"My parents taught me a long time ago that you win in life with people, and that's important, because if you hang with winners, you stand a great chance of being a winner." - Pat Summitt (Pat Summitt Quotes).
Throughout Coach Summitt’s thirty-eight seasons at the University of Tennessee she has made an impact on, not only her players and fellow coaches, but the fans and young children that have watched her coach. Her presence on the Lady Volunteer's bench lights a fire in her players that not many coaches can get from their athletes. With a look that could kill, the team knows they are not playing well when they see her glare. Summitt instills hard work for what you believe in, she knows that achievements are not just given out, and she teaches her players that. Take her 1,000th win, not many coaches can say that they have 800 total wins in their careers. Her determination for the highest goals and strong will, that her father taught her and her siblings while they were young, inspires any athlete or person that has watched her coach.
Summitt has inspired many with her passion for the game and the university. After an SEC win Coach Summitt can be found singing the Tennessee anthem “Rocky Top” over the PA speakers along with the thousands of fans in the arena. At half time of a men’s home game a couple of years ago Summitt came out dressed in an old cheerleading uniform and sang the well-known tune with the crowd and cheerleaders (Capuano). Passion is a quality every coach needs to lead their teams into any competition.
Summitt has inspired many with her passion for the game and the university. After an SEC win Coach Summitt can be found singing the Tennessee anthem “Rocky Top” over the PA speakers along with the thousands of fans in the arena. At half time of a men’s home game a couple of years ago Summitt came out dressed in an old cheerleading uniform and sang the well-known tune with the crowd and cheerleaders (Capuano). Passion is a quality every coach needs to lead their teams into any competition.
Next Summitt is determined. She has shown her determination to win and
mold her players to become the best they are capable of becoming. Summitt is
seen beating the floor with her hands to get her team's attention, during a loud
game, to tell them the right defense to run. Often she has had to have her rings
rounded after a tight game (Capuano.) With this determination to win she has changed the face of women’s basketball. She has helped the game grow from where six people stood on each end of the court; three defenders and three offensive players, while four people ran up and down the court full time. A set up that is very different form the ten players, five on each team that run the whole floor till they are subbed out. Coach Summitt was a part of the first women’s Olympic team; and has stood as the face of the women’s game for her entire tenure. Mary Joe Kane a sports sociologist at the University of Minnesota said, “In modern history there are two figures that belong on the Mount Rushmore of women’s sports – Billy Jean King and Pat Summitt. No one else is close to third”
(Longman, Jerẻ). Summitt has helped change the pace of the women’s game to the more fast paced running style used today and was a major influence on the push for equality in sports.
mold her players to become the best they are capable of becoming. Summitt is
seen beating the floor with her hands to get her team's attention, during a loud
game, to tell them the right defense to run. Often she has had to have her rings
rounded after a tight game (Capuano.) With this determination to win she has changed the face of women’s basketball. She has helped the game grow from where six people stood on each end of the court; three defenders and three offensive players, while four people ran up and down the court full time. A set up that is very different form the ten players, five on each team that run the whole floor till they are subbed out. Coach Summitt was a part of the first women’s Olympic team; and has stood as the face of the women’s game for her entire tenure. Mary Joe Kane a sports sociologist at the University of Minnesota said, “In modern history there are two figures that belong on the Mount Rushmore of women’s sports – Billy Jean King and Pat Summitt. No one else is close to third”
(Longman, Jerẻ). Summitt has helped change the pace of the women’s game to the more fast paced running style used today and was a major influence on the push for equality in sports.
Kim Mulkey one of Summitt’s former Olympic point guards, and now coach at Baylor University, stated, “Pat Summitt is our John Wooden in the women’s game, there may be coaches that win more than Pat, but there will never be another Pat Summitt.” Coach Mulkey is right and many other coaches would agree that there are qualities about Summitt that can be related back to the former UCLA coach and there will never be coaches quite like either of them ever again (Longman, Jerẻ).
Coach Summitt with her inspiring half time speeches and many motivational quotes has made a lasting impact on the world of sports. Whether basketball, football, baseball, or soccer Summitt stands as what a coach should strive to become. For future college athletes she embodies the coach that any player wants to play for. She cares for her players, no matter how many times she yells at them. Summitt wants them to achieve their goals and knows how to make those goals become a reality. In the hearts of the orange and white fans she is someone who they can count on to recruit a class of freshman that will fit into
the already sound system of Lady Volunteers and still bring a new aspect to the
game that will hopefully help them bring home another national championship.
Coach Summitt with her inspiring half time speeches and many motivational quotes has made a lasting impact on the world of sports. Whether basketball, football, baseball, or soccer Summitt stands as what a coach should strive to become. For future college athletes she embodies the coach that any player wants to play for. She cares for her players, no matter how many times she yells at them. Summitt wants them to achieve their goals and knows how to make those goals become a reality. In the hearts of the orange and white fans she is someone who they can count on to recruit a class of freshman that will fit into
the already sound system of Lady Volunteers and still bring a new aspect to the
game that will hopefully help them bring home another national championship.