field of friendly strife is WHO YOU ARE. This is my message to you tonight.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said it this way: "What you are doing speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you are saying."
At
West Point, your character is defined as what you do when you know no one is watching. I realize Character has as many definitions as there are people. But to me, there are two critical components to a person's character - Respect and Integrity.
Respect - how you treat others
Integrity - doing what is right in word and deed
Respect is a verb, something you do or fail to do. There is a reason why students participate in athletics at the intramural, club and intercollegiate level. Sports can build respect: shaking hands, helping teammates, competing fair, listening, and working hard are all outcrops of respect. Lack of respect is reflected in acts like taunting, trash talking, swearing at the referees, coaches, or teammates. It is up to the coaches and administrators to foster the proper environment where athletics do build respect.
The example LTC Doty used to articulate respect is the 1980 Winter Olympics. "The Miracle on Ice" is considered one of the biggest upsets in sports history. A team of amateur college hockey players beat the heavily favored professional
USSR squad at
Lake Placid,
New York. After the game, the
USSR goalie commented that, "Simply put, we did not respect them, and you cannot do that." Team
USSR did not respect Team
USA or even give the Americans a remote chance of winning, and that cost the
USSR team the gold medal.
Respect is how you treat others! At the end of the game, shake your competitors hand and thank him/her for competing with you, for bringing the best out in you. Give respect and get respect - it is part of a person of character.
The second aspect of Character is Integrity - doing what is right in word and deed. In athletics this includes being on time to practice, being prepared, doing what the coach tells you to do, giving your best in both practice and games. I will use one more negative example before closing with an extremely positive story. Lack of character comes across in all stages of athletics. For example, the women's soccer 1999 World Cup Championships. Let me read an excerpt from LTC Doty's article.
"The world championship was in the balance when Briana Scurry, the American goal keeper, strode to the line on July 10th in the Rose Bowl. The American goalkeeper had picked out her victim, the third Chinese player to take a penalty kick in the shootout, that would decide the Women's World Cup ...; it was one thing to choose which opponent was most likely to be weak. It was another thing for Scurry to choose her tactics.
"By her own admission, Scurry decided to improve her chances by ignoring the rules of the penalty kick. In a quick and practiced move, Scurry bolted two steps forward- in violation of the rules - and cut off the angle for Lui Ying, her opponent. With superb reflexes, Scurry then dived to her left and tipped Liu's shot wide of the goal. That one stop would shortly give the
U.S. the championship...;. Scurry's position was staked out soon after the final game when she told the Los Angeles Times, 'Everyone does it. It's only cheating if you get caught.'"
In my mind, you either compete or you cheat. If you cheat (steroids, breaking the rules) then you are NOT competing, you are cheating. A person of character will compete above all else.
I excelled at athletics. I turn to athletics for fitness and pleasure among other things. The Abbey formed my foundation in athletics as well as academics and when I see events like Scurry's, I think about my time at
Portsmouth and, specifically, Father Bede Gorman. He was a great athlete (I believe he even played pro-basketball before his time here) but he was a man of character. Winning was important to him but not paramount. Competing was more important. To this day I still remember beating St. Georges in lacrosse my senior year on the windswept field overlooking second beach. We competed hard and we won. Those memories will bring a smile to your face for a long time to come.
A recent classic example of Character in sports occurred a few weeks ago in this year's collegiate girl's softball playoff game between
Central
Washington
University and
Western Oregon.
In the second inning, with two runners on and one strike against her, Sarah, a senior at Western Oregon University, uncorked her best swing and did something she had never done in high school or college - her first homerun cleared the centerfield fence. But it appeared to be the shortest of dreams. She missed first base, stopped, and started back to tag it and collapsed with a torn ACL in her knee. She crawled back to first but could do no more. The first base coach said she would be called out if her teammates tried to help her. Or the umpire said a pinch runner could be called in and the homer would be counted as a two-run single. Then the members of the
Central
Washington
University softball team stunned the spectators by carrying Sarah around the bases so the three-run homer would count, an act that contributed to their own playoff elimination.
In closing, I challenge you to be an athlete of character. One that gives respect and demands respect. One who does the right thing - all the time. Whether someone is watching or not. Whether you will win or lose. Remember - what you do is who you are - on and off the field.
Thank you.
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