Brentwood Trampoline - Centre of Excellence®
CASC Registered - 04613
BG - 41492

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Home page quotes

Unless otherwise stated all the following quotes have appeared on our home page, the attributions are believed to be correct, the explanatory notes represent the views of the webmaster and any discussion or debate about the merits are welcomed.

Date Quote & Source Why Used
03Dec08 "Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work."
Peter Drucker
Management guru
Any objective needs a plan for fulfilment but without the will to then follow-through with the plan the objective is no more than a pipe-dream.
09Sep08 "Winning isn't everything, but the will to win is everything."
Vince Lombardi
American Football Coach
The path to success may well be crossed with failures on the way but if the will to win remains strong the top prizes are still within your grasp. The will to win creates its own dynamism.
21May08 "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary."
Vince Lombardi
American Football Coach
To achieve long-term success requires continuous commitment of effort.  Whilst innate ability will flatter in early days, casual training will never lead to the long-term success a performer might be seeking.
11Mar08 "The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
To achieve success it is not sufficient to put your fate into the hands of good fortune hoping for a couple of good routines - rather a permanent focus is required not only whilst at training but also in considering all your other actions and activities. If you desire success and your activity is not conducive to it - stop it!
25Oct07 "Hard training, easy combat; easy training, hard combat"
Marshal Suvorov
Famous Russian General
For those hoping to achieve success in competition, it is essential that they make at least as great a commitment of effort in training.  Failing this their performance is unlikely to be better than ordinary.
08Sep07 "We all have ability. The difference is how we use it."
Stevie Wonder
Sometimes a performer seems to be the perfect package with all the ability you can wish for - their heart, however, will determine how far they can progress.
19Jun07 "We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort."
Jesse Owens
(4 x Olympic Gold Medallist, 1936 Berlin games)
In short - it can hurt sometimes.
7May07 "If you don't have confidence, you'll always find a way not to win."
Carl Lewis
(9 x Olympic, 10 x World Champion in Athletics & IOC Sportsman of the Century)
Not as obvious as it seems this one. There is a lot of focus in BG right now about Child Protection and GymMark etc... and this quote is highly relevant. Confidence is not a 'given', it can't be 'created' or 'forced upon' a performer - it can only 'grow'. Like anything that grows this means it needs to be carefully tended and nurtured and not treated roughly - only then will the winning start.
21Mar07 "Do not be in a hurry to succeed.  What would you have to live for afterwards? Better make the horizon your goal; it will always be ahead of you."
William Makepeace Thackeray
(19th Century Novelist)
This scales perfectly to almost any situation whether establishing a training objective for a session, week, month, year or competitive career.  As with the donkey and the carrot, if you have already attained your objective what is left to do other than stand around waiting for the next one to come along?
23Jan07 "When you play, play hard; when you work, don't play at all."
Theodore Roosevelt
(26th US President 1901-1909)
Performers need to make a clear decision as to whether they are trampolining only for fun (recreational) or to achieve something (competitive).  Competitions bring longer term rewards but require focus and attention along the way.
11Oct06 "A champion is one who gets up when he can't."
Jack Dempsey
(World Heavyweight Boxing Champ 1919-1926)
Simple really, if you don't start out to do it you won't do it.  If you try, you just might do it and amaze yourself even if it does seem impossible.
19Aug06 "I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think."
Socrates
Coaches have a major influence on their performers' success (or failure) but if the performer will/can not listen to or follow the coaches advice they will inevitably fail.
22Jun06 "I'm not in competition with anybody but myself. My goal is to beat my last performance."
Celine Dion
Competitions are obviously important to our members but it is equally important for them to take on board the idea of continuous improvement.  By always striving to improve on their last attempt, their last routine, indeed on every move, they are assured of achieving their longer term goals.

