Saturday, February 9, 2008

Finding Motivation In Disappointment


Check out this story about Lorenzo Romar I found in my preparation for Sunday's PAC-10 game between UCLA and Washington. The story originally appeared on http://www.sportsgamer.com in January of last year.

I think the story is just another reminder that your surroundings should not be an excuse for why you were not successful. Hope and determination can overcome any circumstance.



Romar grew up in Compton, California, raised in a world of gangs and violence. How he never fell into the trap of violence was because his mother made sure "I had a good head on my shoulders".

Romar says he had one thing to share with his town, and that was basketball.

"My mother made sure she kept me and my siblings out of trouble. We were always the first to get to church, and the last to leave. We had our hair and our clothes clean and ironed before school each day. We had to do two hours of chores each day. While other kids in my neighborhood were starting to experiment with their surroundings, I was raking the leaves and remembering the bible verse assigned to me by my sunday school teacher. My mother always made sure we had something to do, because if we didn't, we could spend that time with the wrong people. However, my mom always wanted to excercise, so I was allowed to play basketball at the park. I was to play my game, and then run home for dinner and finish my homework."

"Playing basketball in Compton toughens you up, and you play some of the best competition in the nation. But early on I was kinda soft. Until one day, the bike I had worked for during the summer was stolen. I was mad because I had spent so much of my time working for that bike, and suddenly it was taken from me. It was then when I started to use things like that as motivation. I wanted to prove I was the best basketball player in the neighborhood so no one would think of taking my bike. I wanted to play in college so I could get to a neighborhood where nothing of mine would be stolen. I wanted to play in the NBA so I could buy 100 of those bikes. I used a simple bike being stolen as my motivation to be the player and coach I am today."

Well Romar used that bike to make it to the University of Washington as a starting point guard, and a draft pick of the Golden State Warriors, and then a successful player in the NBA.

"That bike has earned me a lot of money!"


http://www.sportsgamer.com/forums/dynasties/163708-class-pac-lorenzo-romars-reign-montlake.html

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

A truly nice story. My bike was stolen too, but my inspiration my "bike" is my college diploma it always remind me of how good I was as a student and that I deserve a lot more things in life because I was working hard since then.

Would you like to be inspired by success stories of young entrepreneurs? Then you might want to know about the Young Entrepreneur Society from the www.YoungEntrepreneurSociety.com. It is an interesting business site.