Endurance

Tony La Russa has made a name for himself in the game of baseball as a player, a manager, and an executive. He’s been a part of minor league teams…and World Series teams. But his success has never led to complacency.

Even the “accessories” he wears will attest to that fact.

“Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the mouth.”

Topics Illustrated Include:
Athlete
Celebrities
Endurance
Fear
Fighting
Pain
Plans
Quotes
Sports
Strategy
Suffering
Surprise

(Resource cataloged by David R Smith)

Running a 5K isn’t easy. The course stretches 3.1 miles long and can be filled with hills and headwinds. Successful runners know it takes a good pair of running shoes, plenty of training, and unflinching endurance to finish strong.

And it doesn’t hurt to have a good running partner, either.

When asked, “What made Michael Jordan so great?” lots of basketball fans may think “practice,” “dedication,” “teamwork,” “great coaching,” “luck” or something else. When Michael Jordan answers that question about himself, he give a surprising answer.

A very surprising answer.

Florence Chadwick was a world-class athlete who set and broke long-distance swimming records for women…and men. In 1950, she crossed the English Channel faster than any other woman in history. A year later, she crossed it again, this time against the current, something no other woman had ever done.

But on July 4, 1952, Chadwick did something else she’d never done before.

What do you do if you want to run in a marathon, but haven’t ever taken one single step because of a debilitating physical handicap? What do you do if you want to send a message to the world, but can’t even muster control of your own voice? The answer is “nothing.”

That is, unless you have Dick Hoyt as your father.

In 1992, British-born Derrick Redmond was in search of an Olympic medal. Which color, he cared not. He just wanted a piece of human history, and he had disciplined himself with machine-like precision his whole life to achieve that goal.

On a cold winter night in 1837, famed abolitionist Elijah P. Lovejoy challenged an angry mob of slave holders, racists, and corrupt officials. His campaign against slavery had already cost him several homes and businesses, and he had even been physically attacked a few times.

But his words fell on deaf ears, and a few nights later, he would be savagely murdered.

Football coaches tell their teams they must play “all 60 minutes” of the game. Track and field trainers tell their athletes to run “the whole” race. That’s because they know that playing 59 minutes or only running 399 meters leads to defeat.

The same kind of defeat in these videos….

Joseph was a proud Maasai Warrior living in eastern Africa when he first heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the side of a hot, dusty road. In that moment, he dedicated his life to Christ and immediately made plans to share the Good News with members of his tribe.

But this warrior had never been in a fight like the one he was about to walk into.