3May06 "If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude."
Colin Powell
(US Gulf War General)
Many regular visitors to this site will be aware that we are keen exponents of Jack Kelly's 'back-to-basics' philosophy.  This quote has a strong resonance with that suggesting that giving much attention to the most basic of skills will ultimately lead to excellence.  The flip side, of course, is that rushing past them will not.
13Mar06 "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."
Thomas Edison
The previous quote on this page addressed the mental preparation needed to achieve success.  Even the most talented performer, however, will achieve nothing without hard work.  The two key tenets of success, therefore, are self-belief and hard work.
8Jan06 "Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."
T.S. Eliot
Improvements in both form and skill level often require a leap of faith in our performers.
21Oct05 "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."
Aristotle
There is often a perception with performers that because they are not always learning a new skill that they are not progressing - actually the opposite is often true.
2Oct05 "The only limits to our realisation of tomorrow will be our doubts of today"
Franklin D Roosevelt
This quote seemed so apt today when one of our performers almost didn't compete at grade 4 because she wasn't as sure of her ability as her coaches were.  She qualified to grade 3 at her first attempt.
3Aug05 "Tomorrow's battle is won during today's practice"

Samurai maxim

This sounds more exciting than 'practice makes perfect' but it is worth giving thought to how much time we spend practicing (or consolidating) moves compared to time spent learning skills.  The latter might be gratifying but won't win tomorrow's (competitive) battle.
13Mar05 "That's the secret to life... replace one worry with another..."
Charlie Brown (Created by Charles Schultz)
Perfection is as elusive in trampolining as in any other endeavour.  Once you have cracked one worry there is always another one waiting around the corner.
11Jan05 "If you're going to have a complicated story you must work to a map; otherwise you'll never make a map of it afterwards."

JRR Tolkein
(Author of Lord of the Rings)

In trampolining terms each new move learnt creates a segment of the map of the performer's future capability - only if there is clear line of sight from the very early moves to the ultimate objective can you be reasonably assured that the final product will have the integrity you are looking for.
31Oct04 "Patience is power; with time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes silk."

Chinese Proverb

This quote is intended to evoke Jack Kelly's views on developing performers.  If time is put in 'on the boring bits' early on then achievement becomes more possible.
19Sep04 "All that we are is the result of what we have thought."
Buddha
This is another 'headology' quote.  Self-belief and positive thoughts are at least 50% of what is needed to succeed.
18Jul04 "Smooth seas do not make a skilful sailor"
African Proverb
As I look around our club I sometimes see members becoming frustrated either with a move or with some inner factor that is getting in their way.  The fact that they are struggling gives me heart for their future performance.
15Jun04 "Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved."
Helen Keller
This came to me because of a recent conversation with a performer who had not done as well as they had hoped. Although not a failure, the event opened up new thinking and allowed growth.
9May04 "Success hangs on a passion for excellence."
John F Kennedy
Being passionate about the qualities we seek in our performers stands them in good stead for competition.
18Mar04 "I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be."
Douglas Adams
Having a clear goal in mind is probably more important than how you eventually get there.
23Feb04 "Everything's in the mind. That's where it all starts. Knowing what you want is the first step toward getting it."
Mae West
First there needs to be clarity of the objective (how else can you 'know') and only then can progress be made towards achieving it.
31Jan04 "A good sermon should have a good beginning and a good ending and they should be as close together as possible"
George Burns
Okay, I've a soft spot for good comedy, but the serious point here is about how coaching points are expressed.  A half hour lecture might put our performers to sleep rather than inspire them to new heights!
9Dec03 "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe."
Abraham Lincoln
Preparation is everything for training or competition to be successful.
6Dec03 "There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept"
Ansel Adams
This quote appeals to the photographer in me since  Ansel Adams was renowned for landscapes photographs of impeccable clarity.  The coaching message comes from how we communicate coaching advice to performers, at best the advice tends to the fuzzy end since the mechanical actions are often too complex for youngsters - we need to remember that it is fuzzy advice sometimes and not fool ourselves that it is what is really happening.
1Nov03 "It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.”

Seneca

One of the greatest frustrations that coaches suffer is a performer they know to be capable of a new skill lacking the self confidence to go for it.   Nobody is asking our performers to become gung ho - that could be dangerous - but if I could find the magic pill to transfer my confidence to a performer sometimes it would be worth its weight in gold.
18Oct03 "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work, I want to achieve it through not dying."
Woody Allen
I love this quote, makes me smile every time I read it - what does it have to do with trampolining though? Well, as in all pursuits one of the key things about objectives is for them to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound (SMART) - to avoid despondency though, probably Realistic is the most important.
20Sep03 "The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary"
Vidal Sasoon
It says it all really doesn't it.  If our performers have a goal to achieve then the only certainty is that it will take work to get there.
16Aug03 "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity"
Albert Einstein
Quite often our performers will be in the depths of despair before a breakthrough occurs.  This is a key time to reinforce and keep positive.
27Jun03 "Brains first and then hard work"
Eeyore - AA Milne
Understand what's required and then practice, practice and practice again and again and it might just get close to being right.
19May03 "If you believe you can or if you believe you can't, you're right"
Henry Ford
Coaching is often nothing at all to do with teaching how to do a move but about teaching the performer to have belief in their ability to do it.
6Apr03 "Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors."
African proverb
It would be nice to think that our competitors will always succeed but if they do so too easily there will come a time when they meet a challenge and do not know how to cope. The best competitors are those who have learnt how to cope and recover from the downs.
26Mar03 1816 - Family was forced out of home and, aged six, he had to work to support them.
1818 - His mother died.
1831 - Failed in business.
1832 - Lost election for legislature.
1832 - Lost his job.
1832 - Wanted to go to law school but couldn't get in.
1833 - Began a business and went bankrupt, spent next 17 years paying off the debt.
1835 - Sweetheart died.
1836 - Nervous breakdown.
1838 - Defeated for Speaker of legislature.
1843 - Defeated for congress.
1848 - Defeated for re-election to congress.
1849 - Rejected for job of land officer.
1854 - Defeated for US Senate.
1856 - Defeated for Vice-President.
1858 - Defeated for US Senate.
1860 - Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States.
This is neither a quote per se nor did it appear on our home page but it really is a great parable proving that persistence pays!
23Mar03 "Before anything else, preparation is the key to success."
Alexander Graham Bell
Training sessions are all about preparation.  Habits forged there will feed through into the performance so ensure that they are all good habits.
2Mar03 "Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap ... but by the seeds you plant!"
Robert Louis Stevenson
Sometimes coaching sessions can be frustrating for both coaches and performers but invariably there will still have been a seed planted towards the performers goal and it behoves both to focus on that.
2Feb03 "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."
Mark Twain
Coaches, tutors and others that give us information can not complete the education, that has to come from within those being schooled.
18Jan03 "I always wanted to be somebody but I should have been more specific"
Lily Tomlin
Lily Tomlin might be the exception to prove the rule. Normally without clear objectives and a game plan to achieve them you can only fail to succeed.
5Jan03 "Pull the string and it will follow wherever you wish.  Push it and it will go nowhere at all."
Dwight Eisenhower
No suggestions here that trampolinists are pieces of string but having realistic goals helps to pull them forward without any need to push.
21Dec02 "He who does not lay his foundations beforehand may with great ability do so afterwards but not without great danger to the architect and the building."
Machiavelli
Politics and sport don't usually mix but this quote is at least as relevant to trampolining as politics.  It is always tempting to teach new tricks before the old ones are consolidated but all that happens is that the pain is deferred.  It's easier to get it right at seat drop than it is to go back to basics for doubles.
30Nov02 "The excellence of every art is its' intensity."

John Keats

In order to achieve excellence it is clear that a greater commitment needs to be made - in the case of trampolining by the performers themselves but also those supporting them.  Brentwood Trampoline Club is proud to have so many supporters helping the club strive for excellence.
6Nov02 "Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom."

Gen. George Patton

Whilst we do not claim to be George Pattons we do empathize with this famous quote of his and believe that by this yardstick Brentwood Trampoline Club is already a success and will continue to be so for many years to come